Posted by Kali on April 30, 1997 at 16:52:35:
In reply to Re: Henry Crawford vs. Edmund posted by kathleen (elder) on April 30, 1997 at 13:20:07
Sorry, I'm with Ann on this. The great thing about Edward and Col. Brandon (and all the other heroes) is that their love was singular and steadfast. These men pick out whom they love, even if they can't or won't express their feelings openly - they have a singularity and clarity of heart which endures, whatever the circumstances.
Edmund does not. He is in love with Mary. Mary is in love with Edmund. And they are both too weak to try to reconcile their differences for the benefit of that love. Mary allows herself to destroy the relationship with irrationality - probably because she can't bring herself to foresake Edmund for money and money for Edmund - and Edmund retreats back into his own, stuffy, moral little world with relief when he realizes that she's given him an excuse to bolt. So then Edmund, the weakling he is, transfers his affections to the next available, likable female. He's got an Elton-Collins complex: "Now that I'm set, it's time to get married."
Where Fanny is too anal and rigid, Edmund is too wishy-washy. He doesn't have the resolve to stick to his own principles, and he doesn't have the balls to venture out past what he likes and knows, either.
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