"I would ask you, dearest, to be very generous with him always, and very lenient on his faults when he is not by. I would ask you to believe that he has a heart he very, very seldom reveals, and that there are deep wounds in it. My dear, I have seen it bleeding."
A Tale of Two Cities, Book the Second, Chapter 20 (in this week's Dickens for Breakfast installment)
This is one of my favorite lines in that book. It always makes me sigh with a kind of exquisite sadness.
Posted by: Christy | August 24, 2009 at 02:53 PM
It's a wonderful line, isn't it? Lucie gets slammed a lot, but I have to say, the girl's got a gift for imagery!
Posted by: Gina | August 24, 2009 at 03:28 PM
Lucie gets slammed? Whyever for?
Posted by: Christy | August 24, 2009 at 04:14 PM
Some people find her too saintly.
Posted by: Gina | August 24, 2009 at 04:43 PM
"Some people find her too saintly."
Same goes for Agnes and Esther and any of the "good" heroines, which is beyond my reasoning. I think it's because their actions clash with some reader's personalities and what THEY would do in the situation, and so those readers assume no one would/could act as the Dickens girls would. However, I know people who act like them in real life (and so did Dickens - Mary Hogarth - that's why he wrote them that way).
Posted by: Nibs | August 24, 2009 at 04:56 PM
I agree, Nibs. Saintliness is not a character quality that bothers me. Frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing more of it, in life and in fiction.
Now, there's room for debate over the relative liveliness of different heroines -- say, Austen heroines and Dickens heroines. And I think sometimes we get to see more of the mental processes of the heroines of other authors, which can help us relate to them more. But sometimes, when people dislike a character for being too good, I think perhaps it says more about them than about the character. (Not blasting anyone's tastes -- just indulging in a little speculation.)
All this may be worth a post or two of its own someday.
Posted by: Gina | August 24, 2009 at 05:06 PM
I honestly don't even think they ARE totally saintly as others may say, but even if they are very good, aren't a lot of people? Why is that so wrong?
"Now, there's room for debate over the relative liveliness of different heroines -- say, Austen heroines and Dickens heroines."
I constantly say this to my sister - what makes Jane Bennet any more saintly than Esther Summerson? Jane likes everyone and Esther likes most but not all. Why isn't Anne of Persuasion any more "pining" than Agnes Wickfield?
"But sometimes, when people dislike a character for being too good, I think perhaps it says more about them than about the character. (Not blasting anyone's tastes -- just indulging in a little speculation.)"
Agreed!
Posted by: Nibs | August 24, 2009 at 05:52 PM
"...Esther likes most but not all." Esther does NOT like Harold Skimpole! ;-)
Posted by: Christopher Harris | August 24, 2009 at 07:12 PM
...and speaking of 'Saints.' Nibs, you ought to trot over and have a look at my blog posting entitled "Dickens and His Bodhisattvas." You might find it an interesting read.
Posted by: Christopher Harris | August 24, 2009 at 07:16 PM
I hope these comments aren't in response to my less than enthusiastic feelings toward Lizzie Hexam, Gina =)
And this is one of my favorite parts from A Tale of Two Cities, probably second only to the part where Sydney tells Lucie that he loves her. Oh, and that famous ending, but I thought that went without saying...
Posted by: Emma M. | August 27, 2009 at 03:54 PM
Emma -- oh, dear, no. I wasn't even thinking of that.
Although I recently found out that a colleague of mine is a big Lizzie fan, and I've had an amused thought or two about putting the two of you in a room and letting you slug it out. ;-)
Posted by: Gina | August 27, 2009 at 04:39 PM
Haha! That would certainly be interesting, considering how the last debate I had over Dickens turned out :)
Posted by: Emma M. | August 27, 2009 at 05:02 PM
Ahem, Lizzie fan here...although my sister did point out that her whole "Hark, father's here" thing is a little silly. ;)
Anyway Gina, I just wanted to let you know that I'm mocking the Twilight fandom by making "Team Agnes" and "Team Dora" banners. If you wanted to put one up on your blog, here's the banners:
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/NibsTheScot/David%20Copperfield%20Graphics/team-agnes.jpg
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/NibsTheScot/David%20Copperfield%20Graphics/team-dora.jpg
No obligation, of course, I just wanted to let you know!
Posted by: Nibs | September 06, 2009 at 05:09 PM
Those are awesome!
By the way, did my entry in the LOLZ contest come through all right?
Posted by: Gina | September 06, 2009 at 06:45 PM
Yes, and thank you so much for entering! I'm going to add it when I update on Tuesday (I may be biased but I think it's your best yet!). :)
Posted by: Nibs | September 06, 2009 at 07:01 PM