I’m not doing very well at book reviews at the moment, though there is quite a pile to write about. So I’m going to go for a fun, silly, interactive post instead, based on a question that came up on Twitter a while ago. We were talking about the most inspiring heroines, and decided to flip it – who is the most annoying man in literature?
Crucially, this is annoying, nor evil. We’re not looking for the Heathcliffs of this world, driven only by hatred and evil. We’re talking the ones who really get under your skin – either deliberately on the part of the author, or not.
My choice: Henry from E.M. Forster’s Howards End. The way Forster writes his dialogue is so clever – everything he says is based on some sort of internal logic that is hard to untangle, even when you know it is selfish and ruthless. When his wife questions his decisions, he focuses on the indignity of being questioned, not on the decisions he’s made. Just thinking about him riles me up!
Other suggestions that came up – Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre [my view: can’t stand him, but he might be cruel rather than annoying], Edward Casuabon from Middlemarch [I haven’t read it so can’t comment] and Angel Clare from Tess of the D’Ubervilles [yep, tracks].
I think, to really win this category, it has to be a character that the author has deliberately made annoying, and not in a funny way. Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice would be enormously irritating to be around, but I can’t imagine many readers are annoyed when reading about him because Austen is so funny about it.
Over to you – who would you pick?
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Not read this one, but intriguing!
I think Mr. Rochester is a superb choice. Aside from his incidental rudenesses to Jane, and his determination to have his insane wife looked after in an attic by a drunken servant rather than a more humane situation (and there were such places, even then), he pursues a marriage to a wealthy lady, and when this is thwarted because he’s already married, he turns to his employee Jane for lack of anyone better handy, trying to foil the agents who prevented his previous marriage attempt by keeping the wedding ultra-quiet. What a jerk.
He is truly trash. My only anxiety in choosing him is that he might be wicked rather than annoying.
Skimpole in Bleak House:? He prates on about being “a child” but he’s really, well …. a parasite.
Ooh, that’s a good one!
Yes. Simple came to mind immediately
I meant Skimpole, not simple. Autocorrect!
Not read it but seems a popular choice!
I’ve not yet read Howard’s End so I can’t comment, but I would agree about Mr. Rochester – what an annoying despicable man and whyever does Jane want anything to do with him.
My choice would be Guy Pringle from Fortunes of War – I just find him insufferable and he’s probably the reason it’s taken me so long to read the books! ;D
Oh. My. God. I haaaated Guy Pringle — he’s even more insufferable in the second series, the Levant Trilogy. I wanted to catapult him into the sun.
yet Pringle was created by a woman! When I read both trilogies (in hospital) I was frequently struck – how could any woman put up with Pringle!!!
Oo don’t know him, but that does like an obstacle. And Howards End is still a brilliant novel despite him – the only Forster I’ve really liked. And the film is lovely too.
I nominate Obadiah Slope from Trollope’s Barchester Towers.
Yes! Though a delight to read about.
There are so many but I’ve just seen Ali post a picture of The Little Ottleys and it reminded me of how annoying Bruce is in that!
Ohh that’s a really good choice. Bruce is appalling.
Plantagenet Palliser – cold fish, too ambitious, too rich, I could go on! Trollope created a real dull one here.
Deliberately or not deliberately? I have all the Palliser novels but have read none!
Simon. the field is too wide open to select just one. :)
But yes, I do see Mr. Collins as a comic character.
I’ve just got to his proposal on my reread of P and P and it’s hilarious!
Anthony Powell created Kenneth Widmerpool who appears in all 12 novels of Powell’s sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time. Tariq Ali views Widmerpool as a giant among fictional characterisations of his kind, comparable to Baron de Charlus in Proust’s epic In Search of Lost Time and Ulrich in Robert Musil’s trilogy The Man Without Qualities.
Kenneth Widmerpool featured in these 12 novels published between 1951-1975. Actually, “annoying” may be an understatement.
A Question of Upbringing. [1951].
A Buyer’s Market. [1953].
The Acceptance World. [1955].
At Lady Molly’s. [1957].
Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant. [1960].
The Kindly Ones. [1962].
The Valley of Bones. [1964].
The Soldier’s Art. [1966].
The Military Philosophers. [1968].
Books do Furnish a Room. [1971].
Temporary Kings. 1974
Hearing Secret Harmonies. 1975.
Anthony Powell Society members nominate
Eugene Onegin
Holden Caulfield
Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms
Inspector Rebus
Adam Dalgleish
Canon Collins
…and Kenneth Widmerpool, of course!
The APS members add more
(Fitz)Roy Richmond
The American Senator
Sergeant Troy
Mr Polly
Schomberg
Harold Skimpole
Thanks for sharing this wonderful selection!
