Characters and Creators

Fictional Characters and Creators

Mowgli by Rudyard Kipling
About the Character: He is the character of the book The Jungle Book written in 1894 by Rudyard Kipling. He is a feral child raised by wolves in the jungle. He also appears in The Second Jungle Book by the same author. Rudyard Kipling was the first English writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.

Miss Marple by Agatha Christie
About the Character: Miss Jane Marple is an elderly amateur detective created by famous Agatha Christie. She first appeared in story The Tuesday Night Club in 1927 and in 12 novels and 20 short stories in all by the author.

Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie
About the Character: Mr. Hercule Poirot is another detective character created by the British writer Agatha Christie. He is longest-running character of Agatha Christie appearing in 33 novels, 2 plays and 51 short stories in the 55 years starting from his first appearance in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920).

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza by Miguel de Cervantes
About the Characters: Both the characters were created by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote is the pseudonym of the the protagonist of the Spanish novel Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605), his real name being Alonso Quijano. Sancho Panza is the squire (shield-bearer) of Don Quixote and became famous for his humour and wit. The book itself is one of the most translated works in the world. In the novel, Don Quixote has read so many chivalric romances that he has lost his mind and imagines himself to be a knight and behaves 'quixotically' for that is the word derived from his character.

Jeeves and Bertie Wooster by PG Wodehouse
About the Characters: Both the characters were created by English writer P.G. Wodehouse. They first appeared in the book Extricating Young Gussie (1915). Jeeves ia a highly intelligent and resourceful valet of Bertie Wooster, often saving him from trouble. Bertie Wooster on the other hand is a wealthy but somewhat foolish gentleman who frequently relies on Jeeves to solve his problems. Both have appeared in 11 novels and several short stories

Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
About the Character: Sherlock Holmes is detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. He is known for meticulous observation and logical reasoning. He first figured in the book A Study in Scarlet published in 1887. In most of the stories, Dr. John H. Watson, a fictional character and Holme's friend narrates the story. Sherlock Holmes appeared in 4 novels and 56 short stories.

James Bond by Ian Fleming
About the Character: James Bond is a fictional secret service officer with code number 007 created by British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming. The character first appeared in the book Casino Royale in 1953 and reappeared in 12 novels and 2 short story collections.

Phileas Fogg and Passepartout by Jules Verne
About the Characters: Phileas Fogg is a fictional character created by French wirter Jules Verne in 1872 novel Around the World in Eighty Days. The books is an adventure novel in which Phileas Fogg takes up a challenge to go around the world in 80 days. His newly employee Passepartout accompanies him in the adventures that follow.

Lemuel Gulliver by Jonathan Swift
About the Character: Gulliver is the protagonist of the novel Gulliver's Travels written by Jonathan Swift in 1726. The book is considered a literary classic and recounts details of fictional travels of Lemuel Gulliver.

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
About the Character: David Copperfield is the protagonist of the novel by the same name written by British author Charles Dickens in 1849–50. The character faces several hardships from his childhood to his maturity before he finds true happiness.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
About the Character: Oliver Twist is a character in the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens published during 1837–39 as a serial. Oliver Twist is an orphan who endures cruelty in a workhouse before becoming entangled with a gang of thieves. He goes through various tribulations before being adopted by a friend of his father at the end of the novel.

Ebenezer Scrooge by Charles Dickens
About the Character: Ebenezer Scrooge is a wealthy but miserly and cold-hearted businessman in the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens written in 1843. The character became so popular that the name Ebenezer is today is used to denote any miserly person. However, by the end of the story, Scrooge undergoes a dramatic transformation, becoming generous, kind, and full of Christmas spirit.

Jay Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
About the Character: Jay Gatsby is an immensely wealthy man in the 1925 book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Despite his wealth his end is tragic as he is unable to win the love of his life.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
About the Character:Robinson Crusoe is the protagonist of the novel by the same name published in 1719 by Daniel Defoe. Crusoe survives a shipwreck and survives alone for 28 years on a remote island.

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
About the Characters: Tom Sawyer is a mischievous, adventurous boy growing up along the Mississippi River in the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain in 1876. The book also has Huckleberry Finn as Tom's friend. Finn is the main character in Mark Twain's book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written in 1884.

Mrs. Malaprop by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
About the Character: Mrs. Malaprop is a comically pretentious and linguistically confused character in Sheridan’s play The Rivals of 1775. She is an elderly woman who tries to sound sophisticated but frequently misuses words in an absurdly incorrect manner, often with hilarious results. She is best known for her malapropisms, a literary device where a word is mistakenly replaced with a similar-sounding but completely incorrect word. For example she says, He is the very pineapple of politeness for He is the very pinnacle of politeness.

Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
About the Character: Tarzan is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes. Tarzan first appeared in the novel Tarzan of the Apes in 1912 (magazine) and as a book in 1914).

Cartoon and Comic Strip Characters and Creators

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
About the Character: Calvin is a mischevious 6-year old boy accompanied by his stuffed tiger Hobbes. The first comic strip was published in 1985.

Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham
About the Character: The comic strip featuring a 5-year-old boy Dennis Mitchell first appeared in 1951.

Garfield by Jim Davis
About the Character: Garfield is a lazy cat obsessed with eating. The comic featured for the first time in 1976.

Popeye the Sailor by Elzie Crisler Segar
About the Character: Popeye the Sailor first appeared in the comic strip Thimble Theatre in 1929.

Archie Andrews by Bob Montana
About the Character: Archie Andrews is the main character in the Archies comic strip and first appeared in print in 1941. The other notable characters of the strip include Jughead, Veronica and Betty Cooper.

Phantom by Lee Falk
About the Character: The Phantom the main character of the American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in 1936. He is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla.

Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
About the Character: Superman first appeared in the comic book Action Comics in 1938.

Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
About the Character: Batman is a superhero who first appeared in the comic book Detective Comics in 1939.

Spiderman by Stan Lee
About the Character: Spider-Man is a superhero who first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy in 1962.

Legacy of Fictional Characters

Don Quixote
Don Quixote was the protagonist of the book of the Spanish novel Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605) by Cervantes. It was the queer behaviour that gave rise to the adjective quixotic which means foolishly impractical especially in pursuit of ideals.

Mrs. Malaprop
Mrs Malaprop was a comically pretentious and linguistically confused character in Sheridan’s play The Rivals of 1775. She attempts sophistication in her manners but oftne misuses words in an absurdly incorrect manner. Malapropism a word which the English language owes to her. It means "the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance".

Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge was the main character in the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. An extremely miserly man whose surname today is a noun used to mean a selfish and unfriendly person who is not willing to spend or give away money.

Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein is a scientist in a novel by the same name written by Mary Shelley in 1818. He creates a monster which turns against its maker. The monster kills people close to Frankenstein. Though the monster is unnamed in the novel, the name of the scientist, Frakenstein has come to be associated with something that harms the person or people who created it.