to be a heroine...Lesson #1

Lesson # 1- You don't have to be a "true-quality" heroine.

You may be thinking, what do I mean by true-quality heroine, well Jane Austen refers to a true-quality heroine in the 2nd chapter of Northanger Abbey.

"She was looked at, however, and with some admiration; for, in her own hearing, two gentlemen pronounced her to be a pretty girl. Such words had their due effect; she immediately thought the evening pleasanter than she had found it before − her humble vanity was contented − she felt more obliged to the two young men for this simple praise than a true−quality heroine would have been for fifteen sonnets in celebration of her charms, and went to her chair in good humour with everybody, and perfectly satisfied with her share of public attention."

Often when a person thinks of a heroine they think of a perfect, beautiful, strong woman whom everyone admires, however in the context we are using it- heroine simply means:

1. the main good female character in a work of fiction

The true-quality heroine is I believe the heroine stereotype that the world has created- it is the idealized version. And is more often than not, someone we may look up to but can never relate to. This is what I love about Jane Austen's heroines - and Catherine Morland in particular she is not a true-quality heroine, she does not possess the traits that are often associated with heroines; she is from an average family, she is not wealthy, she has not all that many aquaintances, she is considered plain for most her life and at time is almost pretty and she is not interested in becoming 'accomplished'.

 

So Lesson #1 :  If you want to be a heroine but you don't quite think you fit the "mould" don't worry you don't have to!  be a true-quality heroine! Each heroine in every story is designed by that author specifically to complete the task/ fufill the destiny/ achieve whatever needs to be acheived in order to overcome the obstacles to reach the end- So if all heroines were the same and fit the 'true-quality' ideal they would never be able to be so different!

 

Take Care,

Tristans_Isolde xx

UPDATE (25/05/2011) On futher thought I decided that these lessons should be shorter so I have edited this post a little from the original. Its still basically the same content just shorter :) 

New post series "to be a heroine..."

I mentioned, a little while ago, about about a Jane Austen related series of posts I had planned, which I now have the time to tell you about - Yay! These posts will be known as the "to be a heroine" series. I will be posting the first in the series in the next day or so but before I do that I wanted to give you a little insight into the series.

"But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way"

Ever since I read my first Austen novel I have always imagined what it would be like to be one of her heroines. How great would it be to be Elizabeth Bennet or Catherine Morland!? I even at times find myself in some way imitating one of my favourite characters, perhaps even without realising it. Lately I have found myself at times thinking a lot about Jane's heroines and who they are, what does it takes to be a heroine and what are the things we can learn from them. But in looking at this I have realised there are alot of mistakes these famous heroines made which we can learn from too.

So that's why I have decided to make up these series of posts (which I plan to post up on a 1 to 2 week basis). I hope you will enjoy them :)