If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you may be surprised at the title of this post. Many of you will know that Captain Wentworth is far from my favorite Jane Austen hero, and I've never actually had much of a fondness for him.
I do wonder how much of this might be due to two facts:
1) I don't care for any of the movie portrayals of him.
2) In the book there is really very little time to get to know him. We see his actions, but we can't get into his mind at all until he finally opens up to Anne again, which is at nearly the end.
Also, I wonder what Persuasion would have ended up like if Jane Austen had lived to see it published. She wasn't necessarily ready for it to be published yet. She was becoming too ill to even work on her newest story idea, much less the tedious task of in-depth editing of what was probably equal to a second draft.
But I'm going off on a rabbit trail here. Frederick Wentworth is the subject at hand.
It suddenly struck me a few months ago that some of the lyrics in the lovely (and emotional) song "When I Look At You" from the Scarlet Pimpernel musical suited Anne Elliot in Jane Austen's Persuasion quite well. Not all of them, of course (especially towards the end), but some of them were remarkably well matched, I thought. So, I thought to myself, "Hmmm... I think I feel a fan video coming on."
And here it is. I've uploaded it to YouTube but I figured it would be good to share it with you here as well. :)
The song is from the TSP musical... I must say I don't care for the voice of the person who sings it, but I only had two options and in the end I went with this because it sounds less modern. (Even this one has a bit of percussion in it which annoys ME anyways, but it cannot be helped.)
I've done two guest posts in the past few months that I never posted about here, and now I've been helping out with two others, so here's a list of them all from newest to oldest--and as for the older ones, if you hadn't seen them yet, I do love comments on old posts! ;)
Period drama fans such as myself always take delight in spotting actors in one movie as being such-and-such character in another. Here are a few fun connections I discovered a while back, where two actors who are in the cast of one period drama both play the same character in two different Jane Austen adaptations. That probably won't make any sense; it's hard to explain, but not once I show you. Read on.
First, we have Mrs. Weston from Emma.
She was played by Jodhi May in the 2009 mini-series and by Greta Scacchi in the 1996 Miramax version, and both those actresses were in...
Daniel Deronda (2002) as Mirah Lapidoth and Lydia Glasher.
Then, there is Captain Wentworth from Persuasion.
Ciaran Hinds played Captain Wentworth in the 1995 film, and Rupert Penry-Jones portrayed him in 2007. Well, they both acted in...
Jane Eyre (1997) as Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers.
The other one I noticed was Edmund Bertram from Mansfield Park (though I have seen neither of the adaptations about to be mentioned).
Jonny Lee Miller was Edmund in the 1999 slaughtering version, and Blake Ritson played him in the 2007 misrepresentation movie.
Well, they were both in Emma (2009), playing [their correct Jane Austen characters] Mr. Knightley and Mr. Elton.
I'm sure there are other such coincidences, but these are just the ones I noticed for the actors in Jane Austen adaptations. Which are my specialty, as it were.
The latter one is especially interesting I think, as both the actors had portrayed Edmund Bertram before being cast in Emma. I wonder if they talked about it on set...
Have you ever noticed any of those, or any other fun actor-double coincidences?
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.
"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? =)
Here are the actors/actresses on Persuasion movies who I recognized from other old-fashioned films.
(* means I haven’t actually seen it (or all of it); therefore I may not approve of it, but I always hear about that person being in that movie, or may have recognized them from the portions I saw.)
1995
Amanda Root (Anne Elliot) – Miss Temple on Jane Eyre (1996), Mrs. Harleth on *Daniel Deronda
Miss Bates (Emma 1996)
Ciaran Hinds (Captain Wentworth) – Mr. Rochester on Jane Eyre (1997), Michael Henchard on The Mayor of Casterbridge, Lord Tarleton on Amazing Grace
Sophie Thompson (Mary Musgrove) – Miss Bates on Emma (1996, Miramax), Miss Lacreevy on Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
Victoria Hamilton (Henrietta Musgrove) – Ruby Pratt on *Lark Rise to Candleford, Mrs. Forster on Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Fiona Shaw (Mrs. Croft) – Mrs. Reed on Jane Eyre (1996)
2007
Edmund Betram (Manfield Park)
Rupert Penry-Jones (Capt.Wentworth) – St. John Rivers on Jane Eyre (1997)
Nicholas Farrell (Mr. Musgrove) – Edmund on Mansfield Park (1983), Henry Thornton on Amazing Grace
“If there is anything disagreeable going on, men are always sure to get out of it.” – Mary Musgrove
“A few months hence, and the room now so deserted, occupied by her silent, pensive self, might be filled again with all that was happy and gay, all that was glowing and bright in prosperous love, all that was most unlike Anne Elliot!”
