Which Jane Austen Secondary Heroine Are You?

I found this quiz at Old-Fashioned Charm about which Jane Austen Secondary Heroine am I. I have taken numerous quizzes about which heroine (and I always end up as Elizabeth Bennet... Hmmm...), but I never took a quiz on the secondary heroines. I took the quiz (and my name got cut off!), and I ended up as...

Miss Elizabeth Bennet (Elegance of Fashi's Result: Jane Fairfax on quiz: Which Jane Austen Secondary Heroine Are You? You are Jane Fairfax from Emma!  A shy, pleasant and intelligent young woman, you are easily embarrassed and may or may not be saddled with an aunt who likes to brag on you.  Your taste in men is debatable, but you are a reliable and honorable girl with little nonsense about you.  Life has not treated you as well as it might have, but you deal with problems with good grace and are sure to do well in the end.  You are likable and demurely sweet, and will be a good friend to anyone.

Except I couldn't like Frank Churchill! "How could Jane bear it?!" (Emma, 2009) I don't believe I could! lol! Other than that, Jane Fairfax isn't a bad person. I didn't always like Emma (when I first read it, I found her a little vexing), but by the end I liked her; similarly, Jane and Emma didn't always get along, but by the end they became friends.

Edit: This quiz was created by Miss Dashwood from Yet Another Period Drama Blog 

Have you taken this quiz? What result did you get?


 God Bless,
 

LolPeriodDramas: Sense and Sensibility, Emma

Added these to the Tumblr page a little while ago. Some more humor.

Oh, I also fixed my background at my Tumblr page. It is ready for viewing!


 God Bless,
 

Some Emma Animations

 Melody from Regency Delight ~Jane Austen, etc.~ has suggested some animation ideas. They came out pretty good.

God Bless,
 

Emma and Mr. Knightley Animated

Again, experimenting with animated pictures... This time for Emma and Mr. Knightley!

 God Bless,
 

More Icons!

There are 15 more icons made! Enjoy!









 God Bless,
 

Lists: Top 10 Favorite Heroes

Due to the great response to my "Top 10 Favorite Heroines" post, I put together my Top 10 Favorite Heroes! Enjoy!

1. Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice) 
Probably a very obvious answer from me! I didn't always like Mr. Darcy (c'mon, he was a bit of a jerk at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice), but after a while he grew on me once his character improved, and now he's my favorite hero! Yes, he was a bit arrogant at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice, but his arrogance decreases as the plot progresses; he's also a good brother and takes it upon himself to bring about the marriage of Lydia and Wickham after their scandal.

To me, Colin Firth is Mr. Darcy, period. He has the look of arrogance in the beginning, but then as Pride and Prejudice goes on, he has that more of a caring look. He also did all of Mr. Darcy subtle looks really well.

2. Colonel Brandon (Sense and Sensibility)

While reading/watching Sense and Sensibility, how can you not feel sorry for Colonel Brandon? All the stuff that he had to go through and yet he doesn't complain about it. As much as I like Marianne Dashwood, I still thought she was really mean about Colonel Brandon (Willoughby made fun of him and she went along with it). He was able to act like a gentleman while Willoughby was apart of the party.

I did like David Morrissey's Colonel Brandon, but it seemed like something was missing for him in the 2008 Sense and Sensibility. To me, Alan Rickman did a better job in the 1995 movie.

3. George Knightley (Emma)
Oh, Mr. Knightley. He tries to help Emma by telling her that she is wrong, but she doesn't listen (well, most of the time). Mr. Knightley is very caring, a great brother-in-law to Emma, a great uncle to John and Isabella's children, and (we can be sure) a great husband for Emma. He helps out his neighbors whenever he can (sending Mrs. and Miss Bates food, saving Harriet during the dance when Mr. Elton snubbed her, etc.). Overall, Mr. Knightley is a great guy and a gentleman!

