Yes, this is an old post I know but I had to comment. For one thing I'm in a massive Little Dorrit mood right now and need to feed it ;) .
I can't remember if you read Georgette Heyer novels or not, but Heyer used to categorize her heroes and heroines.
Mark I heroes: The brooding dark heroes. They are often dangerous and dissolute with scandalous reputations, often with a foul temper.
Mark II heroes: Genial, even-tempered and well-liked with a respect for conventions.
Heyer never stuck strictly to this formula she often mixed the two. But it does seem to be true that I can't think of many Mark I heroes in Dickens except maybe Sydney in ToTC ??? Austen and Gaskell wrote both types. Even Charlotte Brontë's hero in The Professor seems to be a Mark II -- so she didn't just stick with the Edward Rochester Mark I. Hmmmm ...
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I can't remember if you read Georgette Heyer novels or not, but Heyer used to categorize her heroes and heroines.
Mark I heroes: The brooding dark heroes. They are often dangerous and dissolute with scandalous reputations, often with a foul temper.
Mark II heroes: Genial, even-tempered and well-liked with a respect for conventions.
Heyer never stuck strictly to this formula she often mixed the two. But it does seem to be true that I can't think of many Mark I heroes in Dickens except maybe Sydney in ToTC ??? Austen and Gaskell wrote both types. Even Charlotte Brontë's hero in The Professor seems to be a Mark II -- so she didn't just stick with the Edward Rochester Mark I. Hmmmm ...