The article is devoted to the typology of the female character in world literature, which reflected the stereotype of the relationship between men and women, the idea of their status in the social hierarchy: a woman obeys the male dictates in the family and society, does not have the right to freedom of choice in love, to the realization of her abilities, even to self-awareness as a person. The subject of the image in fiction is a person with whom many philosophical, social, moral and ethical problems are associated. But their interpretation also testified to the advantages of a male beginning. Writers – representatives of various national literatures – emphasized male images, while literary heroines took a back seat. Therefore, highlighting the female character is important in creating a new paradigm of literary characters. The article highlights the evolution of the female character – from ancient times to the flowering of romanticism in world literature, characterizes the archetypes of female images, focusing on the «woman-warrior» type, which performs a centralizing function in the works of F. Schiller, Voltaire, and A. Mickiewicz. Thus, the typology of the female character is diverse. On the basis of the ideological and artistic analysis of the works, the leading types can be distinguished: woman-avenger, woman-temptress, Beautiful Lady, woman-warrior. Further research on the topic allows us to improve the paradigm of literary characters, to more deeply illuminate the peculiarities of the world literary process.