It's useless to be affectionate, but it's frivolous

Jana 2022-12-10 22:20:20

Compared to the bluntness of North and South where you can guess from the beginning to the end, "Beautiful Lady" is a real torture for the arrogant mind-set like me: Osborne is not a prodigal son and Cynthia is not. Not being flirtatious, Preston didn't seduce Cynthia to run away (and you'll find Preston more attractive than Roger in the middle and back of the story), Lady Harriet didn't have an emotional entanglement with either of the two brothers, even Molly's stepmother Not the stepmother of Cinderella we expected.

Mrs. Gaskell was too gentle, she had the insight of Austen, but not the meanness of the latter.
For Austin, love is not love, it is a clear account of income and expenditure. So while she does her best to sneer at the snobbish wives, she ends up making their dreams come true: their daughters are married to wealthy men.
"Pride and Prejudice" can be called a classic love, but the "love" in it can't stand scrutiny: if it weren't for Mrs Bennet's shouting about how rich Bentley and Darcy are, if it weren't for their own admiration It is impossible for the ladies of the Bennett family to have the slightest interest in these two young people. And don't forget how Elizabeth found herself falling in love with Darcy: she toured the Pembury estate with her aunt and uncle, imagining in a room of ornate furniture that she could have been the mistress of the place.
Mrs. Bennett, and the Bennett sisters themselves, planned to marry Bentley or Darcy from the very beginning, but it was only during this period that an unplanned love occurred, and all the calculations had a romantic color.
Money, class, marriage, and sex in the form of "scandal" are integral elements of Austen's novel, the latter two occupying most of the novel, but the crux of the novel is undoubtedly the first two.
Austen's novels are popular not only because of the "there's always one for you" male protagonist and love story, but also because they are quite realistic and practical: it's literally "How to Marry a Rich Man's Guide".
Because of this, movies and TV adaptations of Austen's novels are often incomplete: they only have pleasing romance, but they don't mention the harsh and realistic language in the original novels, and they don't mention the cold-blooded cruelty behind the romance.

Mrs. Gaskell is not an old maid, and maybe not a good humorist like Jane, so she's happy to upset Mr. Gibson's wishful thinking, to write Roger, Osborne, and even Preston to death, and to write pleasing pure love stories , coupled with the gentle and calm Mollly, the lively and innocent Cynthia, the endless dance parties and rumors, and the overwhelmed ladylike demeanor... If she lived today, there would be absolutely nothing to do with Aunt Qiong Yao.
And today, Mrs. Gaskell's fairy tale is probably more "amazing" than Austen's story - in today's world, calculation is not new, but love is new.
Calculations and satires have long been unable to provoke any excitement. Austin diligently writes about how much dowry the girl has, and how much income this gentleman makes a year. It is all too common. We do these calculations every day, and it is generous. Discuss these in every public or private setting.
And affection, but more and more rare.

Especially the Molly-style devotion.
Molly is the embodiment of the ideal Victorian woman, as well as the ideal citizen of our great country - with the motto "Serving the People" all over her. She forbears her emotions and sacrifices herself to a terrifying level, just as her father said: How many secrets I don't know are in your little body!
This kind of forbearance and sacrifice is definitely not comparable to any of Austen's women - she also has Eleanor, Fanny and Annie, but their forbearance is often out of blood kinship or lack of self-confidence, not like Molly " The world is our responsibility", wishing that he could save the whole community from fire and water with his own body.
I don't like this kind of nun-like female character, she hides the complexity of women and builds a blurred statue of a saint, Molly is actually more scary than Cynthia.
However, when she turned her face to cry while playing the piano, anyone would be moved.

Austin can certainly write such a scene, but when this scene is combined with the overly clever reality and irony, it can't stand the tender aftertaste.
And Mrs. Gaskell just made us think simply: Oh, it was a time when love was still touching.
Maybe there is a time when love is love, without being bound by wealth and status, without being ridiculed in good faith. Molly doesn't have to marry Darcy, who earns tens of thousands of pounds a year, to get the same happiness as Elizabeth: Roger is at best from a poor aristocratic family, and at one point he couldn't even afford 100 pounds to repair the canal.

And affection can always bring good results. A woman in a classic love story will never marry a pauper - in the words of Austen's letter, a woman who wants to marry a "normal home" man who can't even hire a servant, "how much morality must Courage." Although Molly is already a moral model, there is no doubt that he should not have this kind of "moral courage" (otherwise, the female readers who are willing to project themselves into the book will be embarrassed), so Roger went to Africa to become famous, and then he will be very good. .
At the end, the hero and heroine look at each other in the heavy rain and talk to each other, without even kissing (the scarlet fever part is a bit strange, but thanks to this part, the story can be so romantic), but it is more heartwarming than the kiss.
It makes us believe for a moment that kindness and affection can really bring happiness.

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Extended Reading

Wives and Daughters quotes

  • [to Mr. Preston]

    Cynthia Kirkpatrick: I didn't sell myself. I liked you then, but oh, do I hate you now!

  • Lord Cumnor: I'm sorry I said anything about it now. I'll try to find a more agreeable piece of news.

    [pause]

    Lord Cumnor: Old Marjorie at the lodge is dead.