Classic literature memes, explained
The idioms, images and one-liners from twelve classic novels that escaped the book and became cultural shorthand, from “a Jekyll and Hyde” to Frankenstein’s monster. Each one is traced back to the exact scene, the original line, and what the writer was actually doing on the page.
Most famous memes
One from each novel
The DiCaprio Cheers
The toast meme that means the opposite of triumph
It's alive!
The most-quoted line from Frankenstein is not in the book
A Jekyll and Hyde
The universal idiom that misreads the entire book
I woke up as a bug
The most-quoted opening line that softens what Kafka actually wrote
The Lake Scene
The moment a TV screenwriter rewrote Jane Austen forever
The Portrait That Ages
The image in the attic that aged for everyone who tags a selfie
By book
- Book 1 · 1925
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Book 2 · 1915
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka
- Book 3 · 1843
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
- Book 4 · 1892
The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Book 5 · 1886
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
- Book 6 · 1899
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad
- Book 7 · 1818
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
- Book 8 · 1899
The Awakening
Kate Chopin
- Book 9 · 1890
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
- Book 10 · 1813
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
- Book 11 · 1856
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert
- Book 12 · 1866
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Frequently asked
What are classic literature memes?
They are the lines, scenes and ideas from classic novels that escaped the book and became cultural shorthand: idioms like "a Jekyll and Hyde", images like Frankenstein's monster, or one-liners repeated so often that most people never read the original. Each page here traces the meme back to the exact passage and explains what the book actually said.
Which classic novel produced the most memes?
Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the two most meme-generating novels in English; both gave us a permanent idiom and a stock character that outran the book. The Great Gatsby (the raised-glass toast) and Pride and Prejudice (its opening line) follow closely.
Do these memes match the original text?
Yes. Every entry quotes the original public-domain passage, names the speaker and the chapter, and adds a short note on what the meme dropped or changed on the way to becoming a cliche.
Read the books behind the memes
readClassicly is a free 12-month plan that takes you through all twelve classics, one chapter at a time. Daily page goals, a private reading tracker, a short quiz before each next book.
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