Wednesday, February 24, 2010

You Don't Have to Persuade Me

MR. WENTWORTH, Mr. Darcy - ah! That Jane knew her heroes!
No, you wouldn't have to try very hard to persuade me that Mr. Wentworth was worth the having.
I just finished watching "Persuasion" on Oregon Public Television (On Demand) and it was well worth the time spent, even though my hearing isn't the best and the British accents I enjoyed so in my youth now sound a great deal like Chinese.
This particular production had Miss Anne Elliot looking either sideways or straight into the camera (at the very end) with her wide variety of looks: consternation, irritation, forbearance, confusion or joy. Anne's hairdo made me wince with pain and I could just imagine the headache I would have at the end of the day if I were to try putting my hair up like this.
Here is Mr. Wentworth's letter to Anne that Jane Austen wrote for him:
"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own, than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death.
"I have loved none but you. ... For you alone I think and plan. -- Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? -- I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice, when they would be lost on others. -- Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating in --- F.W. (Frederick Wentworth)
"I must go, uncertain of my fate, but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening, or never."
Wow! Could a woman turn down a man who could write a letter like that? Doubtful!
I got the pictures from another blog with this fabulous quote (mixing zombies and Jane Austen) "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." For "single man" you insert "zombie" and "brains" for everything else ... like fortune and marriage.
I'm glad I'm not a zombie. I really don't think I could handle the diet - femminismo
p.s. None of these images are mine.

4 comments:

Steve said...

I doubt you would get so much poetry in a text these days... the character limitation alone would stifle Mr W's earnest leanings...

Acornmoon said...

I wonder if Jane would have taken to blogging? I like to think that she would. I can see her sat at her kitchen table, lap top to hand.

femminismo said...

Well, let's see ... Twitter would allow 140 characters. Do I smell a contest in the air to render Mr. W's plea in only 140 characters? - femm

Candace said...

Well, I definitely think letters go where angels fear to tread ... at the very least, pick up the phone. Go in person. Oh wait... they didn't have phones, either, did they?
That crazy Zooey! Always fallin' in with the wrong crowd!
Take care!
Candace