A new page and a new competition

The Dickensblog Facebook page is now up! As you'll see, there's not much there yet; I'm still figuring out how to make it work and what to put on it. I'd hoped to find a way to make it automatically update every time I updated this blog, but no luck with that yet. Apparently, fan pages aren't set up for that sort of thing. (Now they tell me.) Still, I hope to make something fun out of it, and I hope that those of you who are Facebookers will join up.

And now, to help celebrate the launch, we're going to have a competition! Not a quiz like the last one, a different kind of competition. I want each of you to list all your favorite Dickensian couples -- as many of them as you want. And I'll also be taking nominations on the Facebook page. The couples who get the most mentions will be part of a poll that I'll put together, and we'll all vote to determine who's the best couple.

The winning couple will be honored by appearing in a set of 20 brand-new icons, to be made by my LiveJournal friend birdienl, who has graciously volunteered her time and talent. The second-place couple will get 10 icons and the third-place couple will get five. Once we have our winning couples, if there are any particular quotes or film scenes that you'd like to see appear in any of these icons, feel free to ask, and I'll pass the request along. In the case of couples who appear in multiple film adaptations, if you have any particular film version that you'd like to see represented, you can request that too.

I'm defining a couple as a pair in which at least one person is in love with the other. So while you could name any of the happy-ever-after couples, you could also name Smike/Kate, or Sydney/Lucie, or Jarndyce/Esther, or even (if you were feeling particularly evil) Guppy/Esther. But no made-up couples like Scrooge/Mrs. Cratchit or Nancy/Fagin, please!

So let's get going. List your favorite couples below, and next weekend I'll set up the poll!

Comments

[Selenia]

I've just joined the Facebook page! YAY!

As for favorite couples, I will list two right now:
Pip and Estella
Ebenezer and Belle

[Elizabeth R]

Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam
David Copperfield and Agnes Wickfield

[Esther]

Pip and Estella :)

[Christy]

Mr and Mrs Micawber
Mr and Mrs Boffin
Eugene Wrayburn and Lizzie Hexum
John Harmon and Bella Wilfer
Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam
Bob and Mrs Cratchitt
David Copperfield and Agnes Wickfield
Mr Jarndyce and Esther Summerson (though I'm glad they never got married)
Miss LaCreevy and Tom Linkinwater

[Nina]

David Copperfield and Agnes Wickfield
Guppy and Esther (I'm EVIL!)
Smike and Kate
Sam Weller and Mary (is that her name?)
Aunt Betsey and Mr. Dick (Does that count?)

[Gina]

Yes, you are evil! :-) For Aunt Betsey and Mr. Dick, I don't know -- do you think he's in love with her? I'm not really sure, but if he is, then it would count.

[Valancy]

*****Note: the following evidence submitted in favor of my candidates SHOULD NOT BE READ by anyone who has yet to enjoy Our Mutual Friend.*****

'Why here's Mr Rokesmith now!'

'No, no, Pa, no,' cried Bella, greatly flurried. 'Surely not.'

'Yes there is! Look here!'

Sooth to say, Mr Rokesmith not only passed the window, but came into the counting-house. And not only came into the counting- house, but, finding himself alone there with Bella and her father, rushed at Bella and caught her in his arms, with the rapturous words 'My dear, dear girl; my gallant, generous, disinterested, courageous, noble girl!' And not only that even, (which one might have thought astonishment enough for one dose), but Bella, after hanging her head for a moment, lifted it up and laid it on his breast, as if that were her head's chosen and lasting resting-place!

'I knew you would come to him, and I followed you,' said Rokesmith. 'My love, my life! You ARE mine?'

To which Bella responded, 'Yes, I AM yours if you think me worth taking!' And after that, seemed to shrink to next to nothing in the clasp of his arms, partly because it was such a strong one on his part, and partly because there was such a yielding to it on hers.

The cherub, whose hair would have done for itself under the influence of this amazing spectacle, what Bella had just now done for it, staggered back into the window-seat from which he had risen, and surveyed the pair with his eyes dilated to their utmost.

'But we must think of dear Pa,' said Bella; 'I haven't told dear Pa; let us speak to Pa.' Upon which they turned to do so.

'I wish first, my dear,' remarked the cherub faintly, 'that you'd have the kindness to sprinkle me with a little milk, for I feel as if I was-- Going.'

