Ian Fleming’s fictional secret agent James Bond is in a league of his own as far as the smoothest literary heroes of all time are concerned, while 101 Dalmations’ leading lady Cruella de Vil has been rated the coldest maiden in a new research project released today.
The study was commissioned by Del Monte® Smoothies to celebrate summer’s coolest iced refreshment. A team of academics were tasked with researching the leading literary men who ooze charm, sophistication and persuasiveness and the females who are considered the most cold, cruel and guarded.
Led by Professor John Sutherland from University College, London, literary expert and Chair of the Judges for the Man Booker Prize (2005), the team spent two months trawling the annals of literature to produce the first report of its kind before their findings were voted on by more than 2,000 people.
The research reveals the smoothest hero in literature is 007, thanks to his macho charm which sees him enjoying a string of affairs with glamorous women, seducing them with lines such as 'That's quite a nice little nothing you're almost wearing. I approve.' (Diamonds Are Forever).
He may not have given a damn in the end, but Rhett Butler from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind has been voted a real smoothie by wooing Scarlett O’ Hara with a lingering kiss and the line 'I want you to faint'.
Completing the top three is Hannibal Lecter from Thomas Harris’ psychological thriller The Silence of The Lambs who admits 'I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti'.
Irvine Welsh’s Sick Boy (Trainspotting) charms under-age girls with the complacent line 'I’m a lover not a fighter', while Bram Stoker’s Dracula is silky smooth when he opens the door to Jonathan, saying 'Welcome to Castle Dracula, Mr Harker' before imprisoning him there.
Michael Dobbs’ Conservative Chief Whip Francis Urquhart (House of Cards) gets around difficult questions with the phrase 'You may very well think that... I couldn’t possibly comment'.
Completing the top ten are Don Vito Corleone from Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Alec in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’urbervilles, Jay in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Voldemort in J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.
Jacqueline Walters says; :While all of these characters are smooth operators, their endgames vary James Bond successfully seduces a string of women and Francis Urquhart advances his career, Dracula and Hannibal Lecter have a more sinister aim. What they share is their ability to use their charm to get what they want."
Smoothest Heroes in Literature:
1 James Bond (James Bond series by Ian Fleming)
2 Rhett Butler (Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell)
3 Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris)
4 'Sick Boy' (Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh)
5 Dracula (Dracula by Bram Stoker)
6 Francis Urquhart (House of Cards by Michael Dobbs)
7 Don Vito Corleone (The Godfather by Mario Puzo)
8 Alec (Tess of The D’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy)
9 Jay (The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
10 Voldemort (Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire by J K Rowling)
When it comes to female literary characters, Dodie Smith’s fur-loving Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians has been voted the iciest literary figure. Her assertion that 'We lose more women to marriage than war, famine and disease', suggests perhaps that it is not just the spotted dogs who ought to feel afraid!
Shakespeare, who is arguably the master of creating the icy female lead, has claimed both the second and third spots with two of his most famous literary heroines; Lady Macbeth who chills readers when she retorts 'Infirm of purpose; give me daggers' when confronting her husband Macbeth, and Cleopatra who tells Antony 'Fool! Don’t you see I could have poisoned you a hundred times had I been able to live without you.'
The Snow Queen, with her offer to 'kiss you to death' and Charles Dickens’ Estella who acquiesces to Miss Havisham’s order that she 'Break their hearts my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!' complete the top five.
In sixth place is Gone with The Wind’s Scarlett O’Hara who toys with the affections of Rhett Butler and Ashley Wilkes, while the first Mrs de Winter in Rebecca takes seventh place an example of her coldness being when she tells her husband that she is pregnant with another man’s child saying 'I’ll be the perfect mother, Max, like I’ve been the perfect wife'.
Jane Austen’s Elizabeth reveals her true feelings for Mr Darcy when asked when she first fell in love with him, 'I think it must date from my first seeing the beautiful grounds at Pemberley'.
Lolita, who teases the smitten Humbert Humbert, says 'Carry me upstairs. I feel sort-of romantic tonight.' and Cathy from Wuthering Heights who asks Heathcliff 'Let me in your window I’m so cold' complete the top ten.
Iciest Heroines in Literature
1 Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith)
2 Lady Macbeth (Macbeth by William Shakespeare
3 Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare)
4 The Snow Queen (The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis)
5 Estella (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
6 Scarlett O’Hara (Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell)
7 Mrs De Winter (Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier)
8 Elizabeth (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
9 Lolita (Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov)
10 Cathy (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte)
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