Kirsten is reading Pride and Prejudice in her Novel class this summer, and she sent me an email this morning asking me if I was in love with Mr. Darcy. She knows I have a tendency to fall head over heels for fictional characters. Ralph Touchett from Portrait of a Lady, Ethan Frome from Ethan Frome, Lawrence Selden from The House of Mirth, Florentino Ariza from Love in the Time of Cholera . . . I could go on and on. But, if I had to say who I truly and fictionally loved the most, it would have to be Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities. I watched the movie (1935) when I was a little girl, and could not wait to get my hands on the book. I still remember tears streaming down my face as I read Sydney's last lines,"It is a far,far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." He did it all for the love of a woman who loved another man. Just heartbreaking. Who do you love . . . fictionally? Tell me why.
9 comments:
I love this question! It's tough for me though - there are so many I love for so many reasons. In the end, if I could chose just one, it would be Newland Archer from Age of Innocence. I don't even know how to describe why I love him, but I do.
I love the phantom (Eric) from The Phantom of the Opera. He was so much cooler than stupid Raoul. I could never understand why Christine did not pick the phantom. I used to wish an angel of music would steal me away and take me to live in the catacombs under the opera house. I loved him because he worshipped her. I only want to be worshipped. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Ok, this is why:
Then he tried to see the persons already in the room—for probably at that sociable hour there would be more than one—and among them a dark lady, pale and dark, who would look up quickly, half rise, and hold out a long thin hand with three rings on it.… He thought she would be sitting in a sofa-corner near the fire, with azaleas banked behind her on a table.
“It’s more real to me here than if I went up,” he suddenly heard himself say; and the fear lest that last shadow of reality should lose its edge kept him rooted to his seat as the minutes succeeded each other.
Oh dear, yes, I had forgotten how much I loved Newland Archer! Kirsten always thinks the men I like in books are loser, girly men, and I guess she has a point, but Newland was wonderful.
Kirsten, I spit water onto the floor of the office when I read your answer!
Laurie/Theodore Laurence from little women... and I always read the book hoping he would end up with Jo instead of Amy but it never happened that way no matter how many times I read it hoping the ending was different :) He was just so good hearted... how could I not love him?
(I am the same way with Gone with the Wind... always hoping that when I read it/watch it again that this time Scarlett will live happily ever after with Rhett Butler)
OOOhh! I wanted Laurie to end up with Jo too. I always feel cheated when I watch the movie (I confess to having never read the book) and they don't end up together. I despise Amy for getting with her sister's man!
I concur on Little Women. I don't care who Jo met and loved in the end, she was meant to be with Laurie.
Amy's a slut!
Sorry to join this party late, but some people had to WORK! Anyway, I was enamored with Duncan from "Lady Chatterly's Lover". He turned away from the Industrial World to live in the Natural one. Rugged and smart... I'll take that any day.
I agree with the Jo/Laurie debate. I get so angry every time she runs off with that Russian. I ALWAYS hated Amy.. and I always will. Aunt March took HER to Europe instead of Jo, that alone made me hate her.
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