#lucy steele

[didanagy]

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995)

dir. ang lee

[besotted-with-austen]

Jane Austen: Lucy, Robert Ferrars enters the room, his expression stony.

Anne Steele: *loudly munching her snacks* how stony? Can I roll to see how stony his expression is?

John Willoughby: you are not even in the room!

Anne Steele: but I want to see the drama!

Jane Austen: “Miss Steele, since my brother has definitely lost his mind I find myself in the regrettable position to ask you to keep yours: leave him free to fullfill his obligations, and stop this foolishness once for all”.

Lucy Steele: can I make an Investigation Check to understand how much he believes what he says?

Jane Austen: sure.

Lucy Steele: that’s an eighteen.

Jane Austen: good, good-he is absolutely sincere in finding the whole situation absurd, but he is also very entertained by the idea that his brother has fallen from grace for someone like you; he is delighted by the chaos and he thinks the outcome is going to favour him.

Lucy Steele: *slowly* he might not be wrong.

Lucy Steele: I tell him that Edward has to fullfill his obligations towards me, that I am not going back on my word, no matter how many times he will try to change my mind. But, I would not mind seeing him again, since I cannot hope to see his sister or his mother, that I miss terribly, and I feel so lonely without Edward.

Anne Steele: wait-

John Willoughby: are you trying to seduce him? Your dear heart’s brother?!

Jane Austen: *without breaking a sweat* roll for Deception, you need at least a forty.

Anne Steele: *wheeze* that’s high, even with your ridiculously high Charisma!

Jane Austen: his family hates her and he thinks she is beneath him, so-

Lucy Steele: *flatly* Natural Twenty.

John Willoughby: WHAT?

Anne Steele: WHAT?!

Lucy Steele: and I have twenty at Charisma, plus five. I did not sacrifice my Intelligence for nothing, you know.

John Willoughby: *shakes his head incredulously*

Jane Austen: *pause*

Anne Steele: you broke her! Oh my, you broke her!

Jane Austen: okay! Great! He tells you he will come back and talk more about Edward.

Lucy Steele: *smirks* sure.

Jane Austen: And he scurries away, under the weight of that Natural Twenty! Dear God!

John Willoughby: *sputtering* Edward is scrambling to make a living for you!

Lucy Steele: he is doing that.

Anne Steele: *cackling* his family has forsaken him in every way because of you!

Lucy Steele: they are doing that, aren’t they?

John Willoughby: he still thinks you are going to marry him!

Lucy Steele: *faux surprise* oh my gosh! Poor thing! I will write him a letter after the wedding.

[firawren]

Sense and Sensibility 1995 text posts

[bethanydelleman]

Writing Villains (Advice from Jane Austen)

One of the reasons that I find Jane Austen's novels so wonderful is that they have amazingly realistic villains, some that are fully fleshed out characters. Austen's biggest strength is that she gives her villains clear, logical motives. In fact, for many of her villainous characters you can turn the entire story around and see a rational story from the other side.

For example, Lucy Steele. She doesn't attack Elinor out of mindless evil, but because Edward Ferrars is her golden ticket to wealth and she knows that Edward loves Elinor. Lucy might twist the knife a little on Elinor out of sadism, but generally she attacks Elinor in an attempt to secure Edward. When it comes to other characters, Lucy is overly sweet if she wants something from them, otherwise she acts normally. As an example, she leaves Marianne alone because Marianne is not competing for Edward and also can't do anything for Lucy. Anne, Lucy's sister, likes her. Lucy has friends and family she stays with, she's a fairly well-rounded person.

You can put yourself in Lucy's shoes, you can turn the entire narrative on it's head and play it out from her perspective and it would make complete sense. You could even make Lucy sympathetic! She probably sees herself as a hardworking underdog, trying to wrest her one chance at prosperity away from the conniving Elinor Dashwood. I'm sure she thinks the pain she causes Elinor is justified.

If you can't do that with your villains, then there is a good chance they are just evil for evil's sake. I picked Lucy Steele on purpose because I hate when the entire motivation for a antagonist female character is "bitches be crazy". Bitches may be mean, but almost always for a good reason.

