The other day I wrote about all the reasons I hate romance novels.
Today I will write about the main reason I’m likely to hate love interests. Before you accuse me of misandry or love hating, I will preface this by saying that not all love interests are terrible and I don’t ‘hate love’. I even went to the effort of celebrating Valentine’s Day. See? I love love!
When it comes to romance, I am all about those complex characters. Complex characters who experience growth and develop throughout the story – like Mr Rochester and Mr Darcy- I love. Complex characters who use their issues to control the female protagonist – like Heathcliff and Edward Cullen- I hate.
That’s not to say that Mr Rochester and Mr Darcy are not controlling, they certainly start that way. Mr Rochester plays games to entice Jane and the tries to marry her when he is already married! Mr Darcy gives the worst proposal in history where he tells our heroine she is beneath him and that him loving her is a fault of his. Ouch. So why do I like them?
Well their story doesn’t end there does it? Our heroines reject our imperfect heroes and they have to earn their happy ending. The believability of the romance and the character’s relationship is all in the redemption arc.
Darcy realises that his pride has left him conceited and Lizzie learns that her first impression and her eagerness to believe rumours unjustly influenced her against him. They are each other’s equal and in the end they evolve. Their reward? A happy ending.
I must say, Rochester drew the short straw here. After Jane refuses to become Rochester’s mistress and she leaves him, Thornfield catches alight and Rochester is left as a blind cripple. She comes back, she reverses the roles and teases him. Having inherited enough of a fortune that she is now independent, the two are equals. They live happily ever after and he regains sight in one eye, meaning he can see their children. Aren’t epilogue’s lovely?
Redemption makes both of them worthy of each other. What do you get without redemption? Well you get Heathcliff. Let’s have a look at his worst sins, shall we? He married and abused the sister of his enemy. He cheated away Hareton’s inheritance and enslaved him because his father (his adopted brother) was an arse. Then he kidnapped the daughter of the woman he loved and forced her to marry his sickly son so that she could see her dying father, one last time. So what good does he do? Well, that’s a tough one. He loves Cathy? The reason I question that is the two of them are poison.
Then why is he considered a romantic hero? I can only guess that women desire the passion he has for Cathy and some form of Stockholm Syndrome.