Who are your favorite Jane Austen personalities and why? Who do you admire? Who do you detest? Someone please share because I'm going to have to think about my own question!

Okay, I'll respond to my own post. I really admire Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Would you like to be on the receiving end of a censure from this quick-witted woman? One of the very best dialogues I have ever read anywhere, anytime was her confrontation with Lady Catherine towards the end. Her courage, mental acuity, and sense of rightness finally put Lady Catherine in her place. How satisfying it was to read how Elizabeth stood her ground! I was exalting in her refusal to back down. Bravo!
So much for the "good' and "bad." Then we get to the "ugly." That would be Mr. Collins. Here's a guy that I'd just like to grab by the collar and jack-slap. What a moralizing self-righteous jerk. His letters are a testament to his phoniness.

Two of my favorite characters are Elizabeth Bennet and Anne Elliot. I think the are both very strong in their own opinions(except Anne being persuaded by Lady Russel). Both characters will not give in to the careless attitudes of people like Lydia Kitty and Louisa. They have a mind. My least favorite is Lady Catherine and Sir Walter. Lady Catherine is just so stuck up and patronizing to anyone, and the way Sir Walter treats his daughter is just horrible!

Hi MCK: Bless your heart! Another Jane Austen fan. I had to also admire Sir Thomas Bertram in Mansfield Park because he so obviously comes to respect and love both Fanny Price and her brother William as much as his own children. How admirable to take family members in withot conditions attached. I felt sorry for Anne Elliott as well because she was so young when Lady Russell advised her against marrying Capt Wentworth. Lady Russell loved Anne all along and was only acting in Anne's best future interests. I had to feel for Lady Russell because she was such a Mother-figure to Anne. How can anyone understand the enormous restrictions young women were subjected to during that time? Thank you for sharing.

I love that you started this new thread--thanks! Fascinating posts.

I also love Anne Elliot and Elizabeth Bennet. And dislike Lady Catherine and Sir Walter. I also have very mixed feelings about Mrs. Smith in Persuasion for in effect trying to persuade Anne to marry him before she finally confessed to Anne that she knew him and that he was a scoundrel. Too self-interested in my opinion! And I'm not a big fan of Sir Thomas Bertram. Number one: slaveholder. Number two: all of his children are terrified of him, which doesn't say much for his parenting skills.

In responding to your latest post, Laurie, this is why I have to carefully go through and read all of Miss Austen's novels again. Re: Sir Thomas Bertram....Slave holder? Wow, I drove right through that stop light on the way to the end of the book. What you say about Sir Thomas is true; however, I think the qualities of Fanny, brother William and her younger sister softened his heart at the end of the book and if the story line is extended out, I think Sir Thomas becomes a better man because of Fanny (?)
I also found Miss Bates' character in Emma just wonderful and the almost full-page dialogues that Miss Austen fashioned on her non-stop chatting are gut-busting entertainment. We all know people like that who have such good hearts but you still just want to put a gag on them!

Understandable that you missed that point about Sir Thomas. It's implied rather than stated, but it's a fair guess that someone owning land in Antigua at that time and going there to attend to his business had slaves. The slave trade was illegal by then but slavery was not. Which I imagine might be why when Fanny said she asked her uncle about the slave trade (when he returned home from his journey to Antigua), the whole room went silent. Now what it means that Fanny even asked that question is anybody's guess. Whole studies have been done on the slavery subtext in Mansfield Park, and that's an area I'm only marginally familiar with.

But yes, I do agree that Sir Thomas had become a better man in some respects by the end of the book, due to the shock of seeing his children making serious missteps, Maria especially, and then having Fanny to compare them to, Fanny who refused to marry the man he practically tried to force her to marry, the man who turned out to be the instrument of Maria's ruination.

And I agree with your opinion of Miss Bates. I LOVE her. And those long monologues are hilarious. I just wouldn't want to be stuck in a confined space with her for very long.

Anne Elliot is my favorite character, in my book she tops Lizzie Bennet. Persuasion is so romantic and so sad and so quiet, all at once. I think it's about love lost and love found and it relates to me and probably to all of you and it gives me hope. Hmm, who do I dislike? That wretched old bat Lady De Bourgh. Go Lizzie for giving her a good smackdown! Also, Mr. Collins. UGH. Can't stand him. I'm sure we all know someone like Mr. Collins in real life. Someone who acts godly and great, but they are really hypocrites. Last but not least, Anne Elliot's father has got to be the most entertaining character in all of Austenland. :-)

Love your choices, DK. I too love Anne Elliot, but I cannot say I love her more than Lizzie. But you really made me think about that one! I can't stand Mr. Collins as well, but I do feel a little sorry for someone who is that clueless. Lady Catherine is definitely the red queen from Alice in Wonderland. I really dislike her. And yes, Sir Walter is delightfully funny, something he would be horrified to hear, don't you think?

I love Anne Eiliott because she proves you don't have to be young and gay and pretty and noisy to attract a decent chap like Wentworth - I've always felt that she was like Jane Austen herself. JMO. I like Elinor from S&S similarly - such a contrast to Marianne. My favourtie male is Edward from S&S.

I dislike Mrs Bennett - silly and irritating and Mr Collins - creepy.

I share your appreciation for Anne Elliot and Elinor Dashwood. Not flashy but lots of substance. Quietly devoted and courageous and strong.