Even Mrs. Norris, who is probably the most cruel of Austen's female villains, can be perspective switched. Her life is about being useful to the Bertram family so she can feel important because her married status/wealth is lower than she wished. As she must always be deferential towards the Bertrams, she takes out her negative emotions on those below her, the servants and Fanny, while also showing off how good she is at "managing" those people. (And yes, she is your childhood bully)

We often hear her perspective and she clearly sees herself as a useful part of the family and a defender of Sir Thomas's wealth. She thinks she's a good person! Which is also an important point: most people doing wrong do not believe that they are doing wrong. That is what really makes a villain scary. Mrs. Norris thinks she's helping Fanny in a very twisted way by teaching Fanny her station in life. If you asked her, she'd give you a self-justified answer and she'd probably actually believe it.

Another way to do a good villain is to just make a person very selfish. Henry Crawford doesn't sit around all day laughing about how much pain he causes women, he doesn't think about it. He only thinks about the fun of flirting for himself, not the harm to others. The glimpses we get into his perspective are not cruel at all. It's the same with Willougby, he thinks only of his own pleasure and tries very hard to ignore that he has crushed Marianne and destroyed Eliza Williams. When he is forced to accept that people were hurt, he blames everyone but himself.

Wickham thinks that he's a victim, Caroline Bingley is ambitious and doesn't care who she steps on to get to the top, Mr. Elton is insulted that Emma could even dream he's a match with Harriet but he can't touch Emma so he punches down at Harriet. They all make sense, they all probably believe that their actions are justified.

Also, imagine taking the heroine/hero right out of the story, would the villain still act the same way? If Anne didn't exist, Mr. Elliot would still try to bring himself into the Elliot family because he was afraid of losing the title. If Elizabeth didn't exist, Wickham would have had another favourite in Meryton. If Fanny didn't exist, Mrs. Norris would have found some other puppy to kick. The villains don't just appear for the plot of the main characters, they have their own reasons for moving around and messing shit up.

Lastly, explaining but not excusing (though unfortunately some people will excuse anyway but that's not your fault). Mary Crawford is mercenary and doesn't seem to believe that love is even a real thing. It's pointed out several times in the novel that her defects have to do with being raised in an immoral environment and a broken home. She was taught by her aunt to marry for wealth and disregard love. Austen doesn't excuse Mary, she doesn't give her a happy ending, but she does explain how she came to be. She's not just greedy, she has been taught that wealth is the best recipe for happiness. As an adult now, it is her responsibility to question that maxim or remain a villain.

Austen wrote amazing morally grey characters and "villains" (a term I used a little liberally here, some of them probably only count as antagonists, not full blown villains). I love how real and human she made her characters, it's something I aspire to myself!

Linking my Caroline rant because it's related, people remove her motives so often and flatten her into a "bitches be crazy".

[alexandrarosa]

Pride and prejudice this, pride and prejudice that… and as I love that book, movie and show I have to ask: where is the appreciation for Persuasion???

Anne Elliot is an amazing character and I dare say that as an adult woman I feel closer to her emotions than I do to Marianne’s. Dashwood sisters are not yet 20, Elisabeth Bennet is not 21, Emma Woodhouse is 21, Fanny Price and Catherine Morland are about 18 I think.

Don’t hate me for saying that but I do consider captain Wentworth to be a more romantic hero than Mr Darcy. They both start as bit rude but at least the captain has an excuse (a broken heart can do that to you) and he’s never actually rude to Anne (unlike Mr Darcy and Elisabeth). We all already swoon over his letter he left for Anne so let’s go deeper. He wanted to renew his proposal two years after they parted! But his pride made him resist. He was ready to propose marriage to Louisa Musgrove even though he did not love her but thought she might have fallen for him on account of his behavior (we praise Edward Ferrars for being truthful to Lucy Steele but they were already engaged, here we say nothing!)

Anne has not Elisabeth Bennet’s character and that dooms her in many eyes but still she’s so worth loving I think especially because she’s treated so poorly by her family (yet she persists and doesn’t become bitter, now that’s what I call strength)

Both the book and the 1995 movie adaptation are so beautiful, so well rounded and charming but also absolutely hilarious and full of plot twists. I need to talk about it more and I need the Jane Austen fandom to talk about it more.

(We are ignoring the newest movie adaptation because it’s a disgrace)

[demigodofhoolemere]

Low quality shots off of my TV of Anna Madeley as Lucy Steele in Sense & Sensibility (2008), for no other reason than I just rewatched it and very much enjoyed seeing her.

[specificpollsaboutbooks]

Favorite Book Antagonists

Round 1

Orpheus (Inkworld) VS Lucy Steele (Sense and Sensibility)

Orpheus

Lucy

Show results

Voting ended onFeb 26

NO ANTIPROPAGANDA PLEASE

[eurydiceauxenfers]