Jane Eyre update and poll results

Because of the poll results as well as my increasing desire for this: yes, I will be doing a series of posts on Jane Eyre. My first one will be posted in a few minutes, and then I'll put a link-- here.

Results:

"Should I do a series of posts for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, like I've done for Jane Austen's novels?"

Definitely! (12 votes, 60%)

Yes/I'd read it (4 votes, 20%)

Maybe... (3 votes, 15%)

That would be taking the 'etc.' too far (0 votes)

I wouldn't be interested (1 vote, 5%)

(20 votes total)

Well, for the 80% who said yes: happy reading, and I hope you enjoy them!

For the 3 'maybes', I hope I can interest you!

And for the 1 'no'...well, Jane Austen still pops up in everything I write, and I'm not turning into a Bronte fan or anything. And it won't last too long, I don't think. ;-)  

Poll Results

So, back in July I made the poll: "Which are your two favorite novels by Jane Austen?". Today, we have the results.

The most popular combinations are:

                             1st place:
                                 &

(8 votes)

                               2nd place:

&

(7 votes)

                               3rd place:

&

(6 votes)

And these are the other combinations:

Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion (3 votes)

Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park (3 votes)

Pride & Prejudice and Northanger Abbey (3 votes)

Persuasion and Northanger Abbey (2 votes)

Emma and Northanger Abbey (1 vote)

Pride & Prejudice and Mansfield Park (1 vote)

Emma & Mansfield Park (1 vote)

And the other poll which ended a long time ago:

"In your opinion, whose portrayal of Mr. Darcy was the best?"

And guess who won?

Okay, I just liked the picture
of both of them...

Colin Firth! Are we surprised?

And David Rintioul didn't get any votes, which I am not surprised at either. ha

Here are the exact results:

Laurence Oliver (1940) - 1 vote

David Rintioul (1980) - 0 votes

Colin Firth (1995) - 12 votes

Matthew MacFadyen (2005) - 3 votes

None were even satisfactory - 0 votes

I did vote for Colin Firth, and I do think his Mr. Darcy was better than satisfactory; although, I also think somebody could do a little better. I don't think any movies have got Mr. Darcy quite right as of yet. But the 1995 one was very good, indeed it was.

Aaaand, for a new poll....for it is universally acknowledged in the world of blogging, that once one poll is completed we must make another...

I think it's probably true that every author has at least one character they make at least a little like themselves. So:

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

Vote on the sidebar!

The Villain in Emma

[My apologies...I scheduled this post to publish on the 24th, but it didn't work.]

Since there was more than usual discussion about this poll, I thought I should do a post about the results.

 "Who was the villain in Emma?"
-Frank Churchill - 3 votes
-Mr. Elton - 10 votes
-There was none - 4 votes

 And, do you know, this is one of the few times I voted for something else than what won. I voted for Frank Churchill, because:

 Frank Churchill was openly trying to deceive people and pretending to be something he was not - Mr. Elton didn't do either of these things. I think in general, Frank caused more purposeful pain than did Mr. Elton. Mr. Elton was very rude when he slighted Harriet at the ball, but that was an act of conceit and not deceit. Frank was not only flirting with Emma in front of his fiancée, but (probably behind her back) was actually criticizing her any way he could. And then, at least on the movies, I think he has this pompous air about him which is quite appropriate for a villain. He seems more similar in following the villain pattern - he made other people think he was interested in the heroine, when he really wasn't. (Like Wickham, and like Willoughby before he had real affection for Marianne.) I have more thoughts on the subject, but I can't think of them at the moment.
One thing interesting to me is that when I ask people in "real life" this question, most of them say Frank Churchill! They just didn't vote in the poll. ;)

Anyways, I do agree that Mr. Elton is a total jerk, and I think he probably deserves the title “villain”. Well, almost. Maybe neither of them do – or maybe both of them. It can be considered that there are TWO villains in Emma, as Mel mentioned.

In any case, I think that Frank is a rascal (at best) and they are both scoundrels, if not villains.

However, I do not agree with some that Emma is in the villain in Emma. I think she’s just a mistaken heroine-to-be who has a few lessons to learn, and she does learn them.

Besides, how could Mr. Knightley love a villain? ;-) (Or villainess, I suppose.)

Thanks to everyone who voted! It’s been fun.

And Mr. Elton – congratulations! You win the award for Most Abhorred.

 I was thinking of something the other day...each of the 3 main ladies in Emma were at some point either suspected of or they actually were in love with both the 2 main gentlemen, and/or vice versa. If Mr. Elton was thrown into the mix, the only one that missed the suspicion of being a match with him was Jane Fairfax, but then she wasn't in Highbury soon enough.

