3 Fictional Characters

In Facebook Land over the last couple of months, people have been tagging people (including me) in this #3fictionalcharacters, where you make a little collage of the three fictional characters you identify with the most, or that sorta-kinda make up your personality.

As it happens, the three I came to settle on were all Jane Austen heroines. ...Go figure.  After all, one of my favorite things about Jane Austen is how relatable her characters are!

So I decided to do a blog post about it.

How North and South is Not Like Pride and Prejudice

I have often heard it said that North and South is like Pride and Prejudice. I do not agree with this. I have also heard it said that North and South is like a darker version of Pride and Prejudice. I do not agree with this, either (although it is indeed darker). And I shall endeavor to explain why, as I have now just finished North and South (hereafter to be abbreviated to N&S, and Pride and Prejudice will be P&P) and therefore have sufficient knowledge of the story. I never trusted myself to try and write this post just based on the movie, you know.

(If you do not know these stories already, here is your spoiler warning.)

First of all, I shall list what I believe people base their comparison on, then I shall address the points, and then mention other differences.

Similarities (or what people might consider to be similarities):

1. The general storyline of both is something like this: a man and a woman meet, are not really impressed with each other in their own ways, but the man grows to love the woman and the woman to become more displeased with the man, then he proposes, is rejected, but continues to love her and eventually she finds out what a good guy he his and they finally come to an understanding intending marriage.

2. The heroine is prejudiced and the hero is proud.

3. There is also another man in the story from whom the heroine receives an offer of marriage, which she of course rejects.

4. The hero has a relation who disapproves of the match and at some point has a confrontation with the heroine.

5. The heroines both have an ailing mother who complains a lot.
6. There is a chapter in N&S called "First Impressions" which was P&P's original title.

7. The heroines are both named Elizabeth. (JOKING, I’m joking…although apparently that’s what whoever made this wallpaper/background thought!)

And now I shall address each one of those. Except 7, of course.

1 and 2—These are the ones that probably most everything is actually founded on; the others, I was just trying to think of any possibilities that people could consider. But you will notice that when I wrote the story themes in that description I had to use very general terms. This is because the stories are so unlike each other. This very general storyline is, I daresay, very popular, and these are not the only two authors who have used it. (Although the Janeite in me must point out that Jane Austen did it first. :D)

But anyways. First of all, if a comparison is to be made, I’d have to say that Margaret Hale’s sentiments were actually much more similar to Mr. Darcy’s than Elizabeth Bennet’s, which points out a dissimilarity to begin with. Margaret, we must understand, was brought up as a gentleman’s daughter even though her father is in reduced circumstances; although he was never a gentleman of leisure, his profession was one of the ones accepted by The Gentry, and she had been brought up as a little girl with her rich relatives during the school years in London. When she came to Milton she found what she perceived to be a deal of vulgarity, as Mr. Darcy probably thought about some of the people in Hertfordshire. Margaret found Mr. Thornton himself not to be as polished as she liked, although mostly she was prejudiced because he was a tradesman, or one could also say she was being prideful to look down upon them. Mr. Darcy did not actually find Elizabeth herself to be what he felt was beneath his notice—it was her family.

Also, the sentiments of Elizabeth and Margaret were quite different. What I said in the description there was not actually quite true on Margaret's account; she did not really grow to dislike Mr. Thornton more before he proposed. She had a little esteem that sort of went off and on, and if anything she might have thought a little better of him at that point than she did to begin with.

Speaking of which, the characters of the heroines and heroes are just so completely different from each other in the two stories. Especially Elizabeth and Margaret. Waaaaay different personalities going on. Since their temperaments and outlooks on life are so different, it's another thing that makes the stories differ.

And about the pride and prejudice thing. The fact is, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth both exhibit both traits themselves, and though some people attribute pride to Mr. Darcy and prejudice to Elizabeth, they both have a their share of both. Think about how Mr. Darcy was prejudiced coming to “an assembly such as this” in Meryton. (It’s obviously pointed out that he is proud, so I need not go into that.) He was also prejudiced as to Jane Bennet, believing that she did not really care for Mr. Bingley, rather because that is what he expected. Elizabeth was not really prejudiced about Mr. Darcy until he slighted her at the Meryton ball, which was a founded prejudice, if you ask me. Then she heard the untruth concerning Mr. Wickham and believed it. (You don’t see anything like this in N&S—if anybody is ever mistaken about the other, it is Mr. Thornton mistaken about Margaret and her brother, so there again we have the heroes and heroines not matching up between the two stories.) Then think of her reaction to his proposal. Remember that “had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design”? Or when Elizabeth herself said “I could more easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” There, Elizabeth herself just pointed out that they were both proud in their ways. Although she was half-joking there, and did not think pride was an admirable trait. That doesn't mean she didn't have it, though.

