There are characters we love, there are characters we love to hate, and then there are characters we just hate. For most people, Rachel Berry tends to fall within the latter category. Yes, she was one of the greatest driving forces of Glee, but that doesn't mean she was a great character. Characters don't have to be likable to be interesting, but Rachel was none. More often than not, she got under the skin of the fans of the show with her spoiled attitude and entitled selfish tirades.
When the show ended, many were expecting some sort of redemption of her character, but with so many years of annoying dialogue and pretty questionable attitudes, that would be a difficult feat to accomplish. There are several examples of Rachel being mean and, at times, just a terrible person in general, and there are 10 times that illustrate just how much of a jerk Rachel Berry was.
When She Crept On Mr. Schue
Look, it's perfectly normal to develop a crush on a teacher. If Mr.Schue actually existed in a high school were hormones are pumping and times are confusing, students would be falling at his feet - the man is good looking, an amazing singer, and he can bust some serious moves.
However, Rachel's attitude when she was crushing on the teacher was slightly frightening. Instead of keeping it to herself, she took the creep factor to a whole other level, showing up at his house, cleaning, and cooking him meals - all while his wife watched. Again, it's okay to fancy a teacher, but keep it to yourself until it goes away. The poor guy was lost, and her rendition of Endless Love was so cringey and uncomfortable, it's hard to forget.
When She Disregarded Finn's Future
One of the absolute worst traits of Rachel's personality was just how unbelievably selfish she could be. She was ambitious to the point of doing awful things to remove those she perceived as potential threats out of the way (more on that later), but the worst part was how her selfishness was thoughtlessly carried out to her closest relationships.
Initially, her love for Finn bordered more on obsession that it did on actual romantic interest. After she finally managed to snatch him, when it was time to talk about the future she completely disregarded Finn's opinion and his wishes in regards to his own future. She simply expected him to follow her to New York while she chased her dream as if he was nothing but a cute accessory to have.
When She Had Brody Move In
No problem whatsoever in wanting to move in with your boyfriend in your early twenties. It's an experience pretty much everyone has, especially if you're in a new city after years of not enjoying that small-town life. However, it's absolutely not okay if you don't live alone and don't bother to consult your roommates before you do it. What kind of person does that?
Oh, right. A selfish one who lives in her own little fantasy world. I was a major jerk move when Rachel let her new boyfriend Brody move in with her, Sanatana, and Kurt, without so much as a heads up. She was a terrible roommate in general, but this was the cherry on top of the cake. A terrible cake.
When She Stalked Her Way To NYADA
We love an ambitious character who establishes goals for herself and then sets out to achieve them. It makes for compelling stories and, if done well, tales of finding inner strength and overcoming obstacles. But Rachel being Rachel, almost a caricature of a diva when she hears "no", she goes full-on stalker mode. Kind of like she went on Mr. Shue, but worse.
When she fails to get accepted into NYADA, the girls pretty much stalks Carmen Tibideaux in order to try and persuade to audition once more. There are letters, there are muffins...the works. If it weren't for her other less than desirable traits, perhaps this wouldn't be quite so bad, but considering the overall paradigm, it's just annoying.
When She Endlessly Complained About Tonsillitis
Yet another annoying moment that didn't fail to showcase Rachel's selfish nature yet again, was the whole tonsilitis ordeal. Of course, it was scary having to face the possibility of losing her voice. But the way she went about was all wrong - and the "I'm like Tinkerbell, I need applause to live" was enough to remove any shred of sympathy we might feel for her.
Finn had to take her to meet a friend of his who was paralyzed from the neck down to try to help her see this was hardly the end of the world, and still, she acted like the biggest victim the world had ever seen. The dramatics come in handy for Broadway, but we could do with a bit less out of the stage.
When She Pit Men Against Each Other
There's just something particularly mean about people who enjoy playing emotional games with other people who want nothing more than to be left out of the drama. Rachel's love for theatrics led her to try and make her real life into a full-blown dramatic motion picture, especially when it came to boys.
She loved seeing guys "fight" against each other for her (the best example being Finn and Jessie), and when she heard about Finn getting it on with Santana, she went after Puck to make him jealous, knowing how much she would hurt him, and completely disregarding Puck's feelings the entire time. Not exactly a contender for the "Good Person" award.
When She Went On A Date With Blaine
Rachel is hardly a good friend. One can be excused for not being a roommate, but not really for being a bad friend. One of the greatest examples of just how quickly Rachel was willing to go if it benefited her in any way, even if that meant hurting someone she was supposed to care about, is when she went on a date with Blaine.
The girl knew Kurt was head over heels in love with the guy, and still, she went ahead and took him out, in the hopes that something would come out of it. As we all know, Blaine was very much gay, but even if he weren't, from all the guys in the world, she had to choose the one her friend was in love with? Terrible.
When She Reacted To Santana's Sucess
Yet another nail on Rachel's coffin when it comes to friendship is Santana. Throughout the course of the show, the two had a lot of ups and downs, particularly in early seasons, when they were straight up enemies. However, as things moved on, and the two found themselves in New York sharing a flat and a close bond, things were supposed to be better.
Rachel loved to talk about how much she supported Santana and her dreams, but when the girl snatched the role of Rachel's understudy in Funny Girl, Rachel's reaction wasn't exactly friendly. Once she found out, all traces of friendship and support seemed to be thrown out the window - apparently, people are only entitled to those when they don't pose a threat.
When She Lied About a Teacher's Inappropriate Touching
This had to be one of the absolute worst things Rachel ever did in the pursuit of her dreams. Again, mind you, a certain degree of ambition is desirable, but when it gets to the point where you're willing to ruin innocent lives, you've got some serious issues - and Rachel had quite a lot of them, regardless of whether or not they were addressed on the show.
Sandy Ryerson gave her some pretty rough critique during his time as Glee Club director, and once this happened, Rachel spread the word that Sandy inappropriately touched a student in order to get him fired. Allegations like these are dangerous and could have landed the man in jail - all because the starlet felt like her career could be in jeopardy.
When She Tried To Deport Sunshine
And on the topic of ruining innocent lives, we get to this travesty of an action, that should've ended Rachel as a character in general. The girl's thirst for success could perhaps excuse some of the things she did during the course of the show, but this was just all sorts of gross.
When she hears Sunshine sing, she realizes what a fantastic artist the girl is, and instead of thinking what an amazing addition she could be to the Glee Club, she immediately thinks about competition and being pushed away from the spotlight. Once she realizes Sunshine will audition, she leads to her to a crackhouse - a crackhouse! - and almost gets the poor girl deported. Rachel has done some pretty questionable things, but this is just outright awful, petty, and wrong.