Famous Characters in Literature

Adam—(1) A character in the Bible; also in ‘Paradise Lost’ by Milton.

(2) In Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’–an aged servant of Orlando.
(3) In Shakespeare’s ‘Comedy of Errors’–Officer known by his dress, a skin coat.

Aladdin—A well-known character in the ‘Arabian Nights’, in possession of the magic ring and
lamp.

Alice—A little girl in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass’ by Lewis Carrol.

Ariel—In ‘The Tempest’ by William Shakespeare, an airy Spirit which is controlled by

Prospero.

Anna Karenina—The heroine of the novel of the same name by Leo Tolstoy.

Ancient Mariner—A character in the poem of the same name by S.T. Coleridge, who describes
his supernatural experiences to the wedding guests.

Antonio—A character in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by Shakespeare, Shylock the cruel money
lender, is bent on taking one pound of flesh from his body.

Bassanio—A friend of Antonio in ‘The Merchant of Venice.’

Beatrix—Heroine in W.M. Thackeray’s novel ‘Henry Esmond.’

Beatrice—Heroine of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’ She plays a delightful role
and is famous for her witty dialogues.

Brutus Mercus—The historic character in ‘Julius Caesar’ of Shakespeare. He assassinates his

friend Julius Caesar, the Emperor of Rome.

Christian—An allegorical character and hero of ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ of John Bunyan.

Clare—Hero of ‘Tess’ by Thomos Hardy.

Cleopatra—The heroine of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ of Shakespeare. She was the beautiful queen
of Egypt. G. B. Shaw also has dramatised her in his ‘Caesar and Cleopatra.’

Cordelia—The faithful and youngest daughter of Lear in Shakespeare’s play ‘King Lear’.

Desdemona—Faithful wife of Othello in Shakespeare’s drama ‘Othello.’

Don Quixote—A famous character in Cervente’s novel of the same name. He is an eccentric
figure striking at a wind mill taking it for a giant.
Don Juan—A character in the poem of the same name by Lord Byron.

Dushyanta—Husband of Shakuntala and the hero of the play in Kalidasa’s Abhigyan

Shakuntlam.’

Frankenstein—The monster character in the novel of the same name by Mrs. Shelley. His
counterpart in Indian mythology is Bhasmasur.

Gora—Hero of the novel of the same name by Dr. Rabindra Nath Tagore.

Hawkins—The hero of R.L. Stevenson’s novel ‘Treasure Island.’

Hyde—The terrifying character in ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ by R. L. Stevenson.

Macbeth—A model of overweening ambition in Shakespeare’s play of the same name.

Micawber—A comic character in Charles Dicken’s novel ‘David Copperfield.’ He is a type of

the optimist for whom something may turn up.

Oliver Twist—A poor orphan boy and hero of Charles Dicken’s novel of the same name.

Dr. Zhivago—The hero of the novel of the same name by Boris Pasternak. He is shown as a
critic of Bolshevism.

Famous Indian Authors

Assamese
Hem Chandra Barua, Madhav Kondali, Hem Chand Goswami, Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya
(Recipient of Jnanpith Award, 1979), Nilmani Phukan (Winner of Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad
Award 2000), Apoorva Sharma (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), Indira Goswami
(Winner of the Jnanpith Award for 2000), Mahima Bora (Recipient of Sahitya Academy Award,
2001), Nalinidhar Bhattacharya (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2002-03), Vireshwar Barua
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2003-04), Hirendra Nath Dutt (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2004-05), Yeshe Dorji Thongchi (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2005), Atulanand
Goswami (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2006)], Purabi Bormudoi (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2007), Rita Choudhury (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2008).