But back to what I was saying before. As for Mr. Thornton, I would have to say he didn’t demonstrate much prejudice, although he could be called proud in his way.

One could try to draw a similarity between Mr. Darcy saving Elizabeth’s honor by settling the affair with Lydia and Wickham and Mr. Thornton saving Margaret’s honor by making sure there was not an inquest in the affair with her and her brother (though he did not know it was her brother) at the station. Well, those were not at all the same when you get down to the technicalities. For one thing, in P&P Elizabeth became even more attached to Mr. Darcy after he did that for her family (for her, in point of fact); in N&S Margaret’s true feelings are rather unclear, but what she feels the most in the situation is mortification that Mr. Thornton should know that she lied. They’re just completely different situations. Mr. Darcy did it for Elizabeth with the full knowledge that it was because he loved her and wanted to save her from scandal; Mr. Thornton tried to convince himself first that he's doing it not for her sake really, but because of what he 'used to' feel for her (heh, heh, heh...) and finally he decides upon using his friendship with her father as an excuse. (Yeah, he's doing it for Mr. Hale. Uh-huh.) However, Mr. Darcy knew Elizabeth was blameless, whereas Mr. Thornton all along was tormented by the probability that Margaret was not at all blameless.

Then Mr. Thornton goes on to explain to Margaret that all his feelings are passed, of course, and that he didn’t really do it for her—pretty much the exact opposite of Mr. Darcy. (Although in the book we see that all along Mr. Thornton loved Margaret and this time, so HE who lied too… ahem. Oh Mr. Advocate for Truth, take a look at your own self.)

Furthermore, a big part of the story in P&P is that Mr. Darcy was struggling against his own better judgment to lower himself enough to actually acknowledge his feelings for Elizabeth. In N&S it wasn’t this way at all; Mr. Thornton knew that Margaret probably considered herself above him and if he hesitated in his affection it was because he felt she could never care for him.

They both deal with social class, yes. But it’s on a different plane entirely. P&P is all about The Gentry. N&S has a great deal to do with tradesmen manufacturers.

As for the rest of the story, it is all so different. Not only is it “darker,” it’s just… different. Margaret’s family situation, for starters. Mr. Thornton is a great friend of Mr. Hale and pays kind attentions to Mrs. Hale when she’s ill and all that. The main driving force in the story, I would say, is how Margaret adapts to living somewhere and being with people totally different than what she had experienced so far, and facing lots and lots of change in her life that forces her to lose the simplicity of her former existence. There isn’t anything like that in P&P at all; I would say the they-don’t-like-each-other-oh-wait-now-he-likes-her-but-she-doesn't-like-him-but-then-she-discovers-she’s-wrong-and-it-ends-happily is a bigger deal in P&P.

Now that almost makes it seem like I’m bashing P&P or something, but trust me when I say I’m not trying to do that AT ALL. P&P is my favorite book, my favorite story in the world. I much, much prefer it to N&S. I like the “Light & Bright & Sparkling”-ness of it. It’s so cleverly devised and wittily written, and not at all cheesy or silly, as somebody who gets the wrong impression from very little knowledge of it might think. I greatly admire N&S and think it’s a marvelous and clever story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I couldn’t have a steady diet of it. It’s much too heavy and could be tiring if one has an overdose of it. I cannot imagine having an overdose of P&P. ;)

I wish I knew whether Elizabeth Gaskell liked Jane Austen… I haven’t been able to find out. Does anybody know? I know that Mrs. Gaskell was actually acquainted and friends with Charlotte Bronte, who is infamous for not liking Jane Austen, but I suppose it does not necessarily follow that Elizabeth Gaskell doesn’t like her. One CAN be friends despite one liking Jane Austen and the other disliking her…

…or can they?

Kidding. Sort of.

And now, since I have run out of rambles, I’ll move on to point number 3.