Johnny Lee Miller is my favorite Mr. Knightley. I did also like Jeremy Northam's Mr. Knightley, but I think Johnny Lee Miller's was closer to the Mr. Knightley in the book... at least to my memory.

4. Henry Tilney (Northanger Abbey)

When you first see Mr. Tilney in Northanger Abbey, you might find him a little odd (I know I did), but in a good way. When you get to know him more, you can see that he likes to tease his sister Eleanor and Catherine a little bit in a friendly way. Once you know more about him, you can see that he's a caring brother and a great husband for Catherine.

I've only seen the 2007 version of Northanger Abbey (unless the Wishbone episode counts), and despite the problems it had with the screenplay, the actors were well cast. J.J. Field's Mr. Tilney was very well done.

5. Arthur Clennam (Little Dorrit)
I like how Mr. Clennam tries to help out the Dorrits: he's trying to right a wrong that he thinks his family business may have done, and how many people would go through the trouble of finding out who they wronged? Plus, when he loses all his money and is in debt, he doesn't run away from his obligations, but faces them and is accountable for them. He messed up and took the consequences of it. In this world where people tend to run away from their responsibilities and obligations, Arthur Clennam is a good example of what people should do: accept responsibility and face the consequences of your actions.

I've seen both the new and older version of Little Dorrit, and I think Matthew McFayden's Arthur Clennam is the better one. His was much better acted than Derek Jacobi's Arthur Clennam, plus Derek Jacobi was just too old.

6. Edward Ferrars (Sense and Sensibility)

I don't like that Edward had Elinor like him when he wasn't supposed to, but I will say that he does do the honorable thing by staying engaged to Lucy even though he doesn't love Lucy anymore, but instead loves Elinor. He sticks to his duty even when it becomes very hard.

I prefer Dan Stevens's Edward to Hugh Grant's. Hugh Grant just looked too sickly for the role.

7. Septimas Harding (The Barchester Chronicles)
Mr. Harding was such a sweet old man! I felt sorry that in the first part of The Barchester Chronicles that Mr. Bold was going to sue him because of his salary. He was almost instantly likable, which is what you need in a series/miniseries/movie/etc. in order for people to like it. And, considering The Barchester Chronicles is an 80s miniseries, the acting has to be very good since there aren't the effects that newer period dramas have. Donald Pleasance played Mr. Harding very well. I'll definitely have to watch The Barchester Chronicles again to see what I've missed.

8/9/10 (Tied). Robert Crawley, Lord of Grantham (Downton Abbey)

I've got three heroes from Downton Abbey that I like, but couldn't choose in what order. Robert is a great master of Downton. He cares for all of his employees and the surrounding area. He doesn't mope around about the entail, but instead teaches the way to run Downton to his third cousin and heir of Downton, Matthew Crawley. He also tries to be a good father to his three children and a good husband to Cora.

Hugh Bonneville played Robert in Downton Abbey. Hugh Bonneville does a very good job acting here. I can't wait to see what's in store for Robert in Series 2

8/9/10 (Tied). John Bates (Downton Abbey)
Poor Mr. Bates... He arrives at Downton with a limp and most of the staff thinks he can't do his job... But he persists at his job and he gains everyone's respect (well except for a few). He's almost in an Edward Ferrars position except he's actually married instead of engaged: he loves Anna, one of the maids, but he remembers his duty to his wife. He tries to do the honorable thing while at Downton. I wonder what will happen with him in Season 2 (I'm hoping they don't ruin his character like what sometimes happens when series go on).

John Bates is played by Brenden Coyle. I first saw Brenden Coyle in Lark Rise to Candleford as Laura Timmins's father, Robert. I must say that I like John Bates better than Robert Timmins: Robert became too much of a jerk after awhile.

8/9/10 (Tied). Matthew Crawley (Downton Abbey)

At first, you have to warm up to Matthew a little bit since he tries so hard not to change (and since the Crawleys at Downton Abbey are one of the first characters we've seen, it might be a little easier to side with them). But then when Matthew gets settled in near Downton, he really tries hard to learn how to run the estate. He takes an interest in fixing up the cottages in the surrounding area and as Robert's family likes him more and more, we start to like him more and more.