Bangla
B. B. Bandhopadhyay, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Tara Shanker
Bandhopadhyaya (Recipient of Bhartiya Jnanpith Award, 1966), Sarat Chandra, R.C. Dutt, Kazi
Nazrul Islam, Machel Madhusudan Datt, Premendra Mitra, Vishnu Dey (Recipient of Jnanpith
Award of 1971), Ashapoorna Devi (Recipient of Jnanpith Award, 1976), Subhash
Mukhopadhyaya and Smt. Mahasweta Devi (Recipient of Jnanpith Award 1991 and 1996
respectively), Jai Goswami (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), Atin Bandyopadhyay
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2001-2002), Sandeepan Chattopadhyaya (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award 2002-03), Prafulla Ray (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2003-04),
Sudir Chakravarti (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05), Sunil Gangopadhyaya (Winner
of Saraswati Samman-2004), Vinay Majumdar (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award-2005),
Amar Mitra (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2006), Samarendra Sen Gupta (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award 2007), Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2008).

Gujarati
Mirabai, Narsingh Mehta, K.M. Munshi, Uma Shanker Joshi (Recipient of Jnanpith Award,
1967), Goverdhan Ram Parmanand, Narmada Sagar, Panna Lal Patel (Winner of the 1985
Jnanpith Award), Vinesh Ataani (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), Dhiruben Patel
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2001-2002), Dhruv Bhatt (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2002-03), Rajendra Keshavlal Shah (Honoured with Jnanpith Award 2001), Bindu Bhatt
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2003-04), Amrit Lal Vegad (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2004-05), Suresh Dalal (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award-2005), Rajendra Shukla
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2007), Suman Shah (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award
2008).

Hindi
Shree Lal Shukla (Winner of 1999 Vyas Samman), Nirmal Verma (Recipient of Moorti Devi
Award in 1995 and Jnanpith Award for 1999), Dr. Ram Vilas Sharma (Recipient of Bharat
Bharati Puruskar and many other distinctions. Krishna Sobti and Giriraj Kishore (both winners of
Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad Award, 2000), Manglesh Dabral (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award
for 2000). P.C.K. Prem (Recipient of Hindi Ratan Award in 2001), Ramdarsh Misra (Recipient
of Shalaka Samman 2001-02), Alka Saraogi (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2001-2002),
Dr. Ram Murthy Tripathy (Winner of Shankar Puruskar, 2001), Rajesh Joshi (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2002-03), Kamleshwar (Winner of Shalaka Samman 2002-03), S. R. Harnot
(Recipient of Indu Sharma Katha Samman 2003), Dr. Biswambha Pahi (Recipient of Shanker
Puruskar 2002), Rajendra Yadav (Recipient of Shalaka Samman of Hindi Academy 2003),
Vibhuti Narayan Rai (Recipient of Katha ‘U.K.’ honour), Prem Ranjan Animesh (Recipient of
Bharat Bhushan Award for Excellence in Poetry-2004), Veeren Dangwal (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2004-05), Marudhur Mridul (Winner of Bihari Puruskar-2004), Pt. Vidya
Niwas Misra (Recipient of Padma Bhushan Award), Mridula Garg (Recipient of Vyas Samman
-2004), Pramod Tiwari (Recipient of Indu Sharma Katha Samman, 2005), Prof. Kamlesh Dutta
Tripathi (Recipient of Bhasha Samman (2005) of Sahitya Academy, Bhagwan Singh (Recipient
of Shankar Puruskar, 2005), Chandrakanta (Recipient of Vyas Samman for 2005), Marudhar
Mridul (recipient of Bihari Puruskar for 2004), Kunwar Narayan (Honoured with Shalaka
Samman for 2005-06). Asgar Vajahat (Recipient of Indu Sharma Katha Samman-2006),
Gyanendra Pati (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2006), Amarkant (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2007), Govind Mishra (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2008).
Kannada
Masti Venkatesh Iyengar (winner of the Jnanpith Award, 1983), Prof. V.R. Anandmurti (Winner
of Jnanpith Award, 1994), Girish Karnad (Winner of Jnanpith Award, 1998), Shanti Nath Desai
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), S. Narayan Shetty Sujan (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2002-03), K. B. Subanna (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2003- 04),
Geetha Nagabhushan (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05), Raghvendra Patil (Winner
of Sahitya Academy Award-2005), Veerbhadrappa (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2007),
Shrinivas B. (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2008).

