Aww, but! It's not fair to dislike someone for being unhappy! Sure, you can dislike someone for being negative or cynical or hateful, or for actively causing unhappiness in others, or for moaning and complaining to get sympathy. But Stephen doesn't do that. He's very private about his deepest emotions. We only get to see them because POB shows us his innermost thoughts and his private journal. But being depressed is just part of Stephen's nature, the poor dear! (Like me, sigh.) And you don't dislike Dillon or Diana for being unhappy! As you say, it's Stephen's little twisted demons sneaking in, but everyone has their demons, and they rarely get to choose them.
Yes, he does make sarcastic barbs sometimes, though I've only seen him do it in retaliation. Aww, he's sarcastic with Sophie? I haven't seen that yet. Don't tell me about it though. But Jack and Diana can be just as unkind, and Stephen only gives as good as he gets, in terms of hurt. But he's usually very good about keeping an even temper even when provoked. Aww, I was just reading about him being sick in bed, and someone drunk and obnoxious was singing an anti-Catholic song to him very loudly, and it was annoying him more than usual (since he was still feverish). But he didn't say anything to the man, and thought "He probably doesn't know that I'm Catholic." I thought that was rather generous in him.
(Now if that had been Dillon in the sick bed...! Heehee.)
Yes, Diana and Canning did have a mutual agreement, which is why she's blameworthy too. But she did say to Stephen that it was almost unbearable, and she sometimes thought of breaking with Canning, but that would leave her penniless and friendless in India, her reputation ruined, and who would ever help her or want her then? Stephen wrote in his diary that he liked Canning, in spite of being jealous, and I think he was always polite and civil until he realized how unhappy Diana was, and how little Canning seemed to care.
But it's not true that he needs jealousy and rivalry for his love for Diana! It's true that I think she's rather an odd choice for his passionate love (since I'm more like Sophie myself, and I like Sophie, and she's sweeter and kinder, so naturally I want him to love HER instead). But if he had wanted a trophy to wrestle from someone, he could have tried for Sophie. She was beautiful, rich, and hard-to-get, plus she liked him very much, and he could have rivalled Jack. At times he even did look at her and think that she was absolutely lovely BUT, he would remind himself that she was Jack's, not his. (Jack should have had the same courtesy regarding Stephen and Diana! But unlike the carefully observant Stephen, Jack willfully chooses not to see what he doesn't want to see.)(Not that we must bash Jack to redeem Stephen or vice-versa. Just saying that Stephen is no better or worse than Jack. Their vices and flaws are just different.)
And Stephen didn't propose right away because he was certain she would refuse him! A penniless nonentity (and an ugly Catholic bastard). Sophie would have been contented to marry Jack and be poor in a cottage, even when Jack refused to answer her letters (awwww, jaaaack!!!) but Diana had specifically told Stephen "Love in a cottage be damned!"
Yes, he does make sarcastic barbs sometimes, though I've only seen him do it in retaliation. Aww, he's sarcastic with Sophie? I haven't seen that yet. Don't tell me about it though. But Jack and Diana can be just as unkind, and Stephen only gives as good as he gets, in terms of hurt. But he's usually very good about keeping an even temper even when provoked. Aww, I was just reading about him being sick in bed, and someone drunk and obnoxious was singing an anti-Catholic song to him very loudly, and it was annoying him more than usual (since he was still feverish). But he didn't say anything to the man, and thought "He probably doesn't know that I'm Catholic." I thought that was rather generous in him.
(Now if that had been Dillon in the sick bed...! Heehee.)
Yes, Diana and Canning did have a mutual agreement, which is why she's blameworthy too. But she did say to Stephen that it was almost unbearable, and she sometimes thought of breaking with Canning, but that would leave her penniless and friendless in India, her reputation ruined, and who would ever help her or want her then? Stephen wrote in his diary that he liked Canning, in spite of being jealous, and I think he was always polite and civil until he realized how unhappy Diana was, and how little Canning seemed to care.
But it's not true that he needs jealousy and rivalry for his love for Diana! It's true that I think she's rather an odd choice for his passionate love (since I'm more like Sophie myself, and I like Sophie, and she's sweeter and kinder, so naturally I want him to love HER instead). But if he had wanted a trophy to wrestle from someone, he could have tried for Sophie. She was beautiful, rich, and hard-to-get, plus she liked him very much, and he could have rivalled Jack. At times he even did look at her and think that she was absolutely lovely BUT, he would remind himself that she was Jack's, not his. (Jack should have had the same courtesy regarding Stephen and Diana! But unlike the carefully observant Stephen, Jack willfully chooses not to see what he doesn't want to see.)(Not that we must bash Jack to redeem Stephen or vice-versa. Just saying that Stephen is no better or worse than Jack. Their vices and flaws are just different.)
And Stephen didn't propose right away because he was certain she would refuse him! A penniless nonentity (and an ugly Catholic bastard). Sophie would have been contented to marry Jack and be poor in a cottage, even when Jack refused to answer her letters (awwww, jaaaack!!!) but Diana had specifically told Stephen "Love in a cottage be damned!"
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