“One man’s ways may be as good as another’s, but we all like our own best.” – Admiral Croft
Anne: My idea of good company, Mr. Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.
William Elliot: You are mistaken, that is not good company, that is the best.
“[M]y sore-throats, you know, are always worse than anybody’s.” – Mary
“A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman!—--He ought not----he does not.” – Captain Wentworth
“One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.” – Anne
“Your countenance perfectly informs me that you were in company last night with the person whom you think the most agreeable in the world, the person who interests you at this present time, more than all the rest of the world put together.” – Mrs. Smith
“What wild imaginations one forms, where dear self is concerned! How sure to be mistaken!” – Anne
“Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.” – Anne
“All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one: you need not covet it) is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone.” – Anne
“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.” – Part of Captain Wentworth’s letter
I’ve seen a lot of different opinions about this movie – and for me, there are some things I really like, and some things I don’t like. Some of the things I dislike: Anne’s hair is very annoying the whole time, so that it’s actually distracting. The camera work is a little odd, and the music seems spacey and doesn’t quite go. The movie was too short; they rushed through everything and stuffed things together so that some things were taken out of context almost. There were a few things added in just for the sake of drama (such as Anne thinking – because of a letter written by Charles Musgrove – that Captain Wentworth and Louisa are engaged, which was totally made up.) Probably the biggest, at least the most objected to by viewers, was the ending where Anne is running from place to place in Bath trying to find Captain Wentworth, after Captain Harville gives her the letter, which isn’t at all how it happened in the book; but at least the letter was in there and they didn’t change it much. The part at the very end with Kellynch was made up, too.
Okay, now for some things I did like. Anne kept a journal, and a lot of the things she wrote in it came directly out of Jane Austen’s novel, only made first person. It was great to know what Anne was thinking. I liked Captain Wentworth pretty well; nice and melancholic. In general it gave me a feeling of elegance which – I’m comparing a little too early here – the 1995 version did not. I could sympathize easily with Anne. And is the fact that Anne played Moonlight Sonata allowed to count as a point for this version? ;-)
Miss Anne Elliot: Sally Hawkins
Captain Wentworth: Rupert Penry-Jones
Length: about 1 ½ hours
1995, Sony Classics/Masterpiece Theatre
As with the version previously mentioned, there are things I like about this one, and things I dislike. The main drawback to me was the person chosen for Captain Wentworth, who, to me, is quite unappealing in looks and manners, and is not how I would imagine him to act or speak. But I did like Anne quite well. There was something that bugged me about its Elizabeth and Lady Russell. There were some things very similar to the book, but then they did things like changing some character’s first names – Henry Hayter instead of Charles Hayter, and Phoebe instead of Fanny Harville (they might have even changed her last name to Hubble, if I remember it right). At the end another war was beginning, and I don’t think there was supposed to be another war in the book. I thought the movie was a bit slow-moving in some spots, and some of the music didn’t go. However, in general it was pretty close to the book, and of course I admire that.
Anne: Amanda Root
Wentworth: Ciaran Hinds
Length: about 1 hr. 45 min.
1995 & 2007 comparison
Okay, here I’m going to insert a partial and (hopefully) short comparison, because I am always trying to decide which one I like better. I like them both in different ways, and I prefer some parts of each to the other one.
1995: Everyone complaining to Anne about everyone else was spot on. Anne improved in looks as the movie went on, which was like in the book. A lot of things that took place in Bath were much closer to the book – including the part where Anne gets the letter. This movie seemed more detailed in general.
2007: I thought the 1995 one started out too slowly, but then this one rushed through everything too much. As I mentioned above, I thought it was a really good idea to have Anne keep a journal so the viewer can know what she’s thinking, as if they were reading the book. I liked the settings (houses, scenery and so forth), hair, and costuming better in general. I liked Louisa’s fall better; in the 1995 version, they did a slow-motion thing while she was falling, which I thought really took away from the moment. It was supposed to happen very suddenly. Character representations in this version I preferred to the 1995 version are: Captain Wentworth, Louisa and Henrietta Musgrove, Sir Walter Elliot, Mrs. Clay, Lady Russell, and Mrs. Smith (although she wasn’t supposed to be able to walk in the book, and she did on here).