I nominate St. John Rivers in Jane Eyre. He expects Jane to marry him just to help him serve as a missionary in India, knowing that she would be risking her life and giving up any chance of a real marriage. Because she is poor and plain, he assumes that she will settle for a marriage of (his) convenience.
He’s awful. Rochester is terrible but St. John is even worse.
He is pretty awful – though I still think a better choice than Mr R!
St. John wanted a servant not a wife. It’s good Jane rejected him when she did. Mr. R is just foul. Like he bad mouthed his wife to Jane, locked her up instead of getting her help for her mental state (not to mention, with a drunkard who compromised the safety of her charge and the rest of the household on more occasion than one, and it’s not like there weren’t other options to help his wife). And then he pursued other women when already married. He nearly succeeded in tricking Jane into marrying him. As much as I like Jane’s independence in the novel, I just cannot get over why she married that cockroach.
The narrator in Proust’s ‘In search of Lost Time’.
Oo interesting. One I still haven’t read any of.
Pedant pedagogic language of a narrator who longs, sighs and mourns to awake someones romantic interest, to abandon it haughty it at soon as it becomes accessible to him.
So many good suggestions already! I laughed at Jonathan Livingston Seagull (does he count? He is a bird). I hated that book too.
Kenneth Widmerpool is a good one. He is incredibly annoying but like a bad penny, just keeps showing up.
I disagree with Plantagent Palliser as a choice. He is, in his way, endearing. But yes, not my favorite Trollope hero.
For purposefully annoying I nominate Georges Duroy from Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant. I loved that book and I loved to hate Georges.
Now I want to try the Pallisers all the more to see which side I fall down on!
Mr Collins from P&P is a definite contender isn’t he? But I might also nominate Guy Pringle from Olivia Manning’s Balkan and Levant trilogies. I could have seriously throttled him.
Mr C is, but I can’t be annoyed by reading him. It’s just so funny.
I find Lydia and Mrs. Bennet far more irritating than Mr. Collins (they’re not men though). They’re just boy crazy superficial women who have no idea on how to act in society. And I did expect Mr. Bennet to have more common sense as the head of the house, but he’s one endearing character.
How about Leonard Bast from Howard’s End? He’s such a whiny, self-absorbed, feel sorry for me creature, I can’t imagine why Helen gets involved with him.
Aw I do feel rather sorry for him because he’s doing his best in a world he is scared of. But I do tend to feel sorry for characters who are scared in any situation!
Perfect choice for the Feast of All Fools…. Peter Wimsey. Superlatively annoying in his constant proposals to Harriet. A man who refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer
Oh yessss dreadful man
Wow, so many great choices already suggested. My first thought was Mr. Collins but definitely Edward Casubon in Middlemarch, John Thorpe in Northanger Abbey (complete mansplainer); and Cecil Vyse in A Room with a View. And Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind! Funny how all my favorites have such annoying men in them!
This is great fun and a much needed distraction. I may lay awake tonight thinking of all the annoying men in literature that I should have remembered.
Great suggestions, Karen! I do enjoy how this took off – clearly the distraction we all needed at the moment.
Jude in Jude The Obscure. His obsession with Christchurch and his devotion to cousin Sue are like scratches on a blackboard .
Oh interesting – I quite liked Jude and his love of learning.
When I first saw the question, I thought for sure you were going to pick Lord Peter Wimsey, Simon. I agree with Karen K about John Thorpe. He is awful! The Trollope character who popped into my mind (besides Obadiah Slope) is Adolphus Crosbie from The Small House at Allington. There is no way he could have deserved Lily Dale!
OH yes, of course, Elizabeth! I was trying to stick to characters that are intended to be annoying, and I’m pretty sure Sayers thinks Wimsey is a dream, but he has definitely annoyed me a great deal as you know….
Haha, good point! Wimsey is supposed to be the dream man!
Guy Pringle is an awfully good choice and Henry (Howard’s End) is, too. But I’m going to say Aeneas. It may be a great poem, but he’s tediously self-righteous. Loosen up, dude!
Practically any male hero from D. H. Lawrence would count as well…
Mr Casuabon made me really annoyed in Middlemarch. Stayed in my head for a long time.
Would you believe I haven’t read Middlemarch? But he’s definitely a popular choice!
Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter with his deliberately befuddled manner, gaudy robes and those sherbet sucks or whatever… all the time hiding a manipulative mind underneath.
Oo I love this take down!
Ooh yes. And none of the other characters even realised that for the length of the series. Except Aberforth that is.
Scary how easy it is to come up with candidates! But among the many brilliant nominations already made, I’d definitely second Holden Caulfield and, less confidently, Cecil Vyse (because I absolutely adore the perfect portrayal of him by Daniel Day Lewis in the wonderful film version). An inspired diversion – thanks :)
Holden is SO annoying! And glad you enjoyed having a think over this :D
Thanks for the fun idea, Simon. I agree about Casauban, but for some reason, I found Will Ladislaw from the same novel a bit of a pain as well. We were obviously meant to like him, but in a way, I think that might have been the problem.
