Oh, my. It wasn't even a contest between Mr. Bennet and General Tilney, who squashed that mild-mannered wit under his army boot. We won't even bother to put Mr. Dashwood up for a vote, since that poor man died before the plot of S&S begins. So now we come to the meat of the matter: to pit the true bad daddies against each other. The next two weeks should be tough but fun for throwdown voters. For your consideration this Labor Day weekend, here is the semi-final round for:Worst Father
Sir Thomas Bertram of Mansfield Park
The clear winner in the first round against feeble Mr. Woodhouse, we trot out Sir Thomas again, wondering how well he will fare in this bout. While Sir Thomas clearly loves his children and is a generous man, he is a stern father and his misguided values allow him to lose sight of their best interests. While Maria is forever lost to him, at the end of the book Sir Thomas sees the error of his ways and begins to make amends to his family, including Fanny. His biggest failings are that his ambitions blind him to his children's welfare, and that he allows Mrs. Norris to exert such a huge influence over Maria and Fanny.Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall
Not enough mirrors were made in this world to satisfy this vain popinjay's ego. A man of mean understanding who squandered the family fortune to such an extent that he must rent out his mansion to strangers, he is unable to reign in his extravagant impulses. He prefers to hobnob only with beautiful people and those who are socially important. Although he has (in his mind) devoted himself to his children, he openly prefers his eldest daughter, belittling Anne in front of others, like Mrs. Clay. This snobbish character is unable to distinguish true class (Captain Wentworth vs. William Elliot and Anne vs. Elizabeth), and thus is doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World
7 comments:
oops! I wish there was a way to send you a message... I think you mean Mr. Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility. Great poll Btw! Gonna have to use that one on my site one day. LOVE THIS BLOG it's awesome! I'm modernizing all of the Austen's for YA and this would be great for my site. Do you mind if i link you? Thanks. I have links to my site on my blog.
Absolutely link us, and thank you for the correction. Sometimes my fingers are quicker than my mind!
I really like your father throwdown. It's really strange though, when you see the results of the pool it says Sir EDMUND Bertram...
While both are bad, at least Daddy B sees the error of his ways. Sir Walter never will--because how could anyone so handsome have any fault or blemish? That man must have a rapidly aging ugly portrait in his attic.
Mmm. Kira. That's curious. Let's hope folks know the results are supposed to say Sir THOMAS.
Sir Walter definitely loses. He doesn't even know what it means to care about his children.
Phewww!
Tough call on this one. I couldn't decide so I didn't vote.
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