Mr. Collins and Henry Lennox are two very, very different matters. Mr. Collins is a wife-hunter and—well, we all know what he is. Icky. Henry Lennox, on the other hand, is a respectable young man whom Margaret actually likes—but not in that way. He would annoy her as a husband. Also, he is not a wife-hunter at all; it’s one of those cases where a man doesn't believe in thinking about marriage until he's 'made himself', but then meets with a woman who changes his mind. Unfortunately for him, he has to be disappointed.

Now, personally I don’t much like Henry. He rather annoys me. I think I would like the book’s Henry a great deal more than the movie’s, but… still can't say I exactly like him. But anyway, he is not at all repulsive. Like Mr. Collins.

4 - We all know how different this is. I just stuck that in there for fun. The reason Mrs. Thornton confronted Margaret was not at all similar to why Lady Catherine visited Elizabeth. I don’t even need to explain if you know the stories.

And as for 5… Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Bennet, two very different cases. Mrs. Hale did complain a lot about Helstone when they lived there, but of course regretted it later on when she had Milton to deal with. And Mrs. Hale really WAS ailing, whereas Mrs. Bennet was what they call a hypochondriac.

Number 6 is not anything to dispute, just a trivia fact.

If you were comparing the mini-series of N&S with P&P, you might say that something happened at the beginning of the heroine's acquaintances with the heroes to immediately promote a dislike, but as this is not the way it was in the book of N&S, I say it can't be counted. ;)

In short, the stories themselves are so very, very different and have traits all their own that though a few comparisons can be made, it is not sufficient to make them similar enough to be mentioned hand-in-hand as I have seen done.

There now. That, everybody, is my opinion. Do any of you agree with me? Of course, you may tell me if you disagree too, although that will provoke me to argue my case and I do so hate debating. :P

(I am only teasing. Do not mind me. I mean, I do dislike debating, but I'm not forbidding you to say you disagree. Haha.)

Jane Austen the Heroine (with poll results)

Which of Jane Austen's heroines was the most like Jane Austen herself?

That was a poll I made, which just ended. I think it's an interesting discussion topic so I'm making this post a bit more than just the usual 'Poll Results'.

First of all I'll have the results; then I'll discuss them.

15 votes (65%) gives first place to Elizabeth Bennet.
4 votes (17%): Anne Elliot
3 votes (13%): Marianne Dashwood
1 vote (4%): Emma Woodhouse
(23 votes total)
Thanks to everyone who voted!

I often find, especially when I write stories, that I have feelings which compare to the ones I read about other authors having. If I am anything like other authors, I can say it is natural to use yourself, in some shape or form, as a base for your heroines; or at least give them a few tendencies that are similar to yourself. With myself, most of my characters have similarities to myself or at least my interests; so it made me wonder: which of her heroines, if any, did Jane Austen make the most like herself?

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice is an easy answer, and the most popular.

Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Miss Jane Austen seem to have quite similar personalities, especially when Jane was around 20, like Elizabeth. They both have sparkling wit, a somewhat sarcastic sense of humor; they love to tease, but know when to be serious. From reading Jane's letters, it seems like you could be reading one from Elizabeth Bennet.

Their family situations also resemble each other to some extent. Elizabeth's best friend and confidante was her older sister Jane, and Jane Austen's was her older sister Cassandra. From what fanfiction I've read, Mr. and Mrs. Austen are usually based somewhat upon Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Perhaps she did draw ideas from her parents, and the Bennets could be an exaggeration of the Austens. Mr. Austen did seem to favor Jane, from what I've read; Mrs. Austen did try to marry off Cassandra and Jane. Mrs. Austen, of course, was much more clever than Mrs. Bennet, and I doubt Mr. Austen was so antisocial and sarcastic.

Next on my list is Marianne Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility.

Some take Jane's relationship with Tom Lefroy seriously, and some consider it a 'brief flirtation'; but either way, there are quite a few things to compare with Marianne and Willoughby.

One thing we know for sure is that Jane was quite a flirt with Tom Lefroy, such as made people talk, and her older sister Cassandra scold. (Sound familiar?) Although in Marianne's case, it was less of flirtation and more of...devotion.

