My Top Ten Favorite Heroines

As promised, I have here my top 10 favorite heroines from period dramas. Enjoy!


Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet

1. Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)

I think that part of the reason for my being drawn to Pride and Prejudice was Elizabeth’s personality. My personality is very similar to Elizabeth’s: I have strong opinions and I stick to them, I’m not afraid to stand up for myself, both of us stick to our morals and convictions, and both of us have a similar sense of humor. I think in all my years of reading, she was probably the first character that really stood out to me as being someone that I've seen in my daily life (in this case, me). In fact, nearly all of Jane Austen's characters are very realistic and very relatable, but Lizzy is probably the most relatable to me. She is such an awesome character: in addition to what I've said above, she is smart, witty, clever, and quick. She's a definite delight to watch/read about.

I think that Jennifer Ehle portrayed Elizabeth's witty personality well and said her lines they way Elizabeth would have said them.

Emma Thompson as
Elinor Dashwood

2. Elinor Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)

Elinor is remarkable because she goes through so much (losing her home and having to move far away from it, finding out that the man she loves, Edward Ferrars, is actually engaged to another woman who he doesn’t love, having that very woman constantly rub in her face that she's engaged to Edward, and having to watch her sister’s grief over a bad break-up) and yet she is able to keep a stiff upper lip and does whatever needs to get done. Because her mother and sisters can't put aside their emotions to make important decisions, Elinor steps up to manage many of those important decisions with her sense and reason, even while she's going through all the rough stuff in her life.

I liked both Hattie Morahan's and Emma Thompson's Elinor, but I think that Emma Thompson was closer in acting as Elinor though she was significantly much older than Elinor should have been.

Claire Foy as Amy Dorrit

3. Amy Dorrit (Little Dorrit)

Amy is so sweet! She supports her family very humbly, and even though her family is ungrateful to her (with the exception of her uncle, Frederick Dorrit), she still supports them and obeys her father. Even when her and her family become rich and when her whole family becomes very snobbish (again, the exception of Frederick Dorrit), she still remains very humble and wishes to be useful and helpful despite the fact that everyone around her is telling her to "be a lady" and "do nothing all day."

Claire Foy was wonderful as Amy Dorrit. They did a good job in making her look young and you could believe that she's about 21. She also portrayed the quiet and humble nature of Amy very well.

Felicity Jones as Catherine
Morland

4. Catherine Morland (Northanger Abbey)

Catherine can be a bit imaginative and naive, but at the same time, she is very open and artless: she means what she says (“I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.”) and she is also always honest, which are both very good qualities. She is a genuine person and could be counted on for an honest answer.

Though I think that there needs to be a better adaptation of Northanger Abbey, I thought that Felicity Jones in the 2007 adaptation portrayed the honest, naive Catherine well, although they should have kept her imaginations down and to more innocent imaginations instead of the ones that could be mature.

Romola Garai as
Emma Woodhouse

5. Emma Woodhouse (Emma)

I’ll admit it, when I first started reading Emma, I found Emma to be very irritating: she seemed to want to control everyone and there were times where you think “Why don’t you just listen to Mr. Knightley?!” But by the time I finished Emma, I grew to really like her character. Yes, she is a bit controlling and thinks she knows everything, but she means well and simply wants to help her neighbors out. She does learn that she never had a talent for matchmaking and is able to realize her mistakes.

Romola Garai is the best Emma that I've seen. Just like when I read the book, I found her Emma to be a little bit irksome, but when the miniseries went on, I grew to like her Emma. She portrayed Emma's well meaning nature very well.

Stella Gonet as Beatrice Eliott

 6. Beatrice Eliott (House of Eliott)

Between Beatrice and Evangeline (Bea and Evie respectively), the two Eliott sisters, I’ve always liked Bea a lot more (though I liked Evie in Series 1, but once she went to Paris, they tried to push that she was more "worldly" and "sophisticated", which got very irritating very quickly). Bea was always a lot more mature and sensible than Evie, who was more childish and based her actions and decisions on her emotions. Bea also had a mind for business, which really sticks out to me since I’m interested in business: she really cared for her business and carefully made decisions concerning her business. She also had the creative mind for fashion and sewing.

