Elizabeth Bennet — Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet — witty, independent, self-aware, and unjustly prejudiced — is the most beloved female protagonist in the history of the English novel. In a society that offered women almost no legal or economic independence, she exercises moral and intellectual authority with such grace that she defined the template for the modern heroine. BBC's 1995 adaptation confirmed she remains as vivid and compelling as any contemporary character.