If Jane's letters are to be taken seriously (I personally believe she was teasing most of the time; but there is almost always an element of truth in joking) then Jane was actually expecting Tom to 'make her an offer'. Willoughby, as we know, came very close, and actually did intend to, propose to Marianne. Then, he suddenly leaves, in both stories. With Jane Austen, they say a relation of Tom's didn't approve of Jane as a wife for Tom, and wanted to pull him away before anything serious developed. With Willoughby...well, the Dashwoods suspected a similar case, but it wasn't actually that way.
Now, this quote from a letter of Jane's to Cassandra ties in with my next point:

“You scold me so much in the nice long letter which I have this moment received from you, that I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved. Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together. I can expose myself however, only once more, because he leaves the country soon after next Friday, on which day we are to have a dance at Ashe after all. He is a very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man, I assure you.”

Again, we have a similar sisterly relationship: Cassandra and Jane, Elinor and Marianne. (I plan on doing a whole post with sisterly comparisons, so I won't dwell on it now.) Cassandra trying to warn Jane, and Elinor tried to warn Marianne; also, in both cases, the elder sister can draw and the younger sister plays the pianoforte well.

One more occurrence in Jane's life may have given her an idea for one in S&S, that I learned from the documentary The Real Jane Austen (which is very good, by the way, and I recommend it; it can be found on YouTube), was when one of Jane's brothers and his wife were rather offensive in their hurry for the Austens to get out of their home so they could move in. In S&S, Henry Dashwood and his wife Fanny move into Norland when Mr. Dashwood dies; in Jane's life, clergyman James Austen is to take over Mr. Austen's church when he and his wife decide they should all move to Bath. Marianne and Jane were both devestated at having to leave their beloved homes.

Anne Elliot from Persuasion came in 2nd place on the poll.

For starters, here's what Miss Laurie of Old-fashioned Charm said:

"I voted for Anne Elliot because she's the heroine that gets a second chance on love as if the authoress was rewriting her own story a bit. I think she might have been a bit like Elizabeth Bennet when she was younger: clever, witty, loved to laugh at the follies of human nature, fond of dancing and even mild flirtations with nice gentlemen like Tom Lefroy. But she was clearly a better judge of character that Lizzy was. As she grew older and wiser she became more like Anne Elliot, she even had a rumored lost love who she met on the seaside at Lyme, and Jane Austen was also rumored to be quiet in her personal life."

That's true...it does seem like Jane was a little different when she was older; more mature, and all that. And that's a good point about Lyme... that rumor has always interested me (much more than the 'romance' with Tom Lefroy).

Another thing I thought of was that they both had a great dislike of Bath, and both had to leave their homes to live there.

 

And then there was one vote for Emma Woodhouse from Emma.

I had a little trouble thinking of similarities between the two, so I asked Miss Laurie again (and I am very grateful; she's so cheerfully helpful!). Here's what she came up with:

"We may say that Jane Austen was similar to Emma Woodhouse in that she as authoress makes matches with ease, choosing who will marry who and when. But, like Harriet Smith many of her heroines have at least one refused suitor before coming at last to their perfect match; but 'the course of true love never did run straight'."

I'm not sure on this one, but I think I remember someone who knew Jane Austen saying she had hazel eyes, and Emma's eyes were hazel (that was actually described in the book!).

I'm not completely sure on this one either, as I only read it in one place: but I've heard that Jane Austen's favorite hero of her inventions was Mr. Knightley. Maybe, when she wrote Emma (her last novel to be published before her death about 2 1/2 years later) she was making him her ideal gentleman. Just a little thought. =)

~That's it for heroines people voted on, but I'd like to include a couple others as well.

Fanny Price in Manfield Park.

I have a feeling, when Jane Austen created Fanny Price, she made her, to some extent, the way she herself would like to be. I've read in one book that Fanny was Jane Austen's favorite heroine. 

Although their dispositions do not seem to be at all the same, I can think of a few parallels. They both studied people and their characters. Elizabeth Bennet also did this, but erred several times in her judgement, whereas Fanny did not; and as far as I know, neither did Jane.

When Mr. Austen died, the Austen ladies (Mrs. Austen, Cassandra, and Jane) were left with very little to live on, and had to actually stay with richer relatives some of the time. Maybe Jane was looked at sometimes as the 'poor relation', just as Fanny was.

