My Edward
This morning I plumped down on the beanbag in front of the fire (it’s been freezing here! 1 degree at 8.30a.m. is a little too chilly for my tastes) and cracked the spine on a library book I picked up yesterday. It’s one of the genre I mentally call ‘comfort food’ – nice and easy to digest, quickly read and soon forgotten. The title is ‘Me and Mr. Darcy’, and on the very first page the main character states that “to be honest, I blame Mr. Darcy. I was just twelve years old when I first read Pride and Prejudice, and I fell for him from the start.”
I was immediately intrigued. I’d read Pride and Prejudice by the time I was twelve – also Gone with the Wind and Jane Eyre. And out of the three, my least favourite leading man was Mr. Darcy. In fact, if you want to talk about crushes on fictional characters, I’m a sucker for Mr. Rochester, every time. So what if he had a wife locked in the attic? He loved Jane enough to risk anything, and coupled that with a brusque manner, not-quite-handsome looks and blind (no pun intended) adoration. In my books, Darcy has never managed to hold a candle to Edward Fairfax Rochester, and there have even been times when I’ve appreciated Darcy’s cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam more… yet most Austen fans get all giggly and sentimental at the very name, idolising him as the perfect man, the one ideal to hold all men up to – always with the expectation that they will fail, of course. Well – I can’t say I’d object if a Darcyesque man did show up, but I think for now I’ll keep Mr. Rochester firmly on my ‘best male character’ pedestal.
And Timothy Dalton as Rochester ticks every box, although he’s rather too handsome. My sketch takes a bit of that away, though.
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:25 pm
EDIT: I stand corrected. I forgot about Mr. Knightley. (GASP!)
I think it’s because I was talking about books I read ages ago, and I only read Emma for the first time about …six years ago? Anyways… more about Mr. Knightley later!
July 4th, 2010 at 12:09 am
Hmmm what does it say about me if I was always a Colonel Christopher Brandon fan??? I have always liked Sense and Sensibility the best of Jane Austen’s novels – more so than Pride and Prejudice. And I always liked Brandon – maybe I felt sorry for him when Marianne didn’t return his affections at first and when we learn of his sad past. But I think most of all I liked his ‘goodness’ – his kind of ‘quiet kindness’. He was the instrument which brought Elinor and Edward together in the end through offering him the vicarige on his estate. And his kindess towards his ward – the daughter of the woman he had loved. Plus there’s the uniform and whole officer thing.
And then of course there is Alan Rickman and (as long as I block out his portrayal of Severus Snap) I do have to say I quite love him! Hmmmm…*Blocking out Severus Snape*
July 14th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
lol, oh, he only locked his wife away in the attic. Such a minor detail, kinda like how that Austrian man kept his daughter in the basement for 18 years.
Cool pic though, very handsome.
I like the shadows more on the skin in the next pic, interacts better though.
July 25th, 2010 at 12:40 am
I have read Wide Sargasso Sea since I wrote this post. Admittedly, I have a little more sympathy for bertha-in-the-attic. But not much. Eh, she was crazy lady! nuff said.