I found this decision easier than picking my favorite male character, but I was still torn over several (Jane Eyre, Elinor Dashwood, Scout Finch). For the sake of having as many different books on the list as possible, I've opted for Pride & Prejudice.
Elizabeth Bennett is one of my all-time favorite characters–and she holds up well on film, if you don't want to read the novel (in England & the States). She's feisty, affectionate, passionate for her family & sure of what she wants; she's Jane Austen's bet example of feminism before we even had the word.
Elizabeth calls out her sisters for their flighty affections & preoccupation of boys...
With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough — one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design — to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad — belongs to you alone.
...but she also admits that she could easy do the same...
A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.
and she does fall in love–rapidly, sincerely & rather confused about her predicament. Her times (and her mother) mandate that a good match & marriage are her purpose in life, a necessary step to save her family. But Elizabeth makes her love & her potential matrimony her own in a love story only Austen could write.
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