Some of Jane's family members gave some descriptions of Jane that did sound rather like Fanny Price. For example, Jane's brother Henry put this on Jane's gravestone:

The benevolence of her heart,

the sweetness of her temper, and

the extraordinary endowments of her mind

obtained the regard of all who knew her and

the warmest love of her intimate connections.

The next paragraph also describes her as charitable, devoted, and pure. 

Cassandra's touching letter to their niece Fanny Knight after Jane's death is also filled with loving, praiseful words about Jane. 

Now we know that often, after someone dies, everyone else tends to speak better of them than they actually would when they were living; but just the same, I think there is a good amount of truth in it.

Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey

What was Jane Austen like when she was seventeen? We can never know: her letters don't start until age 20, and people can change significantly in 3 years, especially when they are still quite young, I imagine. We know that Jane loved to read ever since she was a little girl; perhaps she was engrossed in Mrs. Radcliffe's works, even if she did rather make fun of them later. 

Here's an interesting bit I just read on the ever-useful website 'Pemberley':

"More than one reader has wondered whether the childhood of the character Catherine Morland in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey might not reflect her own childhood, at least in part -- Catherine enjoys "rolling down the green slope at the back of the house" and prefers cricket and baseball to girls' play."

Catherine and Jane both had quite a large number of siblings, and their fathers were clergymen (I think Catherine is the only heroine with a clergyman father).

