Posted by RichardG on March 01, 2002 at 16:25:59 from 213.120.127.54:
In Reply to: Re: The Great Aunt as a sympathetic character posted by John Richardson on February 28, 2002 at 12:14:32:
I think AR's masterstroke in P&M was to bring the GA on stage, so to speak, towards the end of the book - throughout SD she is only ever seen at a distance and our knowledge of her is entirely as seen by others. In P&M she is initially seen in the same way; I think the burglary is the first time we, the readers, "hear" her speak, rather than having her words related to us by one of the other characters, and then at the climax of the book suddenly this distant character is brought to life in her own right, and if she doesn't necessarily become sympathetic, she certainly seems a great deal more human. Her cheeks going pink when, while in "Scarab", she discovers that the fells are alive with people searching for her, gives a whole new perspective on the grim pillar of Victorian rectitude we have become familiar with.
But then, her creator was a master storyteller.........