bethanydelleman

[bethanydelleman]

I looked into adoption once and these days you really might as well just build your own kid. Adoption is so difficult and complicated! It's not like the good old days, when you could just find a random kid on the street in Liverpool, make some vague inquires to see if anyone owned him, then stuff him in your jacket and carry him the three day walk home whilst destroying the fiddle and losing the whip you promised to your biological children, and then you just give him a single name and you're set!

#wuthering heights #emily brontë #heathcliff #finders keepers but with people

[bethanydelleman]

An excerpt from the trial of Elinor Crane, who was arrested in Middlesex in 1693 on suspicion of burglary. A witness claimed one of the burglars was a woman in men's clothing, and Elinor had previously been seen in the area dressed as a man.

"But the Court asking her why she went in Mans Apparel, the Prisoner replyed, She went to Wooe a Widow. Upon the whole Matter the Jury brought her in not Guilty."

(source: Old Bailey Proceedings: Accounts of Criminal Trials, April 26, 1693.)

#awww #history

[bethanydelleman]

small details/ things I ADORE in much ado about nothing, more specifically about beatrice and benedick because im insane abt them:

Beatrice and benedicks first interaction being basically her telling him to shut up

Beatrice telling benedick it's a great happiness to women that benedick won't love anyone cuz women won't have to deal with him as a husband 😭 I also like the irony in this considering that she's the one who marries him

benedick telling Don pedro not to talk about beatrice despite him being the one who went on a massive rant about her and then proceeds to talk about her more

also the fact that in that speech he says 'I would not marry her' but the conversation had nothing to do with marriage like I think ur the only one thinking of marrying her buddy

the way that act 2 scene 3 starts with benedick saying that he will never change his mind about hating love and then 5 minutes when he thinks beatrice has a crush on him he's like 😍😍😍😍

Beatrice wanting to eat claudio's heart in the market place like yes girl go insane

benedick asking how beatrice is after asking her how her cousin is, I just think it's cute how he cares about her

benedick saying that he loves beatrice against his will cuz like hmmm idk u seemed pretty willing earlier buddy

THE FACT THAT THEIR BACK AND FORTH BANTER DOESN'T STOP!!! like it could've just been that after they confess they're just completely lovey dovey but they continue playfully insulting eachother and I think that's important!!!

like they don't lose their sense of identity because they're in love

how benedick is like after hero and claudio have their reunited moment and benedick is like idgaf about that where is beatrice, they're like two animals at the shelter that say do not separate

also the fact that Beatrice's name means the one who blesses and benedick's means the one who is blessed 😢❤️ she's his blessing that's so cute

the way that benedick was married for a whole 5 seconds and was already like to Don Pedro if ur sad just get a wife they're great

Beatrice just casually denying Don Pedro in marriage that's so slay of her

the cupid imagery used throughout is also so cool to me

claudio is just a worse romeo and that's just funny to me he's just a little bitch

#much ado about nothing

[bethanydelleman]

I find this post-engagement exchange in Pride & Prejudice between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy very cute:

...To be sure you know no actual good of me—but nobody thinks of that when they fall in love.” (E) “Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane, while she was ill at Netherfield?” (D) “Dearest Jane! who could have done less for her? But make a virtue of it by all means. My good qualities are under your protection, and you are to exaggerate them as much as possible...." (E)

Because in a way Elizabeth's right, it's pretty normal for a sister to take care of a sister when she's sick. But in another way, he's right because Mary refused to come and Kitty and Lydia only cared about the ball.

It's this cute thing about how we can't even see our own virtues that others fall in love with.

#great addition #pride and prejudice

[bethanydelleman]

The best genre of family portrait is and will always be Husband With Multiple Kids Making Come Hither Eyes At His Wife

Barbara Krafft, Die Familie Anton von Marx 1803

Marie-Geneviève Bouliard,Monsieur Olive & family 1791

#she's still got it #family portraits #art #come hither

[bethanydelleman]

There is something incredibly depressing about not being within the standard sizes.

