I think everyone has the same image for The Great Gatsby.
We actually did some research on this during one of the graduate classes I’m taking. Two images most recognized by people who had never actually read the literary work: Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels.
A poster of a man’s face, with the caption BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
A little boy standing in front of a large, snow-covered hotel in the mountains.
Dammit, people! HOw am I supposed to concentrate with such an excellent thread?!!?!?
Now someone has to compile all of these and give the hints/answers! I’m supposed to be working, or I’d try.
[ul]
[li]A line (left-to-right) of monkeys getting more upright, ending in a human.[/li][li]A picture of a man in a Yosemite-style lookout, looking at a distant forest fire and eating a can of beans.[/li][li]A burning book, with a high-temperature thermometer sitting on display.[/li][/ul]
Der Trihs…how about a disheveled albino with a small vial of medicine. Or a monstrous black sword if the albino thing isn’t enough?
-Cem
A terrifying and horrific looking man menacing a young boy in a foggy, shadowy church courtyard, among the tombstones.
A teenage boy in Renaissance attire gesturing toward a young lady perched on a balcony.
A man, beating his horse to death, surrounded by a crowd.
A young woman standing on a stage, covered in blood, wiht her eyes wide open.
Slee
A black man and a white woman, in Renaissance-era clothing, embracing.
Titles:
A hunchback in a French Cathedral with a single tear welling would ring a bell. ** Hunchback of Notre Dame**
A madeleine partly just touched in a cafe beside a diary should stir some remembrances. ** Remembrance of Times Past**
A great, fat man in Elizabethan dress could be none other. ** Henry IV**
A philosopher-alchemist in discourse with a demon indicates a unique bargain taking place. ** Dr Faustus**
A sleepwalking woman who will not stop her handwashing motions speaks of a sad end. ** Macbeth**
A handful of dust. ** The Wasteland**
A damsel with a dulcimer. ** Xanadu**
A knight in armour alone and pale’ly loitering. ** La Belle Dame Sans Merci**
A woman’s derriere extended out an ill lit window. ** Canterbury Tales**
A gallant swordsman with a prominent nose. ** Cyrano de Bergerac**
A painting in an attic showing the decay of a handsome young man. ** Portrait of Dorian Gray**
A prism monolith. ** The Sentinel ** (2001 is the film)
A blind young man in the dress of ancient greeks, blood streaming from his eye-sockets. ** King Oedipus**
A blind old man in ancient dress, blood streaming from his eye sockets. ** King Lear**
I didn’t know Bolingbroke was overweight, although his grandson’s cousin’s son is often portrayed as very fat.
The Elric series ! If answers are desired . . .
…not quite, but his half-brother’s great-great-grandson was a bit of a doozy. Which I can happen when you pastime with good company!
(If you must be pedantic, also please note that the thread title reads “Literary Works,” not characters. ;))
A beautiful young woman, a handsome rogue, a man in checkered trousers and another in a loincloth playing a flute, seated at a table around a mummified corpse.
A row of children in drab, similar clothing, each bouncing a ball in exact time with the rest.
A young woman in a prom dress, covered in blood.
A young man lounging on a beach with a typewriter and a bottle of rum.
A noticably headless man on the back of a wild black horse, waving an axe.
One tiny quibble. The deerstalker hat is not for urban wear. It’s more suitable wear for–say–a foggy moor.
But I would surely recognize a tall, aquiline figure in late Victorian genleman’s dress striding through the urban fog–perhaps towards a hansom cab. Followed by a shorter, stockier gentleman with a slight limp.
Let’s try it a bit differently.
Yes, a man in a loincloth would instantly bring to mind Tarzan, but would we instantly guess Tarzan if the very same picture was painted over so he was wearing a tuxedo.
How many of the above would fail that test? See what I mean? Paint Hamlet (as in my OP) in any style of dress, but have him holding Yorick’s skull, and 999 times out of a 1000 we’d all still guess “Hamlet.”
And I consider myself pretty well-read, but some of the fantasy series mentioned in clues left me scratching my head. I doubt a great many people (even very intelligent ones) would know of scenes from Eddings or Niven’s every series.
Sir Rhosis
A guy wih very long dark brown hair, face painted blue, wearing a kilt.
A woman in mid nineteenth century American dress standing in front of a burning Southern Plantation. (A bit confusing if you put her in a tuxedo I think)
A family of Okies riding in a 1930’s era pick-up. (Tuxedoes get you the Beverly Hillbillies.)
A man with the head of an ass and some fairies dancing around.
And I think a top five would have to be: A young man with a glowing blue sword fighting a tall guy with a black life-support helmet and a glowing pink sword.
(FWIW, I think the kids whitewashing the fence might be number one.)
On the obscure side:
A man with bright red hair diving off a tall rock face into a pond.
Two monks, one old and one young, walking toward a remote abbey.
And, one to make everyone wretch:
A man and a woman in a dark museum in front of the Mona Lisa with words, So Dark the Con of Man written across it.
I guess that should be a dead, naked man posed to resemble Vitruvian man with the words, “Oh, lame Saint” written in blood above his head.
Those two would be A Wrinkle in Time and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. (I might have added in one little boy chasing his ball out of sight, in the background for AWIT though, along a row of children jumping rope in time with the children playing ball.)
I don’t understand your quibble. Taking away Tarzan’s loincloth is like taking away Hamlet’s skull. It is the thing which identifies the character.
I agree with your quibble about the fantasy titles, though. I got the impression from the OP that we were looking for images that would call to mind a particular literary work for most people.