If you remember, last week we talked about strong female characters, and some things that make them truly strong. At the end of that article, I said I would write about weak female characters next. So, as promised, this week, I am writing about weak female characters, and how you can make them effective in a story.

The Weak Female

When we think of weak female characters, what do we think? For me, it’s the princess stereotype. Helpless, brainless, gullible, defenseless, fragile. The story of the Princess and the Pea is a great example of this stereotype. This kind of character really plays no part in the story beyond being pretty and sometimes showing how wonderful and strong the prince is. They fail in stories, because they are not effective except as an eye-rolling exercise. But this is not what I am talking about when I mean ‘weak’ female characters.

What Makes a Weak Female Character?

The definition of weak varies depending on who you are. Just like with the strengths, there are the same weaknesses. A ‘weak’ female character is not necessarily devoid of all strength. You can have a weak character who is physically strong. The weakness comes mostly from fear, emotional sensitivity, or mental sensitivity.

Fear

We all know what fear is. We all know how it affects us. Fear affects every character, too, since, after all, characters are just people in books instead of the ‘real world.’ But how they let fear affect them separates the hero from the coward, and the strong woman from the weak woman. Giving into fear does not always lead to betrayal, or death, or something dreadful. For the weak woman, it leads to seclusion, physical, emotional, and mental sensitivity, stagnation, or laziness. This, of course, leads to her being completely helpless, and in need of rescue, not necessarily from the monster or the evil wizard, but from herself.

Emotional Sensitivity

As a young woman, I know what it is like to be emotionally sensitive, and I still struggle with it at times. Emotional sensitivity is a natural thing for a woman, but it is something that has to be overcome to live real life instead of the fairy-tale princess life. The weak woman has not exercised this emotional strength. This leads to her feelings being easily hurt, to difficulties leaving her incapacitated, to her fear overcoming her sense, and to a secluded and sedentary lifestyle that is not good for her.

Mental Sensitivity

This could be called gullibility, naïvety, childishness. Mental sensitivity can also be called stupidity. It is difficult to pinpoint what causes mental sensitivity, which makes it difficult to write a good weak woman who is mentally sensitive. But some things could be the following of fashion and trends, which, at times, values stupidity and gullibility in women over real intelligence and sense, fear, as mentioned above, and laziness, making oneself purposefully stupid so that others will do everything for them.

How to use a Weak Female Character

We have seen a few things that can make a weak female character. Now, how do you use that character? It is easy to make a weak female character extremely pathetic and a perfect example of all the problems that women have. It is not so easy to make her effective using her weaknesses.

Character Growth

The first way to use the weak woman to make a good story is to show how she grows through the story, turning into the strong woman, sending her through difficult times that test her and show her where she is failing. No one can prove how strong, or weak, they are until they are thrown into a situation where they have to become stronger or die. Character growth shows the weak woman her weaknesses to make her strong.

Teaching Your Audience

Another way is to teach your audience. You can do this through character growth, as the reader follows the struggles of the character, but this really only works best if your weak female character is the protagonist. What if she is a side character, or an antagonist, or what if your story is a Greek tragedy, where the character dies in the end, never having learned? Then show your audience, through the weak woman’s failures, of their own failures, the pitfalls that these failures lead to, and that they need to change. Or, if your story is a little happier, but the character is a side character, show in the end how she has become stronger, through a specific act that demonstrates her character growth.

Drive

Yes, it is the typical fairy-tale trope. The prince goes on his quest to rescue the princess. In itself, it ends up rather flat, and the weak woman is just the hopeless damsel in distress waiting to be saved. But when you do it right, and paired with character growth/teaching your audience, it can work very well. Whether the prince is your protagonist or the princess is your protagonist, the princess, through her weakness, drives the prince to act, to go through hardships, to persevere. Surprisingly enough, her weakness makes the prince stronger.

Conclusion

Weak female characters are just as useful in a story as strong female characters, but they play different roles. I have not mentioned all the possibilities that weak female characters have, to be honest, I have not done much with them in my own stories. But just as with every character, they have a part to play, and when it’s done well, it can be very effective. When done badly, it ends up flat.

Next Week…

And so we have finished with the strong and weak female characters. As I was writing this, I mentioned the prince, and that got me thinking: What about strong and weak male characters? Next Thursday, I will talk about writing strong male characters. Until then, keep writing, keep learning, keep growing.