Malayalam
O. Chandu Menon, K.V. Raman Pillai, G. Shanker Kurup (Recipient of Bhartiya Jnanpith
Award, 1965, author of Odakhugal), Kumaran Asan, Narayan Menon, Mohd. Basheer Vallathol,
S.K. Pottekkat (Recipient of Bhartiya Jnanpith Award, 1980), Takshi Shivshanker Pillai (Winner
of the Jnanpith Award, 1984), M.T. Vasudevan Nair (Winner of the Jnanpith Award, 1995), Dr.
M. Lilavati (Winner of Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad Award, 2000), R. Ram Chandran (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), Attoor Ravivarma (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award
2001-2002), K.G. Shanker Pillai (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2002-03), Sarah Joseph
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2003-04), Paul Zakaria (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2004-05), G. V. Kakkanadan (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award-2005), Prof. K.
Ayyappa Paniker (Recipient of Saraswati Samman for 2005), M. Sukumaran (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2006), A. Sethumadhavan (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2007), (Late)
K. P. Appan (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2008).

Marathi
Hari Narayan Apte, Tukaram Mahaya, V. S. Khandekar (Recipient of Jnanpith Award, 1974),
Shirwadkar (Jnanpith Award, 1987), Binda Karandikar (Winner of Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad
Award, 2000), N. D. Mahanore (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), Rajan Gavas
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2001-02), Mahesh Elkunchwar (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2002-03), T.V. Sardeshmukh (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2003-04),
Sadanand Deshmukh (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05), Arun Kolhatkar (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award-2005), Vinda Karandikar (Recipient of Jnanpith Award-2003), Ashe
Bage (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2006), G. M. Pawar (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2007), Shyam Manohar (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2008).

Oriya
Gopalabandhudas, Radha Nath Roy, Gopi Nath Mohanti (Recipient of Jnanpith Award, 1973),
Dr. Saachchidanand Raut Rai (Recipient of Jnanpith Award, 1986), Dr. Sitakant Mahapatra
(Winner of Jnanpith Award, 1993), M. Neelmani Sahu (Winner of Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad
Award, 2000), Pratibha Rai (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), Manoj Das (Winner
of Saraswati Samman for 2000) and Fellowship of Sahitya Academy in 2006), Pratibha Satpathy
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2001-2002), Sharat Kumar Mohanti (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2002-03), Jatindra Mohan Mohanti (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2003-
04), Prafull Kumar Mohanty (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05), Pandit Dukhisyama
Pattanayak (Recipient of Bhasha Samman (2005) of Sahitya Academy, Ram Chandra Behra
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award-2005), Bansidhar Sarangi (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2006), Deepak Mishra (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2007), Pramod Kumar
Mohanty (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2008).

Punjabi
Dhani Ram Chatrik, Bhai Vir Singh, Amrita Preetam (Recipient of Padma Vibhushan in 2004),
Waris Shah, Balwant Gargi, Nanak Singh, Gurudayal Singh (Recipient of 1999 Jnanpith Award),
Surjit Pattar (Winner of Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad Award, 2000), Varyam Singh Sandhu (Winner
of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), Dev (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2001-2002), Dr.
Dalip Kaur Tiwana (Recipient of Saraswati Samman 2001 and Padam Sri in 2004), Harbhajan
Halwarvi (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2002-03), Charan Das Siddhu (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2003-04), Satinder Singh Noor (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05),
Gurbachan Singh Bhullar (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award- 2005), Ajmer Singh Aulakh
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2006), Jaswant Deed (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award
2007).

Sanskrit
Bhasa, Kalidas, Bana Bhatt, Bhartrihari, Bhavbhuti, Kalhan, Valmiki., Prof. Rasik Behari Joshi
(Recipient of Vachaspati Puruskar, 1999), Prof. Ram Chandra Narayan Dandekar,
Ramanujtatacharya (Recipient of Vachaspati Puruskar for 2000), Psriramachandrudu (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award 2001-2002), Dr. Gajanan Balkrishna Palsule (Recipient of Vachaspati
Puruskar 2001), Kashinath Misra (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2002-03), Pt. Mohan Lal
Sharma (Recipient of K.K. Birla Foundation’s Vachaspati Puruskar 2002), Vijaydan Detha
(Recipient of Bihari Puruskar 2002), Bhaskaracharya Tripathi (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2003-04), Prof. Govind Chandra Pandey (Recipient of Saraswati Samman-2003),
Acharya P. Ramchandudu (Recipient of Vachaspati Puruskar-2003), Kalanath Shastri (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05), Prof. Ram Karan Sharma (Winner of Vachaspati Puruskar-
2004), Swami Rambhadracharya (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award-2005), Acharya Ramyatna
Shukla (Recipient of Vachaspati Puruskar for 2005), Harshdev Mahadev (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2006), Dr. Bhaskaracharya Tripathi (Winner of Vachaspati Puruskar 2006),
Hari Dutt Sharma (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2007), Om Prakash Pandey (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award 2008).

