Jane Austen's Heroes

There's nothing new or original in posting about Jane Austen's heroes, I suppose. But it's something I've never done before. And it's something that I think belongs here.

The way I see it, the most important factor of a good book may very well be its characters. One of my favorite things about Jane Austen’s writings is her characters. They are well-developed, intriguing, and believable. If the storyline itself is lacking (which some people consider a few or all of Jane Austen’s novels to be: I, of course, do not agree with them, to put it lightly), the characters can save it. I’m not convinced that deficient characters could be saved by a good storyline, however.

One could easily say that the hero and heroine (or male and female main characters, if you prefer) are the most important characters in a book. In stories of a romantic nature, not even the best heroine can make up for a disappointing hero.

In the eyes of many fans, Jane Austen is acclaimed for creating excellent heroes. What about them is so compelling? For one thing, they often seem like real people, and it draws us to them.

Though each of them probably deserve a post all to themselves (and I actually did write one--er, two--for Mr. Knightley, and someday I'm going to do a post for Mr. Darcy... because he needs one, sadly enough), I thought it would be interesting to divide the Jane Austen heroes up into categories. So here’s a little review of all seven heroes, divided into four different groups.

The romantics

‘romantic’

noun

“a person who is romantic, as in being idealistic, amorous, or soulful”

Rupert Penry-Jones as Wentworth

Captain Frederick Wentworth, Persuasion

    Persuasion, Jane Austen’s last completed novel, is often reckoned to be her most romantic. It is the story of Anne Elliot, a young woman who gets a second chance at love. At age nineteen, she meets Frederick Wentworth and they fall “rapidly and deeply in love.” She consents to an engagement, but because he is 'beneath' her family and without a solid future, Anne is persuaded to break the engagement. Captain Wentworth leaves, but eight years later they are thrown together once again.

    For those eight years they have both remained faithful to one another, although he actually believes himself indifferent for a time. The awkwardness of the situation and the coldness on Captain Wentworth’s side create a situation where they meet again and again but rarely speak to each other.

Ciaran Hinds as
Captain Wentworth

    The most decidedly romantic part in the novel (perhaps all of Jane Austen’s novels) is where Capt. Wentworth renews his proposal to Anne; unable to speak, he pours out his heart in a letter.

“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own, than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.”

   His constancy and that letter says it all. Captain Wentworth is definitely one of the romantics.

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Pride and Prejudice

Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy

   Ah, Mr. Darcy. Something I’ve noticed about this hero is that you either “get it” or you don’t…some understand Mr. Darcy, some think they do, some do not…others simply don’t want to.

   All in all though, Mr. Darcy is the best-loved Jane Austen hero of all, as well as Pride and Prejudice being the most popular novel.

   Most of us know the story in Pride and Prejudice; Mr. Darcy slights Elizabeth’s looks…Elizabeth doesn’t like him…he notices Elizabeth more and starts to like her, soon feeling in danger of liking her too much because her class is lower. Elizabeth learns about something Mr. Darcy supposedly did and dislikes him more. Meanwhile Mr. Darcy falls in love against his inclination, and at the height of Elizabeth’s dislike, he proposes. He does so very untactfully, however, insulting her family while he's at it. She refuses him, of course; but it wasn’t an “of course” to him: he was expecting her to accept him.
   And then, as we know, it all comes around beautifully. The pride and prejudice on both sides are removed, and the reader arrives at the anxiously awaited happy understanding between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy

   Pride and Prejudice may be Jane Austen’s most eventful novel. Something is always happening, and it has everything; there are scandals and secrets…heartbreaks, comedy, romance.

   There is Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

   For me, one of the best things about Mr. Darcy is his ever-constant and unchangeable (except to increase) love for Elizabeth. That alone makes one root for him, but after the first proposal, one grows to love him right along with Elizabeth. 
We learn about his protectiveness and love for his younger sister, his kindness towards his servants, his non-resentful and affectionate manners towards Elizabeth when he sees her again, and his amiable and un-prejudiced actions to her aunt and uncle. His defending Elizabeth to the snide Miss Bingley, his gentlemanly concern for Elizabeth when she receives shocking news, and then his true heroism in doing anything, going anywhere, spending whatever necessary, to save his Lizzy from disgrace.

   Mr. Darcy’s sincerity in admitting he was wrong – realizing and generously confessing that Elizabeth was right in her accusations about him; how she changed him, or rather brought out the best in him.

   Everything for Elizabeth. It’s what makes Mr. Darcy romantic.

“Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! … You shewed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.” --Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth

Colonel Brandon, Sense and Sensibility

Alan Rickman as Col. Brandon 

A man who falls in love with such a romantic as Marianne Dashwood, must be a romantic himself.

    Colonel Brandon is not the dashing sort of romantic like Captain Wentworth and Mr. Darcy, but I consider him romantic indeed and quite belonging to this category.

    Though Marianne considers him quite the opposite of romantic at first – he is at the advanced age of 35 compared to her 17, and incapable of loving or inspiring love. (It is quite an age difference; but it’s interesting to think that he’s only 4 years older than Capt. Wentworth, and actually younger than Mr. Knightley.)

    Marainne is rather blinded at first to what he really is; melancholic with deep emotions; a kind and loyal heart.

    Both of the major adaptations of Sense and Sensibility try to increase Col. Brandon’s drama in the story by having him go out to look for Marianne in the rain, and carrying her, faint and ill, back into the house. Though Marianne did become deathly ill in the book, it did not happen quite in that way; I don’t really think it’s something he wouldn’t have done, though.

