I recently saw Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway and James MacAvoy. I’m a long time fan of the latter (even when he’s wearing goat-legs), and found him every bit as charming in this film as always, but I was taken aback by the character he played, Tom LeFroy. In the film (I haven’t read the book), LeFroy is portrayed as a rakish playboy, too fashionable by half. He has the country boredom of Darcy, the cruel wit of Frank Churchill, the wildness of Willoughby, the animal magnetism of Henry Crawford…
Wait a second. Somewhere in there, I stopped naming the heroes of Austen novels, and moved right on to the rascals. Much of the publicity on the film has cast this fictionalized account from Austen’s life as being the inspiration for Pride & Prejudice, but even I (who can quote the entire six-hour BBC miniseries by heart) felt it showcased scenes that reminded me more of Persuasion (especially the dead lover), Sense & Sensibility (the bereft sister), and others. I saw little in common between LeFroy and Darcy, except for a mutual initial contempt for country living.
After the viewing, I got into a conversation about the topic of Austen heroes with a friend. If anything, I argued, LeFroy’s character was like the rakes and rascals Austen heroines find themselves infatuated with early on, before they come to their senses and realize their feelings for the flashy Churchills of the world are nothing to the more mature and steady affection they hold for the Knightleys.
To me, Austen was always a tad too forgiving to her rakes. Wickham gets off scot-free, with a nice living bought for him by Darcy, and regular bundles of cash sent regularly from both Jane and Lizzie. Willoughby makes one tearful (and drunk) confession while Elinor is standing over Marianne’s deathbed, and the usually sensible elder sister is left in deep sympathy for him! The writer even goes so far as to speculate that adulterer Crawford could have been reformed completely if Fanny had just deigned to marry him! Perhaps the writers on this film agree with me: maybe ol’ Jane did have a soft spot for these wicked charmers, and it’s fun to imagine it dates back to an early romance with one of her own.
Maybe, like Jane, I’m also easy on my bad boys. When I originally envisioned George, my playboy love interest in Secret Society Girl, he was supposed to be a cruel, Valmont-type seducer. But from the first moments that he appeared on the page, he comported himself in such an open, fun, and ultimately redeeming manner that I revised his character, still a rake, but not a harmful one. (I suppose it helps that I’m writing in a different age than Austen.) And when a first reader recently gave me feedback that a romantic development in my latest manuscript reminded her of Austen, I thrilled. And then I wondered if you could have Austen-style reactions to your romance without the corresponding Austen-style heroes. Could you have that moment if your heroes are more like Austen’s rakes?
I find my reading in contemporary-written romance also leans heavily towards the charming rogues. I love that heroic archetype. Much as I sigh over the formal, upstanding Darcy, Knightley, and Wentworth when I read (and reread, and reread) Austen, I’m drawn to the bad boys of romance just as much. But as the Austen heroines eventually realize in book after book, those fellas aren’t usually in it for the long haul, I’ve noticed, over the past decade, that I’ve been reading far fewer charmers. Am I, like Jane, getting over my “thing” for bad boys?
Then again, the character of LeFroy gets over it himself, going back to Ireland to care for the family, marrying, and eventually becoming a Chief Justice. Darcy would be proud.
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Well, to be honest, if you read Jane Austen’s letters you kind of get the idea that LeFroy really was more rascal than gentleman. So I’m glad the movie portrayed that. In one of Jane’s letters, she talked about how, because LeFroy’s friends were teasing him about her, LeFroy actually left out the back door to avoid seeing her when she came (with a friend or cousin or something) to visit his mother! Not exactly my idea of a romantic hero.
But as it seems she did also have some feelings for him, it makes sense that in her books she would try to give him/the characters based off of him a reason to reform, whether they do or not.
I’ve not seen the movie. Hopefully when it comes to DVD. As for the bad boys, I guess we all want to break the rules but we’re afraid to do it. Bad boys represent what we don’t dare to do. They break the rules – especially society’s rules about what’s consider acceptable and not. And we want to be bad girls ourselves, so we tangle with the bad boys to see if something (besides them) rubs on.
Warning: Abrupt tangent ahead…
Saw the Jane Austen Book Club.
Brilliant movie.
Thought I’d hate it and ended up laughing and crying and loving it.
And I LOVED that it was a romance-type ending.
As for Becoming Jane,
haven’t yet seen it.
In one of Jane’s letters, she talked about how, because LeFroy’s friends were teasing him about her, LeFroy actually left out the back door to avoid seeing her when she came (with a friend or cousin or something) to visit his mother! Not exactly my idea of a romantic hero.