Allow me to demonstrate:

Before I end this post, I will also add that I should be starting my section on Persuasion in 1-3 weeks.

P.S. This is very off-topic: but, am I the only one who thinks "Dashwood" when I see "Dashboard" in the corner? Oh dear...

Poll Results, the Villain in Emma, and More

The poll closed quite a while ago, and I didn't get around to doing this until now, but here are the results for:
"Which Jane Austen story most needs another movie?"
Winner: Mansfield Park (5 votes)
Tie for second: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion (4 votes each)
Sense and Sensibility got 2 votes.

I voted for Mansfield Park. I also would greatly appreciate another version of Northanger Abbey, and in short, I'd enjoy another of any of them, even Pride and Prejudice or Emma. Especially P.&P. out of those two - I really love the 1995 version, but it could still be done better, but nothing would be equal to the book.

Claire Foy as Fanny Price?

So, new Mansfield Park movie? When I was reading the book, I could really picture Claire Foy in the roll of Fanny Price. Her character reminds me of Amy Dorrit, and I thought she did it really well. Actually, with brown colored contacts, she could make a good Mary Crawford, too. Mary is supposed to be small, pretty, and have dark hair & eyes. 

What do you think? Would she suit either of those roles? I focus more on characters than actors, so I don't have any other ideas. Do any actors come to your mind who could make a good Mansfield Park character?


Yesterday I posted about the M.P. movies there are so far, and I said I thought there should be a new BBC mini-series. Miss Laurie, Abby and I were commenting about how screenwriters Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice 1995, Sense and Sensibility 2008) or Sandy Welch (Emma 2009, North and South 2004) could do a good adaptation. I'd vote for Sandy Welch - what do you think?

Lizzy wins again! ;-)

A bit of a rabbit trail, that. Now, for the other poll that just closed:
"Which Jane Austen heroine is your favorite?"
Winner: Elizabeth Bennet (8 votes)
Anne Elliot (4 votes)
Catherine Morland,
Emma Woodhouse,
Marianne Dashwood (2 votes each)
Elinor Dashwood (1 vote)


And, the new poll!
I was thinking about the villains in Jane Austen novels - John Willoughby, George Wickham, Henry Crawford, etc., but I couldn't figure out who the villain is in Emma! Is there one? What do you think?

After a whirlwind of Emma, Frank Churchill started to drive me crazy. What a jerk, and an arrogant jerk at that. It’s not quite like the book, but I liked what Emma said in the 2009 mini-series:

“Why did he come amongst us, engaged, and then pretend to be so very un-engaged?...I was not in love with him; but how was he supposed to know that? How could Jane bear it – waiting for him, and looking on while he gave attentions to another woman? No wonder she cannot stand the sight of me! It’s so unlike what a man should be - no truth, no principle, no integrity. Badly done indeed!”

Pretending to be interested in one woman just to conceal your attachment to another is not only deceitful but cruel. And then on top of that, he critisizes Jane Fairfax all over the place, just to remove suspicion! If I were Jane, I’d have pitched him. Ha!

But…is he really a villain?

If you wouldn't mind scooting over a little...

Maybe I shouldn’t have called Frank Churchill arrogant when I was planning to talk about Mr. Elton next. He is arrogant. I love Mr. Knightley’s quote from the 2009 mini-series: “That man is so full of himself, I’m surprised he can stay on that horse.” I doubt many clergymen caught girls with 30,000 pounds very often, but Mr. Elton thought he could. He didn’t, of course, and settled for 10,000 instead. I never liked him, but his behavior at the ball is always very maddening, when he refuses to dance with Harriet. (It makes it all the lovlier, though when Mr. Knightley comes to her rescue.)

So they’re both jerks, but is either one a villain? And which one is more so?

Who is the villain in Emma?
-Frank Churchill
-Mr. Elton
-There is no "villain"

The poll is on the sidebar!

~On a side note, Emma seemed unlike Jane Austen's other novels in that there were no very sad parts (such as deaths and broken hearts) or scandals (unless you count a secret engagement!).

June 28: A few of my readers have said Emma was the villain in Emma. This is an interesting point of view, but even if it were possible to change th poll, I wouldn't because (1) Emma is a girl and (2) to me, she doesn't seem to be any more villainous than the other two options. But, I really enjoyed Maria Elisabeth/Miss Darcy's post about it - to read it, click here (where you can find nearly all my thoughts on the subject; I went a little long when I commented on her post.)