Bonus Jane: Wentworth is SEXY!

YOU GUYS.
I missed a post, and it was about how Wentworth is sexeh. How would I miss such a thing? (My only defense is that when you're up until 4am every night, everything stops making sense...). Anyway, my apologies to Nancy Kelley, who shared her Wentworth lovin' only to have it languish in my inbox, but not that it is found, you get BONUS JANE! (September what? Pfft!)
Please to enjoy this Wentworth, yes?

[And if I've somehow missed your post, let me know!!! My spam filter is a notorious thief, and my brain is suffering from all sorts of Jane-melt...]

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Twitter is the most amazing thing in the world. Last week, some friends and I somehow got on the subject of Captain Wentworth in the shower, and who would hold his towel for him. We never settled that particular fight--er, lady-like disagreement--which highlights Wentworth’s universal appeal.

Pride and Prejudice was my first Austen. I didn’t fall in love with Darcy right away, but by the time I read her other books, I was a definitely Darcy girl--I was in the middle of writing a book from his perspective, that’s how much I loved him.

Then I got on Twitter and all my Janeite friends just gushed about Captain Wentworth. “No,” I thought--”No one can beat Darcy.”

Well, friends, I am here to gush about Wentworth. If you’re hoping for a scholarly post analyzing Persuasion, I’m afraid this isn’t it.

Let’s get the shallow reason out of the way first. He’s a man in uniform. Now, I’m not as silly as Lydia and Kitty Bennet, or the Musgrove sisters, but even I will admit that there’s nothing like a good looking man in uniform. Given the reaction of the Musgrove sisters, I think we can assume he filled it out nicely.

That brings me to the second point: Frederick Wentworth is a self-made man. He inherited nothing, but when we meet him, he is wealthy and successful enough to be deemed a catch by the local ladies. Sir Walter Elliot likely did not think him so, but as it is well-established that he is a vain poppycock, we can disregard his opinion.

And okay, so he made a mistake by leading Louisa Musgrove on, but even that unfortunate incident highlights some of his amazing qualities. First, he did so because he was hurt, which means that he still loved Anne, even after she’d rejected him. Eight years later, he loved her enough to want to hurt her. Slightly mental? Yeah, but aren’t we all?

Second, when he realized what he’d done, he didn’t just turn away from Louisa and tell the Musgrove family he’d made a mistake. He hung around, willing to stand by the commitment his actions had stated. It wasn’t until she decided she loved someone else that he deemed himself released.

He was ready to give up what he wanted to do what was right. Let that thought sink in, and then sigh over how very romantic that is.

So we have a man in uniform, a self-made man of character, still carrying a torch for his first love.That right there is enough to earn him a spot in the upper echelons of Sexy Heroes.

But wait! There’s more!! And this last point is where he moves ahead of Darcy, I’m afraid.

The Letter

Unlike... well, pretty much every other man in literature or real life, Frederick Wentworth is beautifully articulate when he expresses his feelings for Anne. Where Darcy simply says, “My affections and wishes are unchanged,” Wentworth says, “I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own, than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago.”

The passion, the amount of forgiveness, the degree to which he bares his soul to her--even though he does not know, cannot know for certain, how she will receive his declaration! It is this devout ardor which moves Captain Frederick Wentworth into the number one position.

Frederick Wentworth: Sexiest Literary Hero

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Nancy Kelley is a Janeite, an Austenesque author, and a blogger. Her debut novel, His Good Opinion, is now available. During the writing of that novel, a version of Mr. Darcy took up residence in her brain; she fondly refers to him as the Darcy in My Head, or DIMH.

If Nancy could possess any fictional device, it would be a Time-Turner. Then perhaps she could juggle a full-time library job, writing, and blogging; and still find time for sleep and a life. Until then, she lives on high doses of tea, of which DIMH approves.

Click here to be taken to the Austen in August Main Page! Fab button artwork c/o Antique Fashionista!