(With Mary [Elliot] Musgrove, I really liked them both; they each had a different technique for being Mary, and I really can’t decide which I like better. As for Elizabeth Elliot, my favorite is actually probably from the 1971 mini-series.)
A couple things they both did:
A whole bunch was missing with the story of Mr. Elliot, and likewise the story of Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith was barely touched upon in both these movies; she had a much bigger role in the book. The stuff about Mr. Elliot was confusing because so little was explained, but I think the 2007 version probably hit closer to the mark.
The concert was, in both, not quite like the book, although the 1995 one got closer. They both had Anne talk to Captain Wentworth before they went into the concert room (which happened in the book), but in the book Anne and Capt. Wentworth have some conversation during the concert before he decides to leave and tells her goodbye. She gently tries to encourage him to stay, but he just walks out. In both the movies, she ran after him and persists in trying to get him to stay. (She follows him all the way out into the hall in the 2007 version!)
Have you ever heard about the cancelled chapters in Persuasion? Jane Austen decided to write the last couple chapters differently before she published the book, but the other ones were saved. In the cancelled chapters, Admiral Croft, assuming along with everyone else that Anne and Mr. Elliot are to marry, asks Captain Wentworth (for some reason) to ask her if she’d like the Crofts to give up their lease of Kellynch Hall. After Anne tells Captain Wentworth that there is no truth in the gossip, they come to an understanding and renew their engagement. The funny thing is, both these movies took the cancelled chapters and stuck them in, along with the real ending where Captain Wentworth writes a letter to Anne. And in both of them, Captain Wentworth meets with Anne alone in a room, and Lady Russell interrupts them, and he leaves. Looks to me like the 2007 version did a little copying there… but it could be coincidence.
Persuasion 1971 (BBC)
As always for these mini-series from the 70s and 80s, it is very slow-moving and seems like a play because of the filming, acting and lack of music, but they do give you the advantage of a more complete story. I only have a few comments to make: the actress who did Anne was around 38. The people who play Jane Austen heroines are almost always older than the character is supposed to be, but I think Anne Elliot, the oldest heroine (27), should be an exception. 25-30 would probably be good, but 38? Wow.
Near the beginning Anne kept saying it was ‘seven years’ since Captain Wentworth was there, which annoyed me a bit. The book said “more than seven,” and it’s generally referred to as 8: 1806-1814, Anne’s age 19-27. Later on in the book, Captain Wentworth says ‘eight years and a half.’ Couldn’t she at least have said ‘almost eight’?
The costumes are never spectacular in these, but all the guys had bow-ties! I’ve never seen bowties in Jane Austen movies, it’s always cravats.
Compared to the other two movies, I liked the Elizabeth from this one the best.
Anne: Ann Firbank
Wentworth: Bryan Marshall
Length: 3 hr. 45 min.
My favorite
Do you know, I still can’t decide. Buuuut, in general, I think I enjoy watching the one from 2007 most, and if I didn’t care about accuracy to the book, it wouldn’t be a very hard decision. In any case, I like its trailer better than 1995’s, so that’s the one I’m going to put here:
This linkwill take you to a similar but longer trailer.
Which is your favorite? (Feel free to comment as well!)
“They had no conversation together, no intercourse but what the commonest civility required. Once so much to each other! Now nothing! There had been a time, when of all the large party now filling the drawing-room at Uppercross, they would have found it most difficult to cease to speak to one another. …there could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted.”
-from chapter 8
For eight years, Anne Elliot lived in regret, and with the painful knowledge that it was all her fault. For eight years, she continued to love Captain Wentworth, the man she was engaged to for a short time when she was nineteen. But he was a naval officer with nothing to offer her; she, the daughter of a baronet…they were too young, she would only hinder him from making his way in the world – such was the reasoning with which she was persuaded to give him up.
Now her family has to leave and rent out their house in order to repay debts. Anne is shocked to learn that the man – an admiral – who is to take the house is married to Captain Wentworth’s sister. By these means they are again in each other’s company. She knows nothing will come out of it except pain; on her side regret, on his side resentment.
To any other eye they were nothing to each other. To her eyes, it seemed that although Captain Wentworth remembered her, he had not forgiven her. So she watches…is forced to watch…while he ignores her and gives his attentions to another young lady.
This was Jane Austen’s last completed novel, published in 1818 (after her death) along with Northanger Abbey.
Oh, it’s a lovely story. I appreciate it much more now that I have read the book. It’s so touching! And I love knowing the whole story – something the movies did not provide. I can admire both Anne and Captain Wentworth more now, and their love story is much more meaningful, and delightful.
