Masterpiece Classic on PBS

This winter/spring, PBS began its first season of Masterpiece Classic, a branch of what used to be known as Masterpiece Theater (now there are seasons of Classic, Mystery, and Contemporary). Ten period dramas were aired during the Classic season, including six movie versions of Jane Austen's novels and a mini-series of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford. Both Cranford and Sense and Sensibility have been nominated for Emmy Awards (ten altogether), and the prime-time awards show is scheduled for Sunday, September 21st. Be sure to watch it!

If you were unable to see the movies when they aired earlier this year, I highly recommend you watch them! You can find the complete list below, and the dates they were aired:

January 13, 2008 - Persuasion

January 20, 2008 -Northanger Abbey

January 27, 2008 -Mansfield Park

February 3, 2008 -Miss Austen Regrets

February 10, 17 and 24, 2008 - Pride and Prejudice

March 23, 2008 - Emma

March 30 and April 6, 2008 - Sense and Sensibility

May 4, 11 and 18, 2008 - Cranford

(Also aired were A Room with a View and My Boy Jack, none of which are set in the 19th century.)


Next season proves to be an exciting one, as Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop are scheduled to air. Charles Dickens theme, anyone?

Personally, I cannot wait!

Defy her with love

The story of North & South, by Elizabeth Gaskell, has gotten some noted attention after the 2004 BBC mini-series with Richard Armitage. Admittedly, I had never heard of the story before the mini-series, which I only saw earlier this year (thanks to a friend who recommended it to me). Instantly, I fell in love.

A lot of people draw parallels between this story and that of Pride and Prejudice, mostly because of the disputes and hostility among the lovers (Mr. Thornton and Margaret Hale; Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet).

I read the book after watching the mini-series, and immediately it became my second-favorite novel. My favorite passage occurs right at the beginning of Volume II. Mr. Thornton is dealing with his feelings for Miss Hale and her refusal:

He had positive bodily pain,--a violent headache, and a throbbing intermittent pulse.... He said to himself, that he hated Margaret, but a wild, sharp sensation of love cleft his dull, thunderous feeling like lightning, even as he shaped the words expressive of hatred. His greatest comfort was in hugging his torment; and in feeling, as he had indeed said to her, that though she might despise him, contemn him, treat him with her proud sovereign indifference, he did not change one whit. She could not make him change. He loved her, and would love her; and defy her, and this miserable bodily pain.

This is what defines Mr. Thornton and Mr. Darcy as men. They love their women despite their refusals, despite what objections others (family/society/obligations) demand of them. And, even being scorned, they love the ladies still. What a torment it must have been, to love with that constancy, never knowing if their love would ever be returned. That is one of the greatest attractions I find in the novels Pride and Prejudice (1813) and North and South (1855).

Both novels are highly recommended!

Side note: I'm reminded of Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens... and Pip's poor admiration for Estella. In particular, I think of this quote:

Love her, love her, love her! If she favors you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces--and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper--love her, love her, love her!

And so he does... despite her mistreatment of him.

It gets me to thinking, do we love with the same feeling as those who loved back then? It sounds like the recovery for them is harder to come by. (Of course, all this information is obtained from fiction, but still....) In a society that focused mainly on the obtaining of marriages, imagine what unrequited love could do to one's disposition.

19th Century Vocabulary List 1

One interesting note about reading these novels is that it may be difficult to those who are not familiar with the vocabulary of the times. It may be overwhelming to a person who's never heard of a "fortnight" before (I know I found myself confused on more than one occasion when I started reading Pride and Prejudice at 14...). So I thought creating vocabulary lists would help. I'll do what I can.

Note: Please remember that these definitions are by no-means comprehensive. They are just words that I thought were unique when I first encountered them, and I'm providing the basic understanding for what they mean, in my own terms.

Some basics, some oddities:

1. the Season: the time when-- while Parliament was in session-- notable families would go to London and attend numerous social events, all while trying to marry off their single daughters! (the peak months were around April-July)
2. coming out: being formally presented into Society; a rite-of-passage for young ladies, signifying they're marriage material
3. fortnight: two weeks (fourteen nights)
4. lover: suitor (To "make love" was to flirt, give endearments, etc.)
5. pianoforte: piano! (Simple enough, I know, but when I first saw the word I thought it was a variation of the instrument... It's not.)
6. dowager: upper-class widow
7. rake/rakehell: a man with no scruples... known for immoral behavior (the type who'd seduce women)
8. dudgeon: (I recall, in the '95 P&P mini-series, Lydia saying, "I've been in high dudgeon all morning!") angry mood
9. expectations: (as in Great Expectations) good fortunes; in the 19th century, it generally meant wealth and social standing (When Pip was told that he was to have great expectations, it meant that circumstance provided he'd be well taken care of in the future, as he was to have a benefactor who'd provide him money!)
10. effrontery: audacity, shameless boldness

Bonus: tomorrow week: (This I first heard in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice, and I resolved on figuring it out.) a week from tomorrow