Right now I’m watching the PBS series on Charles Dickens, immediately following his Bleak House presentation. It is somewhat confirming a thought forming in my mind all day today about character, as depicted in literature classic and contemporary.
I’m finding the characters of the past more interesting, holding more depth and revealing more emotion and intrigue than those concocted lately. Caddy, Jason, even Mrs. Compson of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury may seem overly dramatic and yet even in their weaknesses there is strength. Part of what makes them so intense is a sense of honor, fear of scandal. A hiding of their desires due to constraints of propriety of the times.
Dickens, we find, despite a wife and ten children, fell madly in love with the young Ellen Ternan, an eighteen year old actress with whom he carried on a secret affair for years. Even after divorce, their liaison was not made public, and any hint of it was strongly denied by all.
These days, divorce, affairs, lies and betrayal do not hold the weight they once had. A president denies then admits an affair with a young intern, and it is fully accepted as his right to private life. While our change in moral judgment may be a good thing, think of what it does to character complexity in literature. So What? does not make for dramatic reading.
Once upon a time the strong female protagonist, the rebellious or the fallen woman was exciting. Just so, the weak or oppressed was to be pitied. Nowadays, the self-made, the independent woman is common, the submissive to be regarded as a fool. With the male characters, the passionate in love or the arts is not as understandable as one who builds an empire.
In the story of Dickens, his paramour Ellen Ternan kept her secret relationship with him after his death. She married, had two children, and yet never admitted her affair.
The program’s over now, and in the PBS highlights, there’s Prince Charles, and Lady Camilla, his new wife. Times have changed. Perhaps yes, for the good, and yet, we’re left with, I think, much duller characters.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology