LitHub announces the start of its 'Best Villains in Literature Bracket'. We know it's just a fun game, but still we are somewhat saddened to see Mr Rochester in the 'manipulative bastards' category. Particularly as whoever has written the following doesn't seem to have actually read the book:
(9) Mr. Rochester (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre)
How handsome and charming does someone have to be for you to forgive them for imprisoning their spouse in an attic? Maybe Jane should have let his bed curtains keep burning.
Undermining His Charms With: Padlocks, A Way Too Credulous Maid, Attempted Polygamy
Dapper Demonics Described: “He was proud, sardonic, harsh to inferiority of every description: in my secret soul I knew that his great kindness to me was balanced by unjust severity to many others.”
Personal Prisoner Count: 1 (2 if you count marriage as a prison)
In the novel, Mr Rochester is never described as either 'charming' or 'handsome'. Throughout the novel 'charming' is only used four times and always for women, and as for 'handsome', well, this is quite well-known:
“You examine me, Miss Eyre,” said he: “do you think me handsome?”
I should, if I had deliberated, have replied to this question by something conventionally vague and polite; but the answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I was aware—“No, sir.”
So perhaps Jane forgave him for some other, more elaborate reasons which make for a good novel where the characters actually evolve and learn and move on.
Gold Derby lists ten male Broadway vets deserve consideration for next Lifetime Achievement Award in the Tony Awards including
John Caird
Two-time Tony-winning director for The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1982) and Les Misérables (1987). Additional nominations for helming Stanley (1997) and cowriting Jane Eyre the Musical (2001). (Jeffrey Kare)
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