Belinda, isn’t that kind of like what Marianne and Col. Brandon have to put up with in Sense & Sensibility? I know that if I was being ruthlessly teased about my attraction to someone (or their to me) I’d probably take pains to avoid them in company!
Tempest, I guess in my writing I have the HEROINES do the things I don’t dare to — my heroines always have the perfect comebacks, always take the big romantic risks…
I considered that a large part of the Bad Boy’s allure is envy of his freedom to be bad, because being the Good Girl most women are conditioned to be is so stifling at times.
First, I’m really glad you made George more sympathetic than originally planned. I guess that’s why I empathize with (and envy) him so much!
Second, I’d just like to mention two Jane-related books I’ve recently read – and loved! Austenland, by Shannon Hale, and Mr. Darcy’s Diary, by Elizabeth Ashton. Both get the Bill Clark five-star ***** rating.
Third, may I share my first memory of Jane Austen: I had just debarked at Southampton, and that afternoon my family went to Winchester Cathedral. I was wandering up an aisle when I looked down and found myself standing atop Our Jane. I was a bit creeped out by this, being all of 15 at the time, but then decided that Jane probably didn’t mind. That was as close as I’d ever been to a real author, and the memory has stayed with me as a result. Note that I hadn’t noticed any of the other people on whom I’d trodden; it was as if Jane herself had whispered to me to stop and look down. No wonder I have such a soft spot for her!
Sometimes I feel like I must be the only woman in America who’s never had a thing for bad boys, rogues or charmers. Even my celebrity crushes have generally been the nice guys, and if one does something not very nice, the crush seems to wither and die. I never really went for the rock stars, either. (And meanwhile, all the seemingly nice guys I liked in real life tended to go after the bad girls while ignoring me. Maybe I’d have had better luck with the bad boys.)
I thought LeFroy in the movie was a real jerk, and I kind of hated the idea that Jane Austen would be the type who would go for the bad boy jerk while the “Mr. Wrong” in the movie came across as a rather sweet guy she might have been compatible with if she’d given him half a chance instead of being a snob about him. Unless maybe the fact that her heroines did get a second chance with the good guys after being sidetracked by the bad boys was her realizing and regretting that mistake.
Shanna, I think that’s exactly it. I think at the end she did in fact realize what her father always said, that Wisley would grow out of his “boobyness” — because he was an interesting man, always with the bon mots, not afraid to defy his grandmother (aunt?) when he felt strongly about something, but still not willing to put up with some bitch who runs off to London with a rake every chance he gets…
I really want to see this movie. My husband and I spent two weeks in England and while there read P&P outloud to one another. We visited Jane’s home, too. I always wondered about the woman and her relationships, but never researched it for some reason.
As for bad boys, I think most females (with the exception of Shanna above
) go through their bad boy stage and then finally realize this is not the kind of man you want to spend your entire life with and move on to the nice guys.
I just finished writing a ms. with what I would consider my first bad boy hero and as Kerry Allen mentioned above the allure to the heroine was freedom. Not to be bad in this case, but just the freedom to do or be what he wanted without the responsibilities and expectations she felt required to meet.
Diana, that’s a good point! I suppose if I were endlessly teased I’d want to avoid them, too, but at the same time, if he gave her a reason to think maybe they had a thing…? I totally agree with you and Shanna that Jane must have realized Mr Wrong could actually be Mr Right, given the chance.
Shanna, I’m just like you. I’ve never really liked the bad guy. If he’s charming, sure, dashing, maybe, but bad is a total turn-off. Even my celebrity-crush style is just like yours!
I just watched “Becoming Jane” this past weekend. I tend to love the bad boys but this time I was a little torn. Wesley was a good man just not good with words…he reminded me alot of Mr.Darcy. I felt bad for him but I also understood Jane’s attraction to Lefroy.
On a funny note….I took my Mother and Mother in law to see this movie. My mother is well educated and a lover of all romance books and has all of Jane Austen’s books…however my mother in law I doubt has read a book in her life!
When the movie ends my mother in law says “I hate movies that end bad! If we had know this we could have seen something else”
I looked at her in unbelief and asked “What?”
She replied “well the girl doesn’t get married and dies young”
I nod and say “Well Jane Austen never married, this is based on her life so why would she get married in the movie”
My mother in law frowns and ask’s “So this Jane Austen person is a real person”
My mother gasp in shock and I just cracked up laughing! I didn’t realize there was a soul on earth who didn’t know who Jane Austen was….