In Defense of Charlotte Lucas

Welcome, one and all! I come to you tonight in the second installment of my analysis of Pride and Prejudice, a defense of the highly scorned Charlotte Lucas. It’s always disappointing to us (or to me, at least) to see a character with such potential and good sense marry such a ridiculous man, but, given the usual mode of marriage in the regency era (and most eras before and after that), her choice is not entirely surprising, and I would argue that, despite all our feelings regarding Mr Collins, her marrying him was the right choice. Prepare yourself to keep an open mind: remove, if you will, your 21st century rose-tinted glasses, and put yourself in the position of a relatively middle class woman with little to no prospects.

Continue reading “In Defense of Charlotte Lucas” →

Jane Austen: the Disappointed Champion of the Romantic Comedy

I promised, or at least decided, to write an entire series of articles on Pride and Prejudice in the new year. I fully intend to keep this promise, but in the course of watching another Jane Austen movie that I had never seen or read before (and subsequently reading the book in well under 24 hours), watching the movie Austenland, and doing a great deal of thinking about Jane Austen’s books in general, I conceived of another article that would do well as a precursor to any Pride and Prejudice opinions I presented to you all upon this here internet. The idea for this article has been bouncing around in my head for several days now, and I have not had time to sit down and do it credit until now; however, I, in my usual style of writing, came up with a smashing title for an article (the one you see above) and could not have any ease of mind until I had written a pretty little piece to accompany that title, so the first free chunk of hours I had was dedicated to writing the article you see below.

Continue reading “Jane Austen: the Disappointed Champion of the Romantic Comedy” →

The Problem of Icarus

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this year about the story of Icarus from Greek mythology. Something about it has always bugged me; the laying of blame on Icarus seems like merely an easy way of avoiding a difficult question. I have seen various criticisms of this narrative, for there have been countless poems, and I have no doubt countless essays and songs too, written about it. Some claim that Icarus and Apollo were lovers, and some claim that it wasn’t the harsh sun but his fall into the cruel sea that killed him. Whether or not any of these theories have any truth, all of them are still avoiding the uncomfortable betrayal found at the heart of the myth.

Continue reading “The Problem of Icarus” →