🕳️ Classic Books with Plot Holes

Even the masterpieces have their messy moments.

✨ Before you sharpen your pitchforks, hear me out…

📚 "Wait, how did they know that?" — Narrators with psychic powers
🛸 "Couldn’t they just fly there?" — Plot solutions that were right there
💔 "One honest convo could’ve solved this." — Miscommunication central

Even the greatest authors leave behind a head-scratcher or two. But the beauty of classics is that we love them because of their flaws, not in spite of them. Here's a lovingly critical look at some literary legends who... maybe needed a second draft.

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🧟‍♂️ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Plot Hole: The monster learns to read, speak French, and debate Milton by spying on a family from the woods?

“I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel...”
He quotes Paradise Lost, but hasn’t even stepped into a schoolhouse. Okay, genius monster. We’ll allow it—but we’re side-eyeing the timeline.

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🐋 Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

Plot Hole: Ishmael narrates scenes he wasn’t present for... and survives a shipwreck no one else does.

“Call me Ishmael.”
Yeah, we did. But we didn’t expect you to be everywhere at once like the ghost of nautical Christmas past.

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🧝‍♂️ The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Plot Hole: The eagles, y’all. Why didn’t they just fly Frodo to Mount Doom?

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”
True. But a giant eagle would've sped things up a lot.

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🕯️ Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Plot Hole: Nelly narrates 30 years of drama, complete with quotes and emotional nuance she had no way of knowing.

“I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free.”
Same. But we also wish Nelly had let someone else tell the story, preferably someone not constantly eavesdropping.

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💔 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Plot Hole: Rochester has a literal wife in the attic. Doesn’t mention it.

“Reader, I married him.”
Sure. But first he tried to marry you while still married. That’s not romance—that’s a legal issue.

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🏹 The Odyssey by Homer

Plot Hole: Odysseus returns after 20 years, kills 100+ suitors, and his wife’s just like, “Yeah okay, checks out.”

“Endure, my heart; you’ve endured worse than this.”
Penelope: the original queen of ignoring red flags and plot gaps.

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Why we love them anyway:
Flawed plots don’t ruin great books. They give us something to debate, meme, and marvel over. Because when the writing is beautiful, the characters unforgettable, and the themes eternal—we’ll gladly suspend our disbelief for 300 pages (or 800).

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Your turn:
What’s a classic book you adore, despite its logic gaps? Or one plot hole that drives you mad every time you read it?

Let’s spill the literary tea in the comments 🍵

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With calm,
Karen