Stella Gonet portrayed Bea. She was very elegant and mature in the role of Bea. It was a pleasure to watch her.

Kate Winslet as Marianne
Dashwood

7. Marianne Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)

Poor Marianne: she doesn’t quite keep the stiff upper lip that Elinor maintains throughout Sense and Sensibility. When struck with grief, Marianne becomes consumed with this grief to the point that she becomes sick and nearly dies. When she recovers, she realizes that she should not have acted in that way and she becomes determined to mend her ways. Marianne’s self-realization and determination to fix her faults is something that anyone should aspire to obtain.

Kate Winslet was great in her interpretation of Marianne. Though Kate Winslet could be a little over-the-top in her emotional portrayal of Marianne, I think it works since Jane Austen meant to show that Marianne's over-emotional personality is a bit ridiculous.

Elizabeth McGovern as
Cora

8. Cora, Countess of Grantham (Downton Abbey)

Cora, Countess of Grantham, was an American who married Robert Crawley, Lord of Grantham. She really cares for her daughters, especially Lady Mary whose chance of finding a husband had been made difficult. She sees that she has to get her daughters married, so she tries to find them suitable husbands (yes, it does sound similar to Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice: the difference is that Cora tries to find husbands for her daughters with a great deal more dignity than Mrs. Bennet).

Elizabeth McGovern portrayed Cora in Downton Abbey. She was sweet and very enjoyable to watch. My only issue was that her accent sounded like it was a fake American accent and Elizabeth McGovern is actually American.

Joanne Froggatt as Anna

9. Anna Smith (Downton Abbey)

Anna, one of the top maids in Downton Abbey, is a really hard worker and a sister-figure to Gwen, a younger maid who wants to find another job that would allow her to move up in the world. She also goes to great lengths to find out Mr. Bates’s past to clear his name at Downton. I can't wait to see what's next for her in Season 2!

Joanne Froggatt was Anna in Downton Abbey. She was very caring and it was great to watch a character who was like a "big sister".

Julia Sawalha as
Dorcas Lane

10. Dorcas Lane (Lark Rise to Candleford)

Dorcas has her faults: she is very meddlesome, has a taste for trouble, and, when provoked, she can be very quick with her tongue. At the same time, she just wants to help out her neighbors all while keeping with post office regulations. She has respect for the post office regulations, but if they cause a problem she tries to work around them to help out her neighbors. She also tries to teach Laura Timmins, her cousin’s daughter, the right way to work in a post office. She also tries to maintain a professional appearance even though she might be going through something rough.

 Julia Sawalha, a very well known period drama actress, portrayed Dorcas Lane. I first saw Julia Sawalha as Lydia Bennet in Pride and Prejudice; Dorcas is probably the opposite of Lydia: she has a care for the rules and is very dignified. This shows that Julia Sawalha can be a very versatile actress. She did a great job in Lark Rise to Candleford.

 

 
So there's my list. What do you think of it? Would you put some of the same heroines in your own list of favorite heroines? Would there be any that you would add to your list? Leave a comment!

 God Bless, 
 



Review: House of Eliott - Series 1

One of my hobbies is sewing, and I am also interested in the business world; House of Eliott combines both of those aspects. I had never heard about this series before until my mom mentioned it to me and bought it. We would sit down in the evenings to watch a couple of episodes. It was really interesting. I'm not too big of a fan of 1920's fashion, but this series did do 20's fashion justice.

Box Art

Synopsis
When their father dies, Beatrice (Bea) and Evangeline (Evie) Eliott (Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard) have to find a way to support themselves. Bea is able to get a job working for photographer, Jack Maddox, who becomes a friend of the two sisters. Both Eliott sisters are able to sew and design their own clothes: eventually, they start up their own couture fashion house called the House of Eliott.

