473. Obsessiveness

1. Ahab, Captain obsessed with whale. [Am. Lit.: Moby Dick ]
2. Allmers, Mrs. obsessed with crippled son. [Nor. Lit.: Little Eyolf]
3. Bounderby, Josiah single-minded success addict. [Br. Lit.: Hard Times ]
4. Cardillac goldsmith who murders to regain what he created. [Ger. Opera: Hindemith, Cardillac, Westerman, 487]
5. Chillingworth, Roger “very principle of his life [was] the systematic exercise of revenge.” [Am. Lit.: The Scarlet Letter ]
6. Craig, Harriet wrapped up in caring for her immaculate home, to the exclusion of all human relationships. [Am. Drama: Craig’s Wife in Hart, 191]
7. Defarge, Madame “everlastingly knitting” before the guillotine as heads fell. [Br. Lit.: A Tale of Two Cities ]
8. Dick, Mr. compulsively thinks, talks, and writes about King Charles’s head. [Br. Lit.: Dickens David Copperfield in Brewer Dictionary, 520]
9. Herman only goal in life becomes winning at cards. [Russ. Opera: Tchaikovsky, Queen of Spades, Westerman, 401]
10. Javert personification of law’s inexorableness; relentlessly tracks down Valjean. [Fr. Lit.: Les Miserables ]
11. Melford, Lydia could not think of anything but lover Wilson. [Br. Lit.: Humphry Clinker, Magill I, 394–397]
12. Nemo, Captain mysterious submarine captain who attempts vengeance against society. [Fr. Lit.: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ]
13. Séchard, David neglects his business in unremitting effort to perfect a paper-making process. [Fr. Lit.: Balzac Lost Illusions in Magill II, 595]
14. Tiberius determined at any cost to become Emperor. [Br. Lit.: I, Claudius ]