Tamil
Subramaniam Bharati, Ramalingam Navakhal, P.V. Akilandam (Winner of Jnanpith Award,
1975), Dr. Indira Parathasarathi (Recipient of Saraswati Samman for 1999), T.G. Shivshankarn
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), C.S. Chellappa (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award 2001-2002), Sirpi Balasubramanian (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2002-03), R.
Vermatu (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2003-04), Sunder Ramaswami (Recipient of Kath
Chunamani Puruskar, 2004), Tamilban (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05), D.
Jaykanthan (Winner of Jnanpith Award-2002), G. Tilkavati (Winner of Sahitya Academy
Award-2005), Neela Padmanabhan (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2007), Melannai
Ponnusamy (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2008).

Telugu
Vishwanatha Satya Narayan (Recipient of Bhartiya Jnanpith Award, 1970, author of
Sreemadramayan Kalpavraksham), Tirupati, Lakshmi Narasimhan, C.N. Reddy (Jnanpith
Award, 1988), Dr. Vasireddy Sita Devi (Winner of Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad Award, 2000), N.
Gopi (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award for 2000), Tirumala Ramchandra (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award for 2001-2002), Chekuri Ram Rao (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2002-
03), Naveen (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05), Abboori Chhaya Devi (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award-2005), Munipillai Raju (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2006),
Gadiaram Ramkrishna (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2007).

Urdu
Mohd. Iqbal, Mirza Galib, Raghupati Sahay Firaq (Recipient of Bhartiya Jnanpith Award, 1969,
author of Gul-e-Naghma), Altaf Hussain, Josh Malihabadi, Gyan Chandra Jain (author of
Tafseer-a-Ghalib), Sikander Ali Waid, Ms. Qurratul Hyder (Winner of Jnanpith Award, 1989),
Ali Sardar Jafri (Winner of Jnanpith Award, 1997), Ibrahim Yusuf and Joginder Pal (Winner of
Iqbal Samman for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 respectively), Amber Bahraichi (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award for 2000), Nayyar Masood (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2001-2002),
Prof. Gopi Chand Narang (Winner of Majlis Faroge Urdu Adab Award in 2002 and Padma
Bhushan in 2004)), Kaifi Azmi (Recipient of Sahitya Academy Fellowship in 2002), Gulzar
(Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2002-03), Syed Mohammad Ashraf (Winner of Sahitya
Academy Award 2003-04), Salaam bin Razzak (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2004-05),
Shaharyar (Winner of M. P. Government’s Iqbal Samman-2004-05), Kazi Abdul Sattar
(Recipient of Farog-e-Adab Award, 2005, Zabir Hussain (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award-
2005), Bahab Asharfi (Winner of Sahitya Academy Award 2007), Jayant Parmar (Winner of
Sahitya Academy Award 2008).

Famous Indian Writers in English

Rabindra Nath Tagore, K. M. Munshi, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Sarojini Naidu, Toru Dutt,
Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Lala Har Dayal, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Jawahar Lal
Nehru, C. Rajgopalachari, Ashok Mehta, P. Seshadri, N.V. Thadain, Ramesh Chandra Dutt, Mrs.
Nayantara Sehgal, K.A. Abbas, Raja Rao, Nirad C. Chaudhari, Khushwant Singh, Anita Desai,
Arundhati Roy, Shobha De, Amit Chaudhury, Jhumpa Lahiri (Indian-American), Vikram Seth,
Amitav Ghosh.