And now my post comes to an abrupt end. ha

~~~

So, what do you think? Who did you vote for and why? =)

Jane Austen Week questions

It's Jane Austen week at Elegance of Fashion! Miss Bennet has kindly provided Jane Austen questions for the rest of us to answer on our blogs! They were so much fun to answer, and I look forward to reading everybody else's!

Note: The font sizing and spacing in this post leave somewhat to be desired - but it won't cooperate. :-/ Blogger is sometimes extremely annoying.

1. What is your favorite thing about Jane Austen? Why?

      Favorite thing? Now that’s an awfully hard question. There are so many things I like about Jane Austen!

One thing I love about her is how real her stories and characters seem; as if they’re real people, and these things really happened—the way the stories just sweep you into their worlds until you are longing to travel to Highbury or Meryton; to go to Bath and attend a ball with Catherine Morland, or a concert with Anne Elliot. How these fictional lives just get into your head and stay there!

2. What are your top three Jane Austen novels and why?

Pride and Prejudice. It has such variety in it, so many interesting characters, and is – as Jane Austen cheerfully observed – ‘light, bright, and sparkling.’ It’s so fun to read; when I pick it up it never fails to put a smile on my face. It’s so easy to laugh when reading Pride and Prejudice! Oh yes, and then of course we have Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. With such a heroine and hero, how could it fail to be delightful?

Emma. One marvelous thing about Jane Austen’s novels is that every one of them are so different from each other, and Emma is one of the differentests. (I know that isn’t a word, but I’m using it anyways.) It has a comparatively small group of characters, yet the story is quite complex. There’s no clear-cut villain, there are two scoundrels. The hero isn’t acknowledged to be the hero until the end (although most readers will hope all along that he will be, because he’s such a good one!). Emma is very unlike all the other heroines – one that Jane Austen said no one but herself would much like. Although Emma can be very irritating at the beginning, as the story progresses, you learn to love her and you’re completely on her side by the end. She does improve, and the character development is amazing. It was well done indeed!

Sense and Sensibility. Very close to being my second favorite, it always delights me, and holds a special place in my heart as being the first Jane Austen story I was acquainted with. (Which, I suppose, is appropriate, since it was the first published.) One thing that makes this story different from the others is that it has two main characters – the sisters, Elinor and Marianne, both of which are very interesting to get to know; and very different from each other. It is a complex story with danger and romance; a brilliant assortment of characters: some funny, some irritating (even villainous); people to hate, people to love. Very classic, it is. And things are classic for a reason.

  3.    Who are your top three favorite Jane Austen Heroines and why?

I dearly love all the Jane Austen heroines, but these are probably my top 3 favorites.

(Character banners made by Miss Bennet at Elegance of Fashion)

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Lizzy has taught me to find the amusement in things, and it’s been a pleasure to learn. She is “as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print,” to once again quote Jane Austen. She is a very likable young lady, and although a bit of a tease, she is kind and thinks of others. And I must say, having a man carelessly, and with a knowledge that you might be within earshot, say you were “tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt him” is a very good foundation for prejudice. (He makes up for it, though, in the end.

A quote from Elizabeth: “Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”

Marianne Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. Although not as extreme as Marianne, her dramatic-ness and her sensibility, reminds me sometimes of myself. I despise Willoughby for her sake; he can’t get up my sympathy. Marianne has to learn a few lessons about being more considerate sometimes, to be more discreet, to learn that your emotions don’t have to rule every part of your actions; in short, to become more mature, but she does, and it makes her all the more lovable. (Oh, and I like her name.)
A quote from Marianne: “The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!”

Emma Woodhouse from Emma. Some people become prejudiced at the beginning and Emma never grows on them, but it’s not the case with most people. As I mentioned above, most people are annoyed by her at the beginning, but by the end they like her. Somehow or other, I went through a sort of intense Emma phase, I’ve learned to love the story more and more, and I love Emma all the way through now. (And find myself defending her wherever I go! In the blogging world, mostly. Some of you may have noticed this.) She sees everything as being the way she wants them to be. She might appear rather selfish, but she really does mean well – or talks herself into thinking she means well, or something like that. All her mix-ups (and their outcomes) can’t help but make one laugh!

A quote from Emma: “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.”

4. Who are your top three favorite Jane Austen Heroes and why?

(Not necessarily in this order, but-)

Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy is misunderstood, not only in a large portion of the book, but also among some Jane Austen fans – while others adore him. With Mr. Darcy, I think you either get it, or you don’t. And when you do, it’s a little hard to explain, but I’ll tell you a few things I like about him. For one thing, he really is kind and considerate; we find this out when we visit Pemberley and talk to the housekeeper, and later to Miss Darcy. And then of course we have his steadfast love for Elizabeth, which is enough to melt my heart. What he goes through to keep her family from disgrace is truly heroic. Yes, of course he has faults, but everybody does; and it turns out he doesn’t have as many as you think he does at the beginning: and the mistakes he did make, he admits to being wrong, apologizes, and all that good stuff.

A quote from Mr. Darcy: “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. Knightley from Emma. Allow me to quote Emma a couple times here: “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.” “You might not see one in a hundred, with gentleman so plainly written as in Mr Knightley.” Very true; Mr. Knightley is a very kind, considerate, true gentleman. Other people’s feelings always influence his actions. When he finds out that Frank is to marry someone besides Emma, does he rejoice that it might be possible for Emma to marry himself? No, Frank Churchill is a scoundrel, and Emma must be miserable. He must go to her, and make her feel better, if he can.—Dear Mr. Knightley! His long-lasting love for Emma is so touching. He’s no fairytale hero, and I like him all the better for it. He’s a real hero. Oh, and did I mention that he was Jane Austen’s favorite out of all her heroes?