Dan Stevens, who also played Edward Ferrars in the 2008 Sense and Sensibility, plays Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey.

I will say that I started to read Mansfield Park a little while ago and Edmund Bertram looks promising. Maybe he might bump someone off the list in the future? But as for now, this is the list of my top favorite heroes!


What do you think of my list? Are there some heroes in my list that you would include in your top favorite heroes? Who would you include in your list? Leave a comment!

 God Bless,
 

My Top Ten Favorite Heroines

As promised, I have here my top 10 favorite heroines from period dramas. Enjoy!


Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet

1. Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)

I think that part of the reason for my being drawn to Pride and Prejudice was Elizabeth’s personality. My personality is very similar to Elizabeth’s: I have strong opinions and I stick to them, I’m not afraid to stand up for myself, both of us stick to our morals and convictions, and both of us have a similar sense of humor. I think in all my years of reading, she was probably the first character that really stood out to me as being someone that I've seen in my daily life (in this case, me). In fact, nearly all of Jane Austen's characters are very realistic and very relatable, but Lizzy is probably the most relatable to me. She is such an awesome character: in addition to what I've said above, she is smart, witty, clever, and quick. She's a definite delight to watch/read about.

I think that Jennifer Ehle portrayed Elizabeth's witty personality well and said her lines they way Elizabeth would have said them.

Emma Thompson as
Elinor Dashwood

2. Elinor Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)

Elinor is remarkable because she goes through so much (losing her home and having to move far away from it, finding out that the man she loves, Edward Ferrars, is actually engaged to another woman who he doesn’t love, having that very woman constantly rub in her face that she's engaged to Edward, and having to watch her sister’s grief over a bad break-up) and yet she is able to keep a stiff upper lip and does whatever needs to get done. Because her mother and sisters can't put aside their emotions to make important decisions, Elinor steps up to manage many of those important decisions with her sense and reason, even while she's going through all the rough stuff in her life.

I liked both Hattie Morahan's and Emma Thompson's Elinor, but I think that Emma Thompson was closer in acting as Elinor though she was significantly much older than Elinor should have been.

Claire Foy as Amy Dorrit

3. Amy Dorrit (Little Dorrit)

Amy is so sweet! She supports her family very humbly, and even though her family is ungrateful to her (with the exception of her uncle, Frederick Dorrit), she still supports them and obeys her father. Even when her and her family become rich and when her whole family becomes very snobbish (again, the exception of Frederick Dorrit), she still remains very humble and wishes to be useful and helpful despite the fact that everyone around her is telling her to "be a lady" and "do nothing all day."

Claire Foy was wonderful as Amy Dorrit. They did a good job in making her look young and you could believe that she's about 21. She also portrayed the quiet and humble nature of Amy very well.

Felicity Jones as Catherine
Morland

4. Catherine Morland (Northanger Abbey)

Catherine can be a bit imaginative and naive, but at the same time, she is very open and artless: she means what she says (“I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.”) and she is also always honest, which are both very good qualities. She is a genuine person and could be counted on for an honest answer.

Though I think that there needs to be a better adaptation of Northanger Abbey, I thought that Felicity Jones in the 2007 adaptation portrayed the honest, naive Catherine well, although they should have kept her imaginations down and to more innocent imaginations instead of the ones that could be mature.

Romola Garai as
Emma Woodhouse

5. Emma Woodhouse (Emma)

I’ll admit it, when I first started reading Emma, I found Emma to be very irritating: she seemed to want to control everyone and there were times where you think “Why don’t you just listen to Mr. Knightley?!” But by the time I finished Emma, I grew to really like her character. Yes, she is a bit controlling and thinks she knows everything, but she means well and simply wants to help her neighbors out. She does learn that she never had a talent for matchmaking and is able to realize her mistakes.

