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Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Men of Jane Austen Part 1

This is the last challenge for the All Jane Austen Challenge. I will be the first to admit that I picked lighter challenges at the beginning so that I would have enough time to give to this one. Had I been smart I would have been working on it from the beginning but, I am not that smart.
Even with 3 full months this was a heavy one to handle.

Mr. Darcy Mr. Darcy Mr. Darcy.
Everyone loves Mr. Darcy. More spin offs have been written around him then I can count.
Why do we love him so much? That is the question.


Mr. Bingley. I have always felt should have gotten more air time.

I was going to break this down to the heroes and the villains but, was unable to keep from wanting to add Frank Churchill to the heroes when most consider him a villain. So, that idea went out the window. Then I started a list of the men, and well I know I am forgetting a few.

*Mr. Tilney

*Mr. Knightley.

*Colonel Brandon

*Mr. Wentworth

*Mr. Ferrars

See what I mean.

In Jane Austen Book Club, the character of Grigg is a mix of Mr. Knightley and Mr. Bingley. He's loyal, sweet and witty. The traits of most of Austen's men who are more the sidekicks then the center heroes.
As well in JABC, the character of Dean is viewed as a slight take on Edward Ferrars and Capt. Wentworth. Solid, dependable, passionate enough but still not the visible hero.

But what of our Henry Crawford?

In JABC the character of Trey is our token bad boy, (one of as the other "bad boy" in Jane Austen Book Club is a girl) as a full out Henry Crawford.
Few of the Austen villains are borderline nice guys, Mr. Crawford from Mansfield Park is one of them. I know I am going to get alot of reactions to that, but he does fall in love. Yes,
Mr. Crawford falls in love with the wrong woman, but he does indeed fall in love.

Once again, I bring you back to Jane Austen Book Club, and the question that is posed if when you read Austen's novels, you have to wonder if she didn't have a thing for the bad boys?
Which got me wondering, almost all of her heroines fall in love for the first time with a bad boy. Is this a lesson Jane Austen felt all must go through to end up knowing a good thing when they finally found it? Or is there another reason under it all?
Was it to warn women of the pitfalls of lust?
Or was she just wanting a reason for her heroes to be heroic?

Frank Churchill.
Another one of the borderline bad guys. He is an impossible flirt that manages to make everyone believe he is interested in them, while the whole time secretly committed to Miss Fairfax, as well as being a snob. Unlike some of the other Austen bad guys, who's crimes are far worse, his biggest fault is being a grown man with the attitude of a high schooler. I think that is why I like the Clueless version of his character the best.


Part 2 of the Men of Austen coming soon.

3 comments:

  1. Woo-hoo for Mr. Churchill! Must say I'm partial to him when he's portrayed by Ewan!
    Woo-hoo for Mr. Churchill! Must say I'm partial to him when he's portrayed by Ewan!

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  2. interesting you have a zombie tag on this post. which one of these austen men do you consider to be zombie-ish? ;-D

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  3. I think I hit the zombie tag cause of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies book. I honestly can't remember otherwise why I hit that tag.

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