Column: The pursuit of the (literary) bad boy

It’s a timeless fiction motif.

From Ophelia and Hamlet in “Hamlet” to Elena and Damon in “The Vampire Diaries,” good girls have been chasing bad boys for centuries.

What is it about these misunderstood, volatile rebels that the heroines — and we, as readers — find so appealing?

Is it the go-to-hell attitude? The secret pain? The fact that our parents would completely disapprove? 

Whatever it is, authors have been capitalizing on the lure of the bad boy since Shakespeare. Here are a few of my favorites:

Mr. Darcy, “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen

Though wealthy and pedigreed, Darcy is far from gentlemanly to Elizabeth Bennet at the start of Austen’s novel.

He insults her family, breaks up her sister’s relationship and calls Elizabeth herself “barely tolerable.”

Darcy is standoffish and unattainable, yet still desirable — the ultimate paradox of the bad boy.


Heathcliff, “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë

This penniless outcast was a misunderstood heartthrob even in childhood.
But Heathcliff truly cements his place as a bad boy.

After his cruel vendetta against childhood love Catherine Earnshaw and her husband Edgar Linton, not just their lives but also the lives of each of their family members are completely and utterly destroyed.

Nothing screams “bad boy” quite like extreme revenge overkill.


Holden Caulfield, “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger

I’ve always pictured the cynical 16-year-old wearing a leather jacket and resembling John Travolta from “Grease.”

He’s the epitome of the teenage rebel. He disregards authority, hates phonies and is secretly idealistic.

Sure, he ends up in a mental hospital, but aren’t all the best bad boys a little crazy?


Jay Gatsby, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

With his generous nature and heart of gold, Gatsby is probably the least bad of all bad boys in this article.

But we have to remember that Fitzgerald’s protagonist also did a lot of questionable things.

He lied about his identity, brokered shady business deals and spent the whole novel trying to break up a marriage.

Plus, only a true bad boy could throw such epic parties.


R, “Warm Bodies” by Isaac Marion

The still-human Julie falls for R, a dry-humored zombie, in this zombie-apocalypse-retelling of “Romeo and Juliet.”

R is a guy your parents really wouldn’t approve of — probably because he’s undead and would try to eat their brains.

Exasperating and yet completely fascinating, these rebels keep us turning the page and coming back for more.

But, as much as we love bad boys in fiction, it’s probably safest to stay away from them in the real world.

We all know what happened to Ophelia.  
­
— jenfagan@indiana.edu

Follow book columnist on Twitter@jenna_faganIDS.