Romola Garai is the best Emma that I've seen. Just like when I read the book, I found her Emma to be a little bit irksome, but when the miniseries went on, I grew to like her Emma. She portrayed Emma's well meaning nature very well.

Stella Gonet as Beatrice Eliott

 6. Beatrice Eliott (House of Eliott)

Between Beatrice and Evangeline (Bea and Evie respectively), the two Eliott sisters, I’ve always liked Bea a lot more (though I liked Evie in Series 1, but once she went to Paris, they tried to push that she was more "worldly" and "sophisticated", which got very irritating very quickly). Bea was always a lot more mature and sensible than Evie, who was more childish and based her actions and decisions on her emotions. Bea also had a mind for business, which really sticks out to me since I’m interested in business: she really cared for her business and carefully made decisions concerning her business. She also had the creative mind for fashion and sewing.

Stella Gonet portrayed Bea. She was very elegant and mature in the role of Bea. It was a pleasure to watch her.

Kate Winslet as Marianne
Dashwood

7. Marianne Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)

Poor Marianne: she doesn’t quite keep the stiff upper lip that Elinor maintains throughout Sense and Sensibility. When struck with grief, Marianne becomes consumed with this grief to the point that she becomes sick and nearly dies. When she recovers, she realizes that she should not have acted in that way and she becomes determined to mend her ways. Marianne’s self-realization and determination to fix her faults is something that anyone should aspire to obtain.

Kate Winslet was great in her interpretation of Marianne. Though Kate Winslet could be a little over-the-top in her emotional portrayal of Marianne, I think it works since Jane Austen meant to show that Marianne's over-emotional personality is a bit ridiculous.

Elizabeth McGovern as
Cora

8. Cora, Countess of Grantham (Downton Abbey)

Cora, Countess of Grantham, was an American who married Robert Crawley, Lord of Grantham. She really cares for her daughters, especially Lady Mary whose chance of finding a husband had been made difficult. She sees that she has to get her daughters married, so she tries to find them suitable husbands (yes, it does sound similar to Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice: the difference is that Cora tries to find husbands for her daughters with a great deal more dignity than Mrs. Bennet).

Elizabeth McGovern portrayed Cora in Downton Abbey. She was sweet and very enjoyable to watch. My only issue was that her accent sounded like it was a fake American accent and Elizabeth McGovern is actually American.

Joanne Froggatt as Anna

9. Anna Smith (Downton Abbey)

Anna, one of the top maids in Downton Abbey, is a really hard worker and a sister-figure to Gwen, a younger maid who wants to find another job that would allow her to move up in the world. She also goes to great lengths to find out Mr. Bates’s past to clear his name at Downton. I can't wait to see what's next for her in Season 2!

Joanne Froggatt was Anna in Downton Abbey. She was very caring and it was great to watch a character who was like a "big sister".

Julia Sawalha as
Dorcas Lane

10. Dorcas Lane (Lark Rise to Candleford)

Dorcas has her faults: she is very meddlesome, has a taste for trouble, and, when provoked, she can be very quick with her tongue. At the same time, she just wants to help out her neighbors all while keeping with post office regulations. She has respect for the post office regulations, but if they cause a problem she tries to work around them to help out her neighbors. She also tries to teach Laura Timmins, her cousin’s daughter, the right way to work in a post office. She also tries to maintain a professional appearance even though she might be going through something rough.

 Julia Sawalha, a very well known period drama actress, portrayed Dorcas Lane. I first saw Julia Sawalha as Lydia Bennet in Pride and Prejudice; Dorcas is probably the opposite of Lydia: she has a care for the rules and is very dignified. This shows that Julia Sawalha can be a very versatile actress. She did a great job in Lark Rise to Candleford.

 

 
So there's my list. What do you think of it? Would you put some of the same heroines in your own list of favorite heroines? Would there be any that you would add to your list? Leave a comment!

