What's in a Name?

Ecstasy (n)- 2. Excessive joy; rapture; a degree of delight that arrests the whole mind; joy may rise to ecstasy. (Websters 1828 Dictionary)
Doldrums (n)- A sate of inactivity or stagnation.(Dictionary.com)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Persuaded?


"All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one, you need not covet it) is that of loving longest when existence or when hope is gone."
~Jane Austen
Persuasion




On Sunday evening I watched the first of the Jane Austen book adaptations on PBS. Persuasion is my favorite Austen novel. I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps it is because I find it romantic that a love that was lost, seemingly forever, was restored or maybe it is because of the constant love in the heroine that I find virtuous. I don't know. Anne Elliot is such a noble character. She is ignored by her selfish, self-important, social climbing father and elder sister, yet she still treats them with respect and kindness. Her hypochondriac younger sister is always demanding her attention and never grateful for it, yet Anne never ceases to give. She sees the man she has loved for nearly 10 long years, pay attentions to another young lady and she still holds to a strong character and cares for that young lady, though all her hopes would be shattered.

Austen has great character development. Each of her characters are different from one another, yet they are real. One could name one of her characters among their acquaintances, friends and relations. Her heroes are men of honor, who do what is right in the face of great odds. Her heroines are virtuous and chaste. She makes sure that those who are selfish and rude are not the protagonists and are not people she encourages us to emulate (unlike many popular novels and movies of today).

Although it wasn't the best version of Persuasion, I did enjoy watching it and I am looking forward to the next couple of months of new adaptations!

To those of you who read this blog (all two of you!!!), what did you think of the adaptation? Leave me a comment and let me know!

4 comments:

Newton said...

I have yet to watch it, but I look forward to watching it (if Ali's burning worked well). Persuasion is also my favorite Jane Austin book.

Matt said...

I read your blog!!

I haven't read the book but from the way you described it, I may just have to!

-Laura G

Josie said...

I haven't watched it yet. I thought it was going to be a two part. But I am recording them all on our DVD recorder and if you wants copies of them all at the end, I can get you some with the small payment for just the five discs that will be needed.

Amanda said...

Hello Ladies! Thanks to each of you for commenting! It made my day!
Lori- you've got impecable taste! Great minds think alike! : )
Laura- I'm so glad that you posted! It's been ages since I've heard from you and I'll definitely be reading and matt's and your blog.(I have no clue how to say that correctly)
Ali- You're great!I would love to have copies of each- just let me know the price!