A quote from Mr. Knightley: “I cannot see you acting wrong, without a remonstrance….It was badly done indeed! ...This is not pleasant to you, Emma—and it is far from pleasant to me; but I must, I will,—I will tell you truths while I can, satisfied with proving myself your friend by very faithful counsel, and trusting that you will some time or other do me greater justice than you can do now.”

Henry Tilney from Northanger Abbey. Mr. Tilney is just so different from all the rest! (He has such an understanding of muslin! [I just had to borrow that line from Mrs. Allen. ha]) But it’s not so much his understanding of muslins, as his willingness to talk about it that I liked: and other things that might make other men uncomfortable to admit – or, they might not have them to admit. His liking the novels Catherine liked and talking freely about it I especially admired. And he makes me laugh!! There’s something to be said for funny characters; the clever kind of funny. And he’s just such a nice guy. And I think he and Catherine make such a sweet couple. Tehe…

A quote from Henry Tilney: “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
(That may very well be my favorite quote!)

   5. Any honorable mentions for 3 and 4? (Keep it under five all together)

Can I combine the names to fit in more than 5, like this (Anne Price or Fanny Elliot)? No, I suppose not. Well then, heroines: Elinor Dashwood, Catherine Morland, Anne Elliot and Fanny Price; heroes: Colonel Brandon. (There, now I think I’ve  mentioned someone from all the books.) 

       6. Top three Jane Austen adaptations and why?

Pride and Prejudice (BBC/A&E, 1995). My favorite movie! Unlike some, I celebrate the fact that it is 5 hours long, because then it can begin to do justice to the story, and provides all the more to enjoy! It has very good acting, and feels nice and old-fashioned, not that modern feeling some have, and very close to the book. My favorite part of the movie is the visit to Pemberley; and my favorite scene is the one that starts with Lizzy playing the piano and singing, at Pemberley. (She was playing Mozart, by the way; my brother informed me of that. haha) That scene makes me feel happy; so does the ending. When the movie is over I usually sit there with a silly smile on my face for a few moments. Oh, and I like the soundtrack, too.

Emma (BBC, 2009). Very delightful, this. Another one that really lifts the spirits, it is so bright and cheery! I think the Emma and Knightley actors do an excellent job, and I love the music, costumes, etc. Like with P&P, I have a favorite part: the ball; and my favorite scene is the one where Emma and Mr. Knightley dance. It’s so lovely! And again like P&P, the ending makes me happy, and I have to sit for a little while with the silly smile. As with any Jane Austen adaptation, there are some things I am dissatisfied with, but all in all I think it is a faithful version and captures the mood of the book. While it may be slightly modernized (with speech and body language), it still has that innocent feel to it that I like Jane Austen movies to have; and there’s hardly anything that makes me think “oh, come on, they would NOT have done/said that back then!” —I love it!!!

Sense and Sensibility (Columbia Films, 1995). This is the first Jane Austen movie I ever saw, and I was captivated. It has beautiful music, and a lovely old-fashioned-ness; the story, of course, is amazing. It has quite a few things that are different from the book (in most of these the 2008 mini-series is closer), but I really like general feel – that alone makes it more like the book. When a Jane Austen book is made into a film and not a mini-series, you can’t expect the whole story. Excellent Willoughby, hilarious Sir John and Mrs. Jennings…there are very few members of the cast that I thought didn’t fit the parts. And this movie is so very quotable!

    7. Top three Jane Austen characters that "take delight in vexing" you?

Yikes! Does that say top three? There are so many who vex me! (But Mr. Bennet isn’t one of them. ha…) Okay, well, from the top of my top ten, I will mention: Miss Lucy Steele from Sense and Sensibility, George Wickham from Pride and Prejudice, and John Thorpe from Northanger Abbey. Those characters really make me seethe!

    8. Jane Austen sequels... Do you like them or not?

I am afraid I have very little experience with them. If they are faithful to Jane Austen’s original characters and stories and don’t have anything inappropriate, I think I would like them. I have read a few re-tellings and two bio-novels of Jane Austen’s life, but that’s all; they were of course not quite up to the mark, but I did enjoy them (although they aren’t “sequels”.)

Perhaps I shall write one someday. :-)

    9. Do you have a favorite spot to keep all your Jane Austen "stuff"?

I don’t have as much Jane Austen stuff as I would like to have, so if you ask me that in a few years I might have a better answer; but my Jane Austen books are all in one place on my bookshelf, and my Jane Austen movies are grouped together (rather on display) in the TV cabinet.

10. Which Jane Austen character do you think you're most like?

I think I’m a mix between Elizabeth Bennet and Marianne Dashwood. (I usually get one of those when I take a quiz, too.)

Although I like laughing I don’t tease quite as much as Lizzy, and although I'm dramatic and love to read and play the piano I am not a fan of  poetry like Marianne. ;-)

11. What was your introduction to Jane Austen?

     I spent my young childhood in a house where Jane Austen books & movies were enjoyed by my mother and my two older sisters. I was significantly younger, though, and by the time I might have been old enough, both my sisters were out of the house.   About two and a half years ago, one of them asked me if I had ever seen Sense and Sensibility, Which is her favorite Jane Austen movie. When I said I had not, she emphatically announced that I would watch it with her the next time I spent the evening at her house. I loved it! I had always liked old-fashioned things, so I was well set up to become a Janeite. I somehow knew that Pride and Prejudice was written by the same person, and I had remembered seeing that title on an old tape in our video cabinet. I found it and watched it. It was the 1940 version, so the fashions were different and so was the story. I got the 1995 A&E/BBC version from the library after that.
     I was captivated. Within a year from my first viewing of S.&S., I knew about all the novels, had seen most of the movies, read the beginning of several of the books, and about 2/3 of P.&P. And now, if I may be allowed to say so, I’m the principal Jane Austen fan of the family.

And for a random ending to this post -