I once barely kept myself from weeping in a store because they told me they didn't sell long jeans anymore and they were the only store that fit me (the sales person was wrong btw). I buy the exact shoes and pants over and over because it's so hard to find items that fit. I lived in abject fear during pregnancy that my feet would grow (I know people who permanently went up a shoe size) because I already can't buy shoes. I gave up years ago on finding long-sleeved shirts that reach my hands (you know your height is also your wingspan?) Dresses are almost a foot shorter on me than intended.

I like being tall, but being reminded over and over that you aren't within the normal range sucks.

#personal #tall people problems #at least i can buy “normal” t-shirts

[bethanydelleman]

most important thing to remember about being a woman is if youre married you have to go under the covers with your husband and laugh cutely and play wrestle so when you die to progress the narrative he can remember it in slow motion montages

#this trope always amuses me #I don't think we've ever had all white sheets to imagine me as an angel in #dead wife

[bethanydelleman]

My youth is wasting away; my prospects are darkened; my life is a desolate blank; I have no rest day or night; I am become a burden to myself and others

Holy existential crisis, Hargrave.

#the tenant of wildfell hall #anne brontë #wow

[bethanydelleman]

I'm at John and Maragret's first introduction and

Y'ALL LMAOOOOOOOO IT IS

CHEF'S KISS

Like the way John interprets Margaret's mannerisms as haughty when really she's just Exhausted

Her thinking that he's curt bc he only gave her one word answers when really she left him Overwhelmed

It just sets the stage for the rest of their misunderstandings that is UGH MUWAH!!! MAGNIFIQUE

#north & south #elizabeth gaskell #their meeting is very good

[bethanydelleman]

Look, I know the scene where Darcy is describing a truly accomplished woman is meant to be tense and stuff, but I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s hilarious that when Elizabeth told him off for it, he asked if she truly thinks so lowly of her own sex. That entire conversation is essentially

Darcy: for a woman to be accomplished, she has to live up to all these standards

Elizabeth: no one can live up to those standards

Darcy: wow, you don’t think women can be all those things? Sexist🙄

Elizabeth: bitch-

#lol #pride & prejudice

[bethanydelleman]

“Young People” of Fortune

I really want to know how old the Crawfords are in Mansfield Park (just because, no real reason). We are never given their ages but we have some clues.

Mrs. Grant is 33 when the Crawfords come to Mansfield Park (she was 30 when she arrived and Fanny was 15, Fanny is 18 when the Crawfords arrive). Mrs. Grant is a half sister through her mother, so the absolute oldest Henry can be is 31-ish, but that would assume that Mrs. Grant’s mother was pregnant when her husband died and married immediately after her mourning period ended.

On the lower end, we know Henry is at least 22 because he has come into his inheritance and has already completed his minor improvements to Everingham. These only took 3 months, but since it seems like they must be done in summer, we can assume he did it about a year ago. The Crawfords also must be young enough that both of them went into guardianship when their mother died but Mrs. Grant was old enough to marry.

Keep reading

#mansfield park #young people of fortune #henry crawford #mary crawford #jane austen

[bethanydelleman]

so i just finished mp and........you were right. you just. you were right

Somehow this feels ominous, but I am going to take the win. Sweet! I was right! Yay!

About what? Meh, who cares. I was right!

#question response #mansfield park

[bethanydelleman]

love shakespeare. did a hamlet run tonight, looked someone dead in the eye to say “am i a coward?” during a speech and the fucker shrugged and nodded

#love measure for measure #shakespeare

[bethanydelleman]

François Gérard (1770-1837, French) ~ Marie Laczinska (1789-1817) Comtesse Walewska, puis Comtesse d'Ornano, 1810

[Source: basedescollections.musee-armee.fr]

#beautiful #regency era #fashion history

[bethanydelleman]

I will add to the foils: Mrs. Smith's husband squandered all their money and left her destitute, another possible fate of Anne since Wentworth had not yet proved he was capable of saving.

