Stephanie, while wrong, did make some interesting points yesterday.
Jane Eyre was a great heroine, strong, resourceful and someone who rose from adversity to find her personal happiness. None of which I can argue with, but what prevents her from being the greatest heroine and what catapults my beloved Lizzie to the top is humour.
Case in point, Jane Eyre had wonderful attributes, but the girl didn't laugh much.
Lizzie Bennet laughs at herself, those around her and her situation in general. She's bright and quick witted and humble and even when personally disparaged (in that great scene in the ballroom when she overhears Mr. Darcy dismiss her charms) she laughs at both herself and the person who insulted her and I laughed with her.
She's sensible and bright, she's a loyal sister and can be fierce in her protection of those she loves, and she can admit when she's wrong.
Jane Eyre never laughs and she's never wrong. I love her, but I can't relate to that.
I can relate to Lizzie because she's often wrong, but when she realizes it, does what she can to put things to right.
Mr. Darcy falls in love with her, not because she's a paragon of English womanly virtue, but because she makes him laugh and think and shows him a version of himself that is better than he thinks he can be and he does the same for her.
Lizzie is the greatest heroine because she is flawed, funny and falling in love makes her a better person, so she deserves her happy ending.
5 comments:
Ughh... you're so right! How do I cage match fight you when you're so right!
Nope. I'm still going with Jane. I might prefer to hang out with Lizzie at a party, but Jane still gets my vote for best heroine.
She overcomes so much more. Her fight has such larger stakes. Would Lizzie have been able to thrive in that awful orphanage? I don't think so. But our Jane did!
Jane was awesome, no question, but Mr. Darcy would never have fallen in love with her, where as I'm not sure Rochester wouldn't have fallen in love with Lizzie..
Now that's interesting. Would Rochester love Lizzie? I'm probably going to be thinking about this for the rest of the day.
Such a great post, Sinead! Sorry I missed this on Friday.
Awesome cage match, Steph and Sinead!
Post a Comment