[Katie]

Florence and Walter
Bella and John Rokesmith/Harmon

[Marian]

Herbert Pocket and Clara Barley
Mr and Mrs Boffin
Nicholas Nickleby and Madeline Bray
Mr and Mrs Cratchit
Fanny Dorrit and Edmund Sparkler :D
Mr Guppy and Esther Summerson (I like Guppy WAY better than Woodcourt!)
Caddy Jellyby and Prince Turveydrop
Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam
John Westlock and Ruth Pinch

And I don't know if it counts, since they didn't marry for love, but what about the Lammle couple from Our Mutual Friend? ;)

[Marian]

By the way, I don't have a Facebook account, but the Facebook page looks great! :)

[Christy]

I was thinking about the Lammles too. But their story is so sad...
I love that bit from "Our Mutual Friend."
And I was also thinking Aunt Betsey and Mr Dick, though there's no evidence of their being in love with each other.

[Nina]

Oh, I forgot,
Tom Pinch and Mary Graham

And yeah, Marian, I love Guppy way better than Woodcourt, though I can see why Esther refused him. :P

[Gina]

No kidding -- he's fun to read about, but imagine spending your life with him! ;-)

Thanks, Marian, I'm glad you like the page!

Okay, my nominations:

Arthur and Amy
Sydney and Lucie
Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness
Eugene and Lizzie
Smike and Kate
Traddles and Sophy
Sloppy and Jenny

(I know Sloppy and Jenny only had a scene or two, but they were adorable together -- and it was easy to tell where things were headed!)

[Heather]

Oh please, John Harmon and Bella Wilfer!

[Christy]

Oh, yeah, I loved Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness. I was also thinking vaguely of Sloppy and Jenny.

[Tim]

Joe Willet and Dolly Varden are a wonderful happy-ever-after couple from Barnaby Rudge.

One of the funniest of Dickens's couples is Mr Pickwick and Mrs Bardell.

I also love Dick Swiveller and the Marichioness, Arthur Clenham and Amy Dorrit, the Boffins, Sam Weller and Mary.

[David]

Arthur Clennam and Amy Dorrit - My favorite passage in all of Dickens is when Clennam is sadly musing by a dying fire and asks himself, "What have I found!", only to be startled by the answer, "Little Dorrit."

Mrs. Bardell and that "slow coach", Samuel Pickwick

Sydney Carton and Lucie Manette, Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness, and Lizzie Hexam and Eugene Wrayburn are all inspiring examples of love bringing out the better natures in men. David Copperfield and Agnes Wickfield are in the same mold, although of course David doesn't have the grave flaws of the others.

I just love Sir Leicester Dedlock's steadfast devotion to Lady Dedlock even as scandal erupts around him. Same with Tom Pinch's selfless devotion to Mary Graham.

Tommy Traddles/Sophy Crewler and Tim Linkinwater/Miss LaCreevy are great examples of "comfortable" couples who are made for each other.

Love inspired some of Dickens's greatest villains, so I suggest a separate category for "creepiest couple". My nominees are Uriah Heep and Agnes Wickfield, Daniel Quilp and Little Nell, Bradley Headstone and Lizzie Hexam, and John Jasper and Rosa Bud.

[Nina]

Haha, I also liked Uriah/Agnes and Bradley/Lizzie - the books wouldn't be the same without them, would they?

[Gina]

I wondered if someone might mention the Dedlocks -- they're not exactly a love story for the ages, and yet he does unexpectedly turn out to be a romantic hero in his own way.

[Christy]

Yes, I have an affection for poor old Sir Leicester as well.
I vote for a creepiest category too! And my vote is definitely for Uriah and Agnes, and also for Pecksniff and Mary. The whole time I was reading the scenes between Pecksniff and that poor girl, I drove my sister nuts bellowing at Mary to punch him in the head, and then I was very, very glad when old Martin Chuzzlewit finally did.

[Gina]

With all these "creepiest" submissions, I guess we'll have to have one! :-) We can do that poll after the "best couples" one -- maybe next week?

[mary]

Joe Gargery and Biddy, first and foremost.
And I ship Lucie Manet and Sidney Carton! Hopeless, I know, but we aren't restricted to real couples, are we?

I think Agnes deserved better than David Copperfield. I don't like him much. My two cents.