George "Tiger" Wickham

[donnaimmaculata]

I'm currently reading Henry Fielding's Tom Jones. And you know what I realised? It's the story of Messrs. Darcy and Wickham growing up together at Pemberley, told from the more interesting character's point of view.

There's the Good Boy. Conscientious, non-troublemaking, obedient to authority (Messrs. Square and Thwackum in Tom Jones' case, his father in Mr Darcy's case), with no inner life or creative spark to speak of, no sense of humour, no particular interest in girls...

And then there's the Bad Boy. "Adopted" by a rich man, undutiful (Tom sells his bible and is friends with the game keeper!), not respectful of his elders and betters, dissipate, too much interest in girls, tries it on with the girl who is out of his league, joins the regiment...

And yet, we know from Tom Jones that nothing is as it seems. I bet George Wickham was not the evil dissolute scoundrel he was made out to be, either. It's not his fault he was charming and had easy manners!

Comments

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

ROFLMAO! You are JUST like me---always tending towards the bad boys. LOL! I think what Austen was doing with Wickham was making him a gross parody of the marriage-market types of the Regency. However, subtlety was never Miss Jane's strong point. LOL! She did a much better job with Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility---he's rather paler than Wickham, but much more realistic.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

With me, it's not necessarily so much the badness, as the entertainment value! Her villains are so much more charming and amusing. I don't think I would like to spend my life as Mrs. Knightley or Mrs. Col. Brandon - but being Willoughby's paramour would be fun ;-)

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

BWAAHAHAHAA! That would be fun!

[babycakesin.livejournal.com]

You have a gift for pimping, honestly - pointing out the bad boy is a sure way to get me interested in a work of fiction, they're usually so much more interesting lol

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Hee! Tom Jones is not the Bad Boy, really. He's only perceived as one due to value dissonance ;-) For example, when, as a teenager, he sells his bible to give the money to a poor family, he gets thrashed by his teacher, because he has not valued The Bible, a Present from his Patron, OMG!

I find Tom Jones quite amusing:

"She therefore no sooner opened the door, and saw her master standing by the bedside in his shirt, with a candle in his hand, than she started back in a most terrible fright, and might perhaps have swooned away, had he not now recollected his being undrest, and put an end to her terrors by desiring her to stay without the door till he had thrown some cloathes over his back, and was become incapable of shocking the pure eyes of Mrs Deborah Wilkins, who, though in the fifty-second year of her age, vowed she had never beheld a man without his coat."

"However, what she withheld from the infant, she bestowed with the utmost profuseness on the poor unknown mother, whom she called an impudent slut, a wanton hussy, an audacious harlot, a wicked jade, a vile strumpet, with every other appellation with which the tongue of virtue never fails to lash those who bring a disgrace on the sex."

"How base and mean must that woman be, how void of that dignity of mind, and decent pride, without which we are not worthy the name of human creatures, who can bear to level herself with the lowest animal, and to sacrifice all that is great and noble in her, all her heavenly part, to an appetite which she hath in common with the vilest branch of the creation! For no woman, sure, will plead the passion of love for an excuse. This would be to own herself the mere tool and bubble of the man. Love, however barbarously we may corrupt and pervert its meaning, as it is a laudable, is a rational passion, and can never be violent but when reciprocal; for though the Scripture bids us love our enemies, it means not with that fervent love which we naturally bear towards our friends; much less that we should sacrifice to them our lives, and what ought to be dearer to us, our innocence.

Now in what light, but that of an enemy, can a reasonable woman regard the man who solicits her to entail on herself all the misery I have described to you, and who would purchase to himself a short, trivial, contemptible pleasure, so greatly at her expense! For, by the laws of custom, the whole shame, with all its dreadful consequences, falls intirely upon her. Can love, which always seeks the good of its object, attempt to betray a woman into a bargain where she is so greatly to be the loser?

If such corrupter, therefore, should have the impudence to pretend a real affection for her, ought not the woman to regard him not only as an enemy, but as the worst of all enemies, a false, designing, treacherous, pretended friend, who intends not only to debauch her body, but her understanding at the same time?"

"I saw two farmers' daughters at church, the other day, with bare necks. I
protest they shocked me. If wenches will hang out lures for fellows,
it is no matter what they suffer."

"In order to guard herself against matrimonial injuries in her own house, as she kept one maid-servant, she always took care to chuse her out of that order of females whose faces are taken as a kind of security for their virtue"

[About a cat fight between Goody Brown and Molly; they tear each other's clothes off:]

"Goody Brown had great advantage of Molly in this particular; for the former had indeed no breasts, her bosom (if it may be so called), as well in colour as in many other properties, exactly resembling an antient piece of parchment, upon which any one might have drummed a considerable while without doing her any great damage."

[babycakesin.livejournal.com]

Tom Jones is not the Bad Boy, really. He's only perceived as one due to value dissonance ;-)
Even better! A bad boy doesn't have to be an actual bad boy to get me interested, breaking rules is good enough for me lol

Those lines are awesome! I love that line about matrimonial injuries lol (it reminds me of Voltaire actually) Ok, as soon as I'm finished with my John Irving phase (I'm half way through Widow for a year, and I have Son of the Circus waiting for me at the library), Tom Jones it is \o/ Again, thanks for the rec!

(unrelated: have you seen the new season of Being Human?)

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Additional bonus: Tom Jones was one of the first novels in the English language.

You've got to post your thoughts on Son of the Circus when you read it. I'm really looking forward to reading your reactions, because I remember I liked it so much, even though I can't remember any details.

(I have, and I, um, have just ranted about Annie's character development. Have you been watching it?)

[babycakesin.livejournal.com]

I have, and I, um, have just ranted about Annie's character development. Have you been watching it?
Gah, I should be on LJ more often lol I have the episodes, but I haven't seen them yet. Looking forward to it *g*