But yeah, Lady Russell was sensible. She may have also been overly class conscious, but that doesn't make her wrong.

Captain Wentworth had no fortune. He had been lucky in his profession; but spending freely, what had come freely, had realized nothing. But he was confident that he should soon be rich: full of life and ardour, he knew that he should soon have a ship, and soon be on a station that would lead to everything he wanted. He had always been lucky; he knew he should be so still. Such confidence, powerful in its own warmth, and bewitching in the wit which often expressed it, must have been enough for Anne; but Lady Russell saw it very differently. His sanguine temper, and fearlessness of mind, operated very differently on her. She saw in it but an aggravation of the evil. It only added a dangerous character to himself. He was brilliant, he was headstrong. Lady Russell had little taste for wit, and of anything approaching to imprudence a horror. She deprecated the connexion in every light.

It's interesting to me, Persuasion is the last novel Austen wrote and she had this trend prior of "W" being a villain (Wickham and Willoughby) and this paragraph about Wentworth makes me think about her other dubious men. He's gambled or spent all his money away, just like the other two, he's confident he'll get more. Wentworth and Henry Tilney are the only heroes with wit, but only Wentworth has this magnetic charm that seems to draw every woman in the room. Very Wickham of him, recall how drawn every female was to him when he came into Meryton. Wentworth feels a lot like Austen's villains, especially at first.

It makes me feel that Lady Russell was right to be worried. This sort of magnetic person, with very pretty words but no substance to back it up. It could have been a Willoughby-esq whirlwind romance and left Anne with nothing.

#persuasion #wentworth

[bethanydelleman]

Same girl, same 😔

#emma #emma woodhouse #jane austen

[bethanydelleman]

What about the Austen heroes?

So the current professions of the Austen heroes are Trust-Fund Baby (Darcy, Bingley, Knightley, Colonel Brandon) and clergyman (Tilney, Ferrars, Bertram) and of course, naval officer (Wentworth).

Darcy's personality and insane degree of stable wealth makes his character pretty hard to write without him being a trust fund baby. So I will not assign him a profession, he's managing the generational family wealth.

George Knightley - runs a small but successful factory that is basically the only industry in his small town. Cash poor because he's always reinvesting in the company. Robert Martin is the floor manager.

Charles Bingley - his father struck it rich in the dot.com era and then died. He's inherited most of the fortune. Has no idea what to do with it, so he's been in university for 6 years.

Colonel Brandon - did four tours in Afghanistan before his brother died and he took over the indebted family chain of hardware stores. He's finally gotten the finances straightened out and the chain is once again profitable (with 100% less tax fraud).

Edward Ferrars - went to a super prestigious university because his mother donated to it, has a degree in Environmental Science much to her chagrin. Wants to work at a non-profit or do his PhD but his mom won't help him with the cost of living so he lives at home, doesn't work, and is miserable.

Edmund Bertram - clergyman or civil servant

Frederick Wentworth - I'm not sure what to do with him, because he needs an uncertain, dangerous career that can also strike rich, not sure if we have a modern analogue... oh it's athlete. He's an athlete who actually made it big and got rich. You pick the sport.

Henry Tilney - this one is so tricky! Because you see Henry Tilney is a nepo baby, but he seems to actually enjoy his profession. So I guess he has a corporate job at Tilney Inc. but he does like it (despite the CEO)

#athlete is actually perfect for Wentworth because it's so uncertain #you may rot in the minors or just make an okay amount of money #or you can be insanely wealthy #but also a single injury can ruin your career like Harville #and 19 year old Wentworth who is sure he can make it is still a bad bet #austen heroes #question response #jane austen #mansfield park #pride and prejudice #sense and sensibility #northanger abbey #emma