Mr Preston is the villian in Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters. Preston is in love with Cynthia Kirkpatrick and after lending her 20 pounds she agrees to marry him when she comes of age. At the time of the proposal Preston was significantly older than the 15 year old Cynthia. When Cynthia comes of age she professes that she hates him and refuses to marry him. Cynthia confides in her step-sister Molly that she felt forced to agree to his proposal and that she was too young to have made that decision. Preston upset that she has broken her promise, declares he will exposed Cynthia as a flirt and jilter.
I particularly feel sorry for Mr Preston because I believe he truly loved Cynthia and he was very hurt by her refusal.
Guy of GisborneGuy probably doesn't fit in as well with the other villains I have suggested but I have to mention him as out of every villain I know of he is the one which I sympathise with the most. Thankfully I can still include him because he is indeed a villain in a period drama.
Guy of Gisborne is one of the key villains in the BBC TV Series Robin Hood. Guy is the adversary of the great Robin Hood who he is constantly trying to capture. Guy is a little obsessed with power and wants everything that was once Robin's and is prepared to do anything to achieve this. However his one weakness is the beautiful Lady Marian, who has a lot of (romanti c) history with Robin. Poor Guy despite doing almost everything to please Marian she plays him, using Guy only to get information which she can then pass onto Robin. As much as I love Marian, she does lead Guy on a fair bit during the series' and unfortunately Guy's love for her only grows stronger and stronger and to no avail.
Well with these two villains that makes five in our poll so far:
John Willoughby
Carver Doone
Henry Crawford
Mr Preston
Guy of Gisborne
What do you think? I would still like a few more, if you have any suggestions I would absolutely love to heard them. Just comment below :)
Much Love,
Tristans_Isolde xx
4 comments:
Ah, Mr. Preston! He definitely makes it on my list of favorite scoundrels. Cynthia definitely played with him even if she didn't know exactly what she was doing. But he was also no gentleman, a true gentleman would have helped her as a friend expecting nothing in return and leaving her alone gracefully when she refused him.
I haven't seen the Robin Hood series so I can't say too much about Guy of Gisborne, just that any villain played by Richard Armitage would get my vote! ;)
I posted a list of My Top 10 Favorite Villains & Scoundrels back in January, find it here (http://old-fashionedcharm.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-favorite-villains-scoundrels.html). Most of the Jane Austen villains and several Charles Dickens villains made it on my list. I'd add Mr. Elton from Emma, Mr. Elliot from Persuasion, John Thorpe from Northanger Abbey (he's so funny really!), Mr. Tulkinghorn & Mr. Smallweed from Bleak House and Bradley Headstone from Our Mutual Friend (who I really sympathize with poor guy!). These are just some of my favorite, but don't feel like you have to add them to your poll. This series of posts has been fun! :)
~Miss Laurie
Old-Fashioned Charm
Wow! Thank you for all your suggestions, there are quite a few there that I don't know of so I will have to look them up :) I will definitely choose some from your suggestions!
I am glad you have been enjoying these polls :)
Ah, Mr. Preston! He definitely makes it on my list of favorite scoundrels. Cynthia definitely played with him even if she didn't know exactly what she was doing. But he was also no gentleman, a true gentleman would have helped her as a friend expecting nothing in return and leaving her alone gracefully when she refused him.
Cynthia has no excuse. She used him . . . period. Not only did she used him for money, she forced him to keep their relationship a secret. I like Cynthia, but she has no excuse. And I have nothing but contempt for Molly, who remained too stupid to realize this.
I know what you mean about Gisbourne! We kinda had a love/hate relationship throughout the series. Just when I thought he was getting better and starting to turn from being the villain, he would go back! But I felt sorry for him because I really believed that he loved Marian... But then he did stuff that made me question if he really did love (One thing in particular - you know what I mean :) But maybe his love of himself was just greater than his love of her. But I loved how he kinda came back around at the end :) I always wanted him to be good :)
-mal
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