Bookworms and lit enthusiasts assemble. We’re all set to bring our tragic heroes to life — except this time, they’re less about brooding over doomed fates and more about brooding over how relatable they are. We know you’re here because you have a deep appreciation for Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter, or maybe you have a soft spot for those tragically misunderstood characters who end up making terrible life choices, like literally everyone in Wuthering Heights.
These are the memes that you cannot say out loud in your research paper, but you definitely share them in the group chat at 2 a.m.. You know the ones — the ones that roast your favorite literary characters, throw shade at plot holes, and make you question how in the world you're going to finish this semester without accidentally quoting Pride and Prejudice in your essay.
1) Nocturnal creatures
One fine day, their Google Docs will rise like Frankenstein's monster.
2) Of course you are!
Your standards are high only because you're busy dating someone who lives in italics.
3) Eternal damnation
He actually wrote a centuries-old bestseller only to call out people. Brutal, pretty, iconic.
4) Pettiness so refined
We can also say that Austen invented the literary subtweet because this was not just a shade, this was a full eclipse.
5) Revenge novels
The real horror was Mr. Collins showing up with a marriage proposal, not Lady So-and-So has arrived.
6) It's a Regency-era sitcom
It's like no one in the 19th century knew how to stay home for once.
7) Shakespeare's tragic heroes
They all need to take a deep breath and gather some facts or maybe have a thing called conversation.
8) Literary cocktail
The world is full of meaning and you are not sober enough to figure it out.
9) Don't get ahead of yourself
Kids, you are all set to get a lesson in humility and your main character is literally a block of timber.
10) Macbeth reimagined
Here, Macbeth's downfall comes from clicking on a pop-up and spending the next few years convincing everyone that he was destined to receive it.
11) Perfect pairing
Well, aren't they both stuck in a never-ending agony?
12) To be or not to be?
Hamlet is the OG I'm not sad, I'm just a deep person. He gives off major existential crisis vibes.
13) It's about aesthetics though
In short, Gatsby is more like I look smart but don't ask me to cite sources.
14) He is too smart for this world
He starts by claiming that he is a genius, then proceeds to spend the rest of the book just falling apart.
15) Shakespearean fool
He's the kind of guy who makes you think wow he gets it but then lowkey dodges any real commitment.
16) Macbeth treatment, huh?
when you're all hyped up about becoming the king and the universe hits you with guilt, murder, and paranoia.
17) No biggie, just classic
And somehow everyone is emotionally destroyed by the time you are good to go.
18) Ready to die
Everyone is flexing like they've got this deep cause to die for.
From Shakespearean drama to the angst of tortured souls, these memes have turned your favorite literary moments into hilarious, relatable moments we can all laugh at (even if we’d never admit it in our lit classes).