I have two favorite males: Mr. Knightley and Mr. Darcy.

I share your disdain for Mrs. Bennet. She's mean to Lizzy, as well as being silly and irritating!

I don't hear much praise for Fanny Price but I admire her Cinderella qualities of rising from obscurity through her intelligence, virtue, and loyalty. I'm also a huge fan of Mr. Knightly....the true embodiment of a gentleman. He is one of those people you would never grow tired of being around. When he FINALLY proposed to Emma after a turn in the bushes, I jumped out of my seat and pranced around with exultation. Only he could tame and be worthy of bright, beautiful and clever Emma

Your right. You never really hear much of any thing about Fanny Price or Masfield Park in general. From that book I really liked Edmond Bertram. He was very protective and kind to Fanny when it seemed like everyone else just overlooked her because she was not as outgoing and pretty as her cousins.

I admire and have praise for Fanny Price too. My favorite male character is Mr. Tinley. He just seems so witty and handsome and I picture his tender and non-sarcastic smile or smirk (is there a nicer word for smirk?) when he looks at Catherine. I would rather have a Mr. Tinley than a Mr. Darcy.

Yes, Henry Tilney is one of my favorites as well. He's definitely one of the underrated Austen heroies. And it took me a LONG time to warm up to Fanny Price. I used to dislike her, but I've grown fond of her for her inner strength and for refusing to be swayed no matter how much pressure was put on her.

DKDC:
I have to agree with you. Mr. Tinley is deffinitely one of my favorite Austen men. But I would still take a Mr. Darcy over a Mr. Tinley any day.

I like Edward Ferrars too, and Mr. Knightly. And Colonel Brandon. Oh heck. I like them all. :-) Jane Austen definitly did a good job creating some fine men.

Your right about that. Every time I look back at the men of Austen Im like oh he's the best, but then I like the next, and it just keeps going! I wonder if our men points of view feel the same way over all of Austen's female characters.

ooo that's a good point MCK. I would reckon they don't care for the female Austen heroines as much, as the heroines wanted marriage above all else. Can you imagine the pressue on today's men if he were dating a lady straight out of JA land?

Definitely a lot of pressure--I agree, DKDC. Maybe they'd be a little more responsible about their actions if they knew that marriage was expected of them!

I do, however, think Austen's women wanted a good deal more than marriage, even though granted, that was their only viable (and remotely appealing) career choice. I think they all wanted the freedom to be their own person. If marriage were really their absolute, highest priority, then Lizzie would have married Mr. Collins (after all, he did have a point that she might not get another offer) and Fanny would have taken Mr. Crawford (ditto) and Emma wouldn't have been making speeches about how she had no need to marry because she had as much consequence as she could ever wish for--who needs a man? Granted, Elinor and Marianne were pretty single-minded about their men and fell in love fairly early on in the story. And Lydia had one thing on her mind and one thing only. But she wasn't exactly a brain trust. :))

Miss Austen has such insight into the relationships between men and women. Having been married to the same wonderful woman for 37 years, I'll confess I often feel like I'm just getting acquainted! What's lacking today is RESPECT between men and women! What I really admire about Miss Austen's depictions of her significant players is the mutual RESPECT and admiration they have for each other when both parties truly LOVE each other. Ideally, each partner in marriage dovetails up against the other and becomes a "completer" to the other. Each partner contributes their own strengths to bolster the other partner's weaknesses and likewise. I believe in Jane Austen's world you initially fall in love with what's between the ears and behind one's eyes. The sexual attraction is a powerful and fundamental impetus but it is difficult to sustain over a lifetime with that intensity of feeling. Good grief, am I making any sense here? I love and admire my wifey because she is my intellectual equal and we complete each other. Sorry, I'm "old-school" and believe strongly in the institution of marriage as the culmination of the divine purpose.

Makes a lot of sense to me. What a lovely way to think of marriage.

Greg Wise reading a chapter from Persuasion - lovely - he would have made a fine Wentworth....

The Carte Noire Readers – watch Dominic West, Greg Wise and Dan Stevens read you love scenes from Penguin novels over a cup of Carte Noire

http://www.cartenoire.co.uk/persuasion

What a cool site!! Thank you for the link, Merlin. It is swoon-worthy stuff indeed. I know how I'm going to be spending my coffee breaks...

I love so many of the characters but I think dearest to me is Colonel Brandon. He was a soft sweet presence the whole book, his mind was sharp and his subtlies leant themselves to his other nature. You could almost feel that he had once been an open soul, and that it was his injuries--not reserve--that caused the wall to form. Marianne scaled that wall just by being herself and found in him a beautiful lost soul. It is beautiful.

I'm also very fond of Emma. She is stuck up, a know it all, and completely clueless but she does have a good heart. Every wrong action is felt with true guilt and remorse and attempt at reconcile is always her goal. I find I relate to her more than I want haha.
But more seriously, she is intelligent and the whole story unwinds because of her boredom.

As for those I dislike, I really strongly despise Harriet from Emma. The thing is I'm still trying to decyfer why.

Interesting; first time I've heard Harriet singled out. Usually people go for the more obvious villains, like Fanny Dashwood or Mrs. Norris. But I can see Harriet triggering dislike, despite her not being a villain. She is so easily manipulated and so fickle and so worshipping of Emma that I can see how someone might have a problem with her.