The suggestion of Inspector Rebus made me laugh. I do quite like the books, but Rebus himself is such a wet weekend. For that matter, any male detectives of the sour-faced variety should go on this list, as that particular trope has become really tired now.
Thanks Alyson – what I’m learning is that there are a lot of books with annoying men that I’ve luckily avoided!
Collins gets my vote!
But he’s such a joy to read about all the same!
Mr Thwaites in The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton.
‘I Hay ma Doots, as the Scotchman said — of Yore …’
Ooh! Good one. Mr. Thwaites was AWFUL!
Carol, yes! I think you win – I’d forgotten him and he is MONSTROUSLY annoying.
Oh, I forgot to mention Hamlet, I wish he would just make up his mind. Romeo is a tad annoying also, I never quite got why Juliet was so keen on him.
Haha yes, c’mon Hamlet. Though when they start killing people, they might topple from annoying to wicked.
Quite a few male detectives at the point their female creators become a bit to enamoured with them. Lord Peter and Roderick Allen are definitely on that list. Can’t stand Haldon Caulfield, and don’t have a lot of time for Jay Gatsby either.
All great choices, Hayley.
Bellamy James, “The Green Knight”, Iris Murdoch. A difficult decision since all the men in this story were quite annoying.
Oo I haven’t read that one, but the men in the two Murdoch novels I have read are awful.
Thank you for the information regarding Murdoch’s men. Perhaps there is a common theme here with men, but the women did not fare much better. I have not read any other books of hers and I am shying away from attempting another.
George Amberson Minafer in “The Magnificent Ambersons.” A selfish spoiled brat that almost made me stop reading the book.
Oo don’t know that book at all.
As a high school teacher, I have to go with Romeo. Even my teenage students find him whiny and insufferable. They just don’t buy it as a great love story and I have to say I agree with them.
Just have a conversation, Romeo! Stop being silly!
I so hated the entire play in high school. Both Romeo and Juliet are so whiny. Not that Romeo (or any of the Capulets) has the brains to wait a bit and confirm Juliet’s death with a doctor (one who knows their potions and poisons well) before jumping into rash decisions.
Controversially, Sherlock Holmes, I just can’t stand him.
Oh yes, he is so self-important
Any takers on Mr. Ramsay from To the Lighthouse? I always think he needed to be slapped upside the head by someone….
Haha great description – yes, even his own children want him dead!
There are also plenty of candidates in Barbara Pym’s novels: Tom Mallow in Less than Angels and Aylwin Forbes in No Fond Return of Love spring immediately to mind.
Some of hers I haven’t read yet, but can well believe it.
How about Max de Winter? He could have saved his second wife untold misery had he simply told her the truth about Rebecca. One sentence. Of course we wouldn’t have had the book then…
Yes!! Dreadful man.
I don’t think the author intended him to be irritating, but I hated Mr. March in Geraldine Brooks’ novel, March, which is a retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, from Mr. March’s perspective. And the original Mr. March in the real Little Women is also an unlikeable person.
As was Bronson Alcott, LM’s father!
Oh, yes. As others have said, St John Rivers could well be the Top (bottom) Annoying Man.
I have just finished listening to the excellent audio book (free streaming from Audible during These Strange Times) and when we got to the point where Mr. I’m-Not-Really-Married Rochester is harrassing Jane to go with him to the Continent as his Mistress, I figured, yeah. He’s the worst. But then, St. John is soon browbeating Jane into going with him to India, as his wife.
“God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife. It is not personal, but mental endowments they have given you: you are formed for labour, not for love. A missionary’s wife you must—shall be. You shall be mine: I claim you—not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign’s service.”
Who could resist such a charming proposal? He goes on in this vein to an alarming degree.
11 out of 10, Mr. Rivers.
Thanks for quoting St. John’s charming proposal! It’s a tribute to Jane’s maturity and patience that she is so civil to him!
Levin from “Anna Karenina”. I could not stand him. He is stuck up, annoying, condescending twerp.
Vronsky is far worse. Like who in their right mind follows a (married) woman wherever she goes even after she has said no several times? Let her travel by train in peace at least. Levin still can be called socially inept- he doesn’t interact with the gentry much anyway.
I was also going to say Levin from Anna Karenina. He’s so awful it made me loathe the last section of the book.
For me, it’s GOT to be Gulliver from Gulliver’s Travels. I feel like I’m calling out the nude emperor every time I bring it up, but he drives me NUTS. He just keeps gallivanting off around the world and abandoning his poor wife and kids for years at a time, and is a general all-round nincompoop. ARGH! Not what Swift intended, I’m sure, but that seems to be the name of the game here ;)