Characters
There aren't too many faces that you may easily recognize in House of Eliott. Stella Gonet was in the most recent adaptation of Persuasion as Mrs. Musgrove, and Louise Lombard was on popular show NCIS. Those are the only two that I can think of. The creators of the series are well known, though. This series was created by Eileen Atkins (Deborah Jenkyns in Cranford) and Jean Marsh (Mrs. Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility); these two women were also the same women who created popular 70's series Upstairs Downstairs.


Of the two sisters, I prefered Bea to Evie. Bea was more sensible than emotional and naive Evie. Since Evie had no mother, Bea had to act as a mother to her (and because of the fact that Bea was much older than Evie). I didn't dislike Evie, but I thought that she was a little too naive at times. It seemed that she was more driven by emotion, while Bea was more driven by what was sensible.



The one character that I really disliked was Penelope Maddox, Jack Maddox's sister. I don't really think she added much to the story other than she was controversial. It seemed like that was her only purpose: to be controversial. She got irritating quickly. If she wasn't in the series, the storyline would have gone on smoothly without her. She seemed to be an unnecessary addition to the show.

Scenery

The scenery is very nice. You can tell that the episodes were not filmed on sound sets. Outdoor scenes take place both in nice London neighborhoods and in poorer neighborhoods. Since House of Eliott takes place in London, there aren't many opportunities to see country scenery. You do occasionally see country scenery, but there are very few scenes of them. The interiors of some of the buildings are also very nice to look at.

Costumes

Evie in her party dress

One of the main aspects of House of Eliott is the costuming, since the show is about fashion. I never was much of a fan of 1920's fashion, but Wow! is it awesome in here! Towards the beginning of the series, Bea and Evie's outfits aren't all that great (since they were poorer), but as the series goes on and they develop their fashion house, the costuming gets better. The costuming is not limited to what the main characters are wearing: there are also fashion shows that show off the collections that the House of Eliott had been working on. It's very interesting to see.

Music
I love the theme song and credits song! They are very upbeat pieces and, just a warning, they may get stuck in you head! There are a couple of dance scenes with some nice 20's music. A very good soundtrack, overall.

Bea at a party with her date.

Overall: 4/5
A very good start to the series. There is one episode where there is a mature scene at the end of it, but it was only in that one episode (Episode 2, specifically). There are some mature topics discussed, but they don't get really graphic, but there are things implied. The costuming is very lovely and the plot lines are very interesting. Each episode continues to the next, similar to a miniseries, but this was a regular TV series. I would recommend this show.

House of Eliott - Series 1 can be purchased on it's own or along with the show's two other seasons in a complete collection. There are twelve, 50 minute episodes on four DVD's.

House of Eliott

My mom and I started watching this series from the early 90's called The House of Eliott.

It's really interesting. It's about these two sisters, Beatrice and Evangeline Eliott (also known as Bea and Evie), who, after their father died and left them no money, have to go into business in order to make a living. They have only their sewing skills and their love of fashion. They open up a fashion house called The House of Eliott, where they make dresses for women. Throughout the series, the sisters have to work through scandal and deal with things that go on in a business.

The costumes in here are very nice! 1920's era dresses are featured and some of the headdresses that are worn are very pretty.

You might also recognize a few of the actresses as you watch through the series. Bea is played by Stella Gonet, who you might recognize as Mrs. Musgrove from Persuasion (2007). Louise Lombard, who plays Evie, is in the TV series CSI. In a couple of episodes, Elizabeth Garvie, who was in the 1980s version of Pride and Prejudice, was Lady Elizabeth Montford. Phyllida Law  was in an episode; you might recognize her from the Gwenyth Paltrow Emma and as the mother of Sophie Thompson (Miss Bates from the same Emma) and Emma Thompson (Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility).

It's a really interesting series. I might review it at some point. I haven't watched all of it yet (I'm almost at season 3), so it might be a while before I review it. There is some suggestive language and one scene in one episode that was a little mature, but the scene was very brief.

This series really holds your attention as you watch through the episodes. There are three seasons in total, which you can buy separately or in one collection.