This is my question: What's the most horrific thing you've seen a character do that you've managed to see past and still empathise with them, even if not at the same level? I don't mean villains that are still charming and alluring, but the "hero" of a plot.
I mean, we'd all (probably) not be okay if Harry Potter or Frodo started raping the corpses of everything they found. Even though that'd be hilarious.
Examples I can think of are:
- Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. Sympathetic and vivid despite his murders and ensuing arrogance and unrepetenance.
- Walter White in Breaking Bad (TV show). Several times I've been abhorred by something he's done but still tune in and root for him.
And while I love Lolita and The Ginger Man, and enjoy the protagonists's company, I'm never actually on their side.
This is what I'm getting at: What's the most terrible thing you've forgiven a protagonist for?
Patrick Bateman is an obvious one. Too obvious really.
I'll go with Donald Draper from Mad Men, despite his womanizing, heavy drinking and identity fraud, who can deny his charm and talent for the advertising industry. Hmm doesn't sound much different from Pat Bateman (minus the raping and killing prostitutes.)
Agreed on Draper.
I'd like to add Al Swearengen from HBO's Deadwood to the list. I despised him at first, but now he's my favourite character on the show (although, to be fair, I'm not finished the show yet - I'm one episode into the third and final season). I can see past all of his murders and cruelty - and that's as much detail as I'll go into, because you really have to watch the show to understand completely.
If the raping and killing of prostitutes actually happened. At least he's left kids alone, unlike Clay. Fisting the little girl in Palm Springs...? Shoving his hand in her mouth, getting the little boy hooker to fuck her, chase her, fuck her some more. Wonder what he did before it was edited? Anyway. Clay is much worse that Pat Bateman, to me at least.
But I still like him. And I like Draper, too. Good one, Jack.
Yes, Deadwood is freaking epic.
Oh and I guess Dexter Morgan too.
I think the main problem is not having an unforgivable character but having an unforgivable character that the reader does not hate, and thus would not care enough to read on.
An example is to give them a universal humane trait. For example, in Breaking Bad, Walter does everything he does to provide for his family. He is a genius at what he does, and only really turns evil for the protection of others.
In American Psycho perhaps it was the satire or the fact that Bateman hated his own lifestyle and other people as much as the reader did. He was never redeemed per ce but emphasied with by modern readers who also felt trapped or could relate.
Palahniuk used the fish in Survivor as a way of showing a humane trate, by having it die it showed how much the character felt an attachment to it.
As far as Draper is concerned, I started liking him a lot more when we began to see the "real" Betty. That vindictive mood-swinging bitch might push any man into another woman's bed. In the spirit of full disclosure ... I do think the change in her character is brilliant.
Mansfield from We Are Oblivion by Michael Sonbert is a good one for this debate. He does some pretty awful things on his journey but still kept me on his team. Good book that.
Everyone in Man Bites Dog, you just have to remind yourself it's a satire every once in a while.