 God Bless, 
 



Review: Emma (1997)

This was the first version of Emma that I saw. It was on Masterpiece: Classic one weekend a couple of years ago, so my mom and I sat down to watch it.

Poster/Box Art


Synopsis
Synopsis taken from Emma (2009) Review

"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich" is a woman living in the English town of Highbury with her father. After making a match that lead to the marriage of her governness, Miss Taylor, and Mr. Weston, Emma (Kate Beckinsale) had fancied herself to have a knack for matchmaking. She is determined to make a match between Mr. Elton, the local vicar, and Harriet Smith (Samantha Morton), much to the chagrin of her father and her brother-in-law, Mr. Knightly (Mark Strong).

Characters

Both Kate Beckinsale and Mark Strong are fairly well known, but you might recognize some of the cast in Emma. Samantha Bond (Mrs. Weston) was in one episode of Downton Abbey and Lark Rise to Candleford and was also in Mansfield Park (1983). Samantha Morton (Harriet Smith) was in Jane Eyre (1997). Olivia Williams (Jane Fairfax) was also in Miss Austen Regrets. Lucy Robinson (Mrs. Elton) was also in Pride and Prejudice (1995). And I believe Raymond Coulthard (Frank Churchill) was also in He Knew He Was Right.

Emma Woodhouse with Frank Churchill (Left)
and Mr. Knightley (Right)

Kate Beckinsale was okay as Emma (though not my favorite as Emma and even though I thought her imaginings were getting to be too much), but to me, Mark Strong is not Mr. Knightley. He seemed to be always yelling whenever he got upset, like he was going to throw a chair or something. I mean, was it really like Mr. Knightley to start yelling when he heard that Frank Churchill went to London to get his hair cut? I could see Mr. Knightley making a sarcastic remark about it, but to actually start yelling?

I didn't particularly care for Samantha Morton's Harriet. In the book, she is supposed to be a pretty looking girl, and I don't think that she was pretty enough. Olivia WIlliams's Jane Fairfax I liked. She was elegant and pretty, as she is in the book. I particularly disliked Frank Churchill in here, though. He just seemed too full of himself and he really irritated me (well, more than Frank Churchill usually does).I also thought that Miss Bates was too old. When I picture Miss Bates, I see someone in her late 30's or in her 40's; this Miss Bates could have been in her mid fifties or later.

Some of the acting I thought was forced and not "real". It just seemed like some of the lines were just said... It seemed like there were some spots where there could have been a little more emotion or if an emotion was expressed, it came out fake.

Jane Fairfax (Background) and Harriet Smith (Left Foreground)
and Emma Woodhouse (Right Foreground)

Scenery

There are some nice outdoor scenes, but I thought that some of the overtones were a little dark for Emma. Emma is a light-hearted story, so the scenes ought to be light and vivid, but the scenes were dark. Scenes take place outside either in Highbury, out on the country roads, or outside of Hartfield or Donwell Abbey, or inside the different homes of the characters.

Costumes

Some of the costumes I liked, others not so much. I never really liked the extra high neckline, so when Harriet had a white dress with a really high neckline, I didn't like that dress. I also thought that they over-did some of the neck kerchief frills: the ones without the frills were much better. The rest of the gowns, overall, I thought were good.

Harriet and Mr. Elton married?! One of Emma's many
imaginings...

Music
Some of the music is very light and bouncy (like the theme song and dance numbers), but there were times during Emma's imaginings that the music got very serious and completely unlike the tone of Emma. Overall, the music is kind of a hit and miss.

Overall: 3/5
I didn't completely hate this version of Emma, but I much prefer the 2009 miniseries to this version. The acting wasn't the best and the scenery could have been a lot lighter and more fitting to the tone that the book had. If you don't have too much time to spare and want to watch a version of Emma, this version or the Gwyneth Paltrow version are both okay, but if you really want a good sense of Emma and have the time to spare, watch the 2009 miniseries.

Emma is available on DVD. It runs for 107 minutes.