David Morrissey as Brandon

    The makers of the 2008 mini-series had rather a liking for drawing things out of the novel which were barely hinted at, and one of them was the duel between Col. Brandon and Willoughby. “[W]e met by appointment,” Col. Brandon says in the book, “he to defend, I to punish his conduct. We returned unwounded, and the meeting, therefore, never got abroad.”

    Everybody assumes this to be a duel although the word is never mentioned – I personally have a hard time believing it was with swords and everything as presented in the mini-series, but in any case, Col. Brandon performed some gallant deed in defending the honor of his ward as well as his beloved Marianne.

    His love is so constant, self-sacrificing, and passionate, that I think he can scarcely be called less than romantic.

The nice guys

‘nice’

-Enjoyable and agreeable: pleasant

-Courteous and polite: considerate

-Of good character and reputation: respectable

Edward Ferrars, Sense and Sensibility

Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars

   I think poor Edward is a dreadfully mistaken character – helped along by Hugh Grant’s portrayal in the 1995 version, I would say. Also there just isn’t a whole lot about him in the book. I don’t think anyone would argue, though, that he’s a nice guy. He’s kind and considerate. Though gentle, he is determined and sticks to his duty even if it pains him.

    Edward comes from a family who are anything but nice. His sister Fanny Dashwood (married to the heroine’s half-brother) is sly and scheming, cold and cruel, proud and pert; his mother is stuck-up, snobbish and extremely self-centered; his brother is rather artificial and similar to the rest except without equal wits.
   Edward's manners are quiet and cautious, but he is not shy and backward like some would have him. And by the way, he has a nice sense of humor – just the right amount of teasing – so he’s certainly not boring, to my thinking. The book doesn’t really have enough of him, which is a pity; I think we see his conversation much too little. The movie-makers probably have a lot of room to move in because of this; and personally I like the 2008 portrayal best (although I do not dislike 1995's Edward, either).

Edmund Bertram, Mansfield Park

Nicholas Farrell as Edmund

   I don’t really have much to say for Edmund, because for one thing I don’t know as much about him as the rest, and because I always get annoyed with him for going for Mary Crawford first. He’s a very nice fellow though; considerate and gentleman-like. Not the best judge of character, but he is nice. Sticks up for people, too.

   I like Fanny Price a lot; and one can hardly be so fond of a heroine without liking the hero to some extent!

   I need to read the book again before I can really form my opinion of Edmund.


The amusing

‘amusing’

“Pleasantly entertaining or diverting”

Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey

JJ Feild as Henry Tilney

   Henry really belongs in a category all his own. His main attribute, I think, is that he is funny.

   He’s witty and likes to tease, but well-meaning all the while, and he knows when to be serious.

   One of the main reasons I like Mr. Tilney is for his openness – his honesty, and willingness to admit gladly things which other gentlemen would be embarrassed about – such as reading novels and knowing about muslins. Here’s one of my favorite conversations in the book, between the heroine, Catherine, and Henry:
   “But you never read novels, I dare say?”

   “Why not?”

   “Because they are not clever enough for you—gentlemen read better books.”

   “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. I have read all Mrs. Radcliffe’s works, and most of them with great pleasure. The Mysteries of Udolpho, when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again;—I remember finishing it in two days—my hair standing on end the whole time.”

   Henry’s romance with Catherine Morland is quite sweet, and I think they make such a cute couple! (Forgive me for using the words ‘sweet’ and ‘cute’, but I couldn’t help it.)

   I won’t say Mr. Tilney is ‘nice’ (even though he is), because he would never approve and tease me dreadfully for my word usage, like he did to Catherine only a few paragraphs after the excerpt above, which I shall include part of here:

“[T]his is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk, and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed!—It does for everything. Originally perhaps it was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement;—people were nice in their dress, in their sentiments, or their choice. But now every commendation on every subject is comprised in that one word."

   As I said earlier, he does know when to be serious. He also has strong morals, defending what is good and censuring what is wrong.

   In conclusion, I think that The Amusing Henry Tilney is a perfect hero for Jane Austen’s satire novel.

The knightly

‘knightly’

“Characteristic of a knight; noble, courageous, and generous”

Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightley

George Knightley, Emma

   While some may place Mr. Knightley in the ‘nice’ category, it is my personal opinion that he belongs in a separate category from the rest. Though he is not a romantic, I think her certainly can be romantic, and his and Emma’s love story is one of my favorites.

   He is the only Jane Austen hero whom the heroine had known all her life; their age difference of sixteen years seems rather tedious, but if it ever bothered me, I have quite gotten over it by now; in their case, at least.

   Mr. Knightley earns much admiration and respect for his considerate and gentlemanly qualities. I quite agree with what Emma says on this subject: 

Jeremy Northam as Knightley

“You might not see one in a hundred, with gentleman so plainly written as in Mr Knightley.” and “I know no man more likely than Mr Knightley to do the sort of thing—to do anything really good-natured, useful, considerate, or benevolent.”

   He, along with most or all of the heroes, is very upright in character.
   Mr. Knightley can also be quite witty and amusing, and during my reading of Emma last month for school, I was surprised but pleased when one of his quotes reminded me of something Elizabeth Bennet would say.

   I don’t know what else to say about Mr. Knightley without making him the object of this post, especially since I've already written a two-part post about him, which you can view here.

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Well, from reading the above, you might think Mr. Knightley is my favorite hero of them all…which a while ago I could have said is not true, but I'm not so sure anymore. One of my two favorites, however, is definitely Mr. Darcy; he's just Mr. Darcy, you know? Well, maybe you don't, but I do. In any case, he and Mr. Knightley still tend to compete with each other in my head, and I do not know how it will end. 

What about you? Who is your favorite? Are there any Jane Austen heroes with whom you are not yet acquainted, but wish to be?