A Character - Mr. Edward Carter

I've never been able to fully emerge myself in Elizabeth Gaskell's writing, but I love her stories and characters. I think they excel when adapted to the screen. The jerkiness and narrow description (or just weirdness) of characters smooths out on film.

I'm not saying I don't like Gaskell's work, I really do, but I just don't love her style.

She has given me some of my true all time favorite characters. Jessie Brown, Mrs. Thorton, Miss Matty, Molly Gibson, Nicholas Higgins, Lady Ludlow, Miss Galindo, and others are immortal in my imagination.

Two of my all time favorite heroes are her creations. The amazing Mr. John Thorton and Mr. Edward Carter. Everyone knows how awesome Mr. Thorton is, so this post is for Mr. Carter. :-)

What makes Gaskell's characters and stories stick out to me is their complexity. You can love a gazillion characters and be siding with them all, even though they are all siding against each other.

They might struggle with reassurance, but they are acting on what they believe to be right. They are taking a stand for something. They deal with real life problems and it's hard.

Mr. Carter is compassionate but tough.
He's loyal (even to crabby people:-).
He'll tell the truth even when it costs him.
He's willing to give great personal sacrifice to help others, even if he can't trust them or knows there will be no sort of return.

Basically, he's so awesome, yet believable.

With Lady Ludlow.
(One of the aforesaid difficult people to work with.)

With Harry.
This part is so sad.

With one of the pretties, sweetest bouquets of all time.

With Miss Galindo.

With Miss Galindo again...
Just because that is where he should be.

With Captain Brown.
No! Turn around!

With Miss Galindo.
Writing his will. One of the sweetest, saddest scenes of all time.

With Harry, Miss Matty, Deborah, and Miss Pole.

There is a relatively nice "tribute video" you can see here. I would have posted it, but I thought the end seemed sort of lame and trivial given the caliber of the character.

If you haven't explored Elizabeth Gaskell, you should! Wives and Daughters, Cranford, Return to Cranford, and North and South are all amazing period dramas.

I always enjoy trying to think through why I like a character so much or why someone is just plain awesome. I consider it a great study for my writing. ;-)

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian