- Edward Ferrars.
From being super sketchy and stuff, is Robert.
And by more of a plot line, I mean, he gets murdered.
Here we are recording a video you guys requested, which is,
"Ranking of Jane Austen's Men." That is right.
We need to know who is the best hero in Jane Austen's books.
Is it going to be Mr. Darcy, Knightley, Bingley, who is it?
And just also ranked the other random guys
because they exist. They're there.
And some of them need talked about way more
than they get talked about.
Just a quick note, I am going to be leaving off
any of the Jane Austen villains
that I already talked about years ago
in my video on "Ranking Jane Austen villains."
Mr. Collins just did not make the cut for today's video.
I'm sorry.
So let's dive into
this list.
There are 13 guys on this list
and the first one is, Denny from "Pride and Prejudice."
Okay. This is one of those characters
I feel like a lot of people don't even remember exists
in "Pride and Prejudice."
He is the guy who is responsible
for introducing us all to Mr. Wickham.
He brings Mr. Wickham around.
He then also sort of knows
that Wickham's going to run off with Lydia
and then not marry her.
But then he also then denies knowing that later.
There's so much sketchy stuff going down with Denny here.
We need more information about Denny
than what we get in the book.
It's interesting in "Death Comes to Pemberley",
which is a spinoff, he does have more of a plot line
and by more of a plot line, I mean, he gets murdered.
That's not really a spoiler alert
That's literally the premise
of "Death Comes to Pemberley".
It's a murder mystery trying to figure out who killed Denny.
Anyway, I do have a whole review
of "Death Comes to Pemberley" both the book
and the mini series.
So definitely check that out if you haven't yet.
But I just feel like nobody ever talks about him.
Despite the fact that
I feel like if Wickham had not shown up,
Lydia and Kitty would have continued their great love affair
because he was male, he was wearing a uniform
and he was in the area.
Those are the great qualifications for romance
for those two.
So him being super sketchy is why is number 13 on this list.
Okay. Who is next at number 12?
The mystery.
And the answer is,
Tom Bertram from "Mansfield Park."
I feel like nobody ever thinks about him
as a potential love interest,
except for Mary Crawford for like half a second there
before she starts going after Edmund.
But he just does not have a good character.
You know, he's wild, he's drinks
way too much, he gambles.
The main thing Tom Bertram has going for him
is the fact that he's going to inherit to Mansfield Park
and he's going to become a Baronet someday.
Those are his great claims to fame.
So it really depends on what you're looking for
in a marriage.
If you're looking for money and status,
he might be a good guy to go for.
If you're looking for a guy who will stay sober
and not squander everything you have, if he
possibly can get his hands on it,
then you might not wanna marry Tom Bertram.
Editing-Ellie here, just to pop in.
'Cause I wanted to say there are just so many sketchy guys
in Jane Austen's books.
And I feel like if a lot of them lived in the modern day,
they'd be on the internet,
trying to steal people's personal information.
I bet some of them would
and that just reminds me of this video sponsor, Nord VPN.
So Nord VPN is a Virtual Private Network service or VPN.
What is a VPN, you may ask?
Well, basically it helps protect you,
your data and your privacy on the internet.
You simply download their app on your devices
like computers, tablets, and phones.
You go through a super simple setup process
and you are now more protected on the internet.
How are you more protected on the internet?
Well, in several different ways,
one is imagine you're at a coffee shop
and you're connected to their public wifi.
Over there is a sketchy guy who wishes he was Captain Denny,
but he's trying to hack your internet connection
and steal your personal data.
But he can't because your data is being encrypted
by Nord VPNs and advanced encryption.
So sad times for that guy.
Nord VPN also automatically blocks phishing websites,
and it helps prevent internet providers and also marketers
from tracking your browsing history
or your messages or other personal data.
But because you guys are the awesomest
of viewers on the internet,
Nord VPN has a special offer for you.
So go to nordvpn.com/ellie,
to get a two year plan plus one additional month
with a huge discount. And you can use my coupon code, ellie.
So now that we all know how to be safer on the internet,
let's see who is next on this list of Jane Austin men.
Now, for number 11.
This one's not gonna surprise you guys
that he's so low on this list,
especially if you saw my last video,
where I talk about how I feel about him,
but, Edward Ferrars.
Yes. He makes me so mad.
Yes it's because he leads Elinor on the whole book.
I feel like she's totally blinded by
her affection for him when she's like,
"Oh, he did this just because he's so principled."
And it's like, a truly principled guy
would not have a lead you on the whole book.
So I think I've talked about this enough.
Let's move on to number 10,
which is, Edmund Bertram.
Now have to say that, of like Jane Austin,
like true main heroes,
like the guys who end up with the heroines of the books,
Edward Ferrars and Edmund Bertram
are two of my least favorite.
One of the reasons is I don't feel like either of them
are worthy of the girl they end up with.
Edmund spins the vast majority of "Mansfield Park"
being dumb.
The whole book he's chasing after Mary Crawford,
just because he thinks she's hot.
He's totally ignoring all these major warning signs.
He doesn't even notice Fanny's in love with him.
So much stuff about Edmund.
Seriously. Yeah. I don't think he's worthy of Fanny
just like I don't think Edward is worthy of Elinor.
These guys got way better than they deserved.
I think we're on number nine now.
And it is, Captain Benwick from "Persuasion".
So Captain Benwick is the friend of Captain Wentworth
and he's the one where his girlfriend dies
and then he's super depressed about it.
And he's reading all this depressing poetry and Ann is like,
"Hey, maybe you should read less depressing poetry."
And then the next thing you know,
he's married to Louisa Musgrove. That is Captain Benwick.
I feel like Captain Benwick is ranking this high on the list
because I just,
feels like all the guys below him on those list worst.
I don't really have any true emotional reaction to him.
Would I marry Captain Benwick? No.
Because I don't go for guys who are like,
"I'm going to read depressing poetry"
and then rebound and he get married to some random girl.
It's not exactly the greatest qualifications for a husband.
Makes me really wonder how their marriage goes down.
Right. When he's married to Louisa,
is there some moment when they both wake up
and they're like, "We have nothing in common.
We don't even like each other, really."
Again, that needs its own spin off.
Do I even read spin-offs?
No, but every time I think of stuff like this,
I'm like, "Someone needs to write a book about that".
Will I read it?
No, but it needs to happen.
Up next is,
Colonel Fitzwilliam.
It's the Colonel, Colonel Fitzwilliam.
I don't really
know
how I feel about Colonel Fitzwilliam.
I feel like he has good taste, obviously,
he likes Elizabeth Bennett and Elizabeth is great.
I feel like too, he
at least
recognized that Elizabeth was not currently
an option for him and he let her know that,
unlike Edward Ferrars.
If Edward Ferrars had let Elinor know that
it was not a possibility somehow,
so much of "Sense and Sensibility" would have not happened.
Like so much of that drama and heartbreak
would have been prevented from him having that conversation
that essentially Colonel Fitzwilliam has with Elizabeth
when he's like, "I need to marry money."
Right? So at least the Colonel is upstanding on this front.
I feel like the Colonel also recognizing that
he needs to marry money and being honest about it is good.
And he's not in denial about his position in life.
Also, he just seems generally nice and friendly.
If I was a rich heiress and Colonel Fitzwilliam was around
and I ended up liking him in real life, like,
interacting with him, he might be a possibility. Yeah.
So next up is, Robert Martin.
Yes. The guy from "Emma".
That Emma tries to break up from Harriet,
but then Harriet ends up marrying him anyway,
at the end of the book.
Anyway, Robert Martin I think is one of the most
overlooked characters in all of Jane Austen's books.
And he's incredibly sweet.
We see even after Harriet has totally turned him down
and is sort of avoiding him.
But still when he runs into her and it's a rainy day,
he still feels the need to go warn her
not to go down a certain path
because it would be flooded with rain.
I know, what type of guy does that? That is so sweet.
And I feel like Robert Martin is so
faithful to his love for Harriet and it's just a great guy.
He needs to be higher ranked in the Jane Austin world.
Up next is,
Colonel Brandon from,
"Sense and Sensibility."
Okay. Colonel Brandon is just an interesting character.
I think he's very principled in a lot of ways,
which is good.
He has a lot of good qualities about him.
Things I don't like about Colonel Brandon is that
he does go for the same type of girl.
And as much as I love Marion Dashwood,
I feel like is very artistic,
but also emotionally unstable girls. Like this is his type.
I feel like clearly something with Colonel Brandon
is slightly off.
He goes for very young, slightly unhinged girls as his type.
And so it makes you wonder about Colonel Brandon,
but I do think he has a lot of great qualities.
Okay.
Up next is,
Captain Wentworth.
I know so many of you guys love Captain Wentworth.
He's many great things going for him.
I think on one side,
he's one of the handsomest men in the Navy. So we have that.
He also has money by the end of the book,
but this is my interesting question.
Like how much of a lesson does he learn
from what happened with Anne?
I feel like he was being the
epitome of being an obstinate headstrong girl,
only he was obstinate headstrong Navy Captain
throughout the whole book.
And it makes me wonder,
is he going to continue to be like that
in other areas of life or has he learned his lesson?
But imagine, Anne, trying to reason with him on something.
Is he going to listen to her?
Now, does he passionately love Anne? Yes.
Does he write great love letters? Of course.
So, I mean,
if you wanna a guy who can really pin a love letter,
you gotta go with Captain Wentworth there.
Number four on this list
is someone who often gets overlooked
just because he's overshadowed by other characters
in "Pride and Prejudice".
And that is,
Mr.
Bingley.
Bingley's an interesting guy.
He's very amiable.
He's highly impressionable. That's for sure.
The Jane-Bingley combination works specifically
because they're both that way.
Because they're both so people pleasing.
I think combined, they won't take advantage of each other
because they'll both be trying to people please
each other their whole marriage.
Where if he had married someone with a more
dominant personality, Mr. Bingley would be easily
just ran over his whole marriage.
And so I do think him and Jane are a good combination there.
He ranks so high on this list
because he's a genuinely good guy.
He's very loving and kind to people
and he has just some excellent sisters.
Who would not want to be related to
Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst.
I am joking on that point guys.
Okay. Number three on this list,
we're getting so close to number one.
Who will number one be?
I don't think it's that much of a mystery,
but I'm going to act like it is.
But number three is,
Mr. Knightley from "Emma".
Okay. I love Mr. Knightley.
He is like the definition of a gentleman.
If you wanna talk about morals and principles
and upstanding gentle manliness,
that is Mr. Knightley.
He does lecture
Emma
a lot.
Now I feel like he feels like he has permission to do that
because he is sort of her older brother.
They do have that older brother,
younger sister relationship.
So I think he feels responsible for her
and he sees that nobody else is actually parenting her.
And so he tries.
Now does that make the relationship weird
when they get into a real relationship?
Yeah, kind of.
Honestly, it's like, you've been essentially parenting her
for years and now you're going to marry Emma?
That's kind of weird Mr. Knightley.
But other than that,
I love the way he looks out for Miss Bates and
Jane Fairfax.
I love the way he interacts with the Martins.
He's just,
I think overall a great guy.
So good job, Mr. Knightley.
Okay.
So for number two,
this was hard.
I have talked before about how I struggled to pick between
Mr. Darcy of "Pride and Prejudice"
and Henry Tilney of "Northanger Abbey".
Now I recently re-read "Northanger Abbey" not that long ago
and that was the deciding factor for who is number two.
So number two is, Henry Tilney.
Why didn't he get the number one spot?
The reason is,
while I feel like he really appreciates Catherine
for her heart
and for how
pure and
positive
and
gillies she is,
one thing I don't feel in their relationship is respect.
I don't feel like he respects Catherine as an equal.
And if I was in a relationship with a guy
and he viewed me that way,
I don't think I could take that. Right?
I'd be like, "Don't respect me, dude.
What's wrong with you?"
Anyway, I do feel like Henry's respect for Catherine
could be improved upon.
Now, when I say stuff like this and videos,
I always get comments that's like,
"Well, Catherine, you know,
was super naive and maybe didn't deserve the respect."
And I'm just saying, girls,
every girl on the planet deserves respect.
It does not matter how naive you are or whatever,
guys need to respect you.
I'm just throwing this out there,
letting this be made known.
Anyway, I feel like Henry should respect Catherine
more than he does.
But other than that,
I feel like Henry is again, a good guy. He is hilarious.
I love his sense of humor. I love his personality.
Anyway, that is what lands Henry Tilney at number two.
Now, I did recently put out a video about
how to attract Henry Tilney
and stuff that's going down in "Northanger Abbey"
that makes the Henry-Catherine relationship work out.
So definitely check that out if you have not seen it yet.
So now it's time for number one.
I think you guys all know who number one is by this point.
It is Mr. Darcy.
When I was making the list for visit video, I was like,
"Everyone's gonna think Mr. Darcy's number one.
I should make Mr. Darcy not number one
and just surprise everyone."
But at last that would just not be the truth.
Thereby we're here.
I'm just stuck with the boring truth
that Mr. Darcy's number one on my list.
Nothing's surprising or shocking.
Okay. Why is Mr. Darcy number one on this list?
I have to say, again, when comparing him to Henry Tilney,
I feel like he really respects Elizabeth
by the end of the book.
He's increased in humility.
I feel like we see enough of Mr. Darcy's character change
cemented by the end of the book,
to believe that he's going to continue to behave this way
even after he's married Elizabeth.
So I really do appreciate that he has had
that inner transformation.
I think Mr. Darcy is also very principled
and that was something that we saw
from the beginning of the book.
He was never
not principled.
So I feel like he already had a good foundational character,
unlike the likes of Denny and Thomas Bertram.
Also, I feel like he doesn't lead anyone on
like Edward Ferrars does.
Now, I have heard people before
comment on his relationship with Miss Bingley,
which is just so interesting to me because
she does just literally go around and try to hit on him.
But I also don't see him encouraging this.
He just sort of puts up with it
and I feel like that's different.
Like I had a guy friend in school before
who literally went and told everybody but me,
that he liked me.
So I had everybody in the school, coming up to me,
trying to convince me to date this guy.
And I'm like, " A, he's never even told me,
B, he is my friend. I don't like him that way.
I'm not going to date him."
I even had the English teacher in nine grade
tried to convince me to date this guy.
And I'm like, "Is this an English teacher's job
to get involved with her students dating life?"
That English teacher didn't like me
and I think part of the reason why was because
I wouldn't date the guy, which is weird.
Anyway, my point is,
sometimes you just have those friends that like you,
but you don't wanna date them
and you don't give them encouragement,
but they're just gonna keep hitting on you anyway.
And I feel like that may be what's happening with him
and Miss Bingley.
I mean, she is his best friend's sister,
kinda stuck together. Awkward.
Also, if you seen my video on Pemberley,
you know that Mr. Darcy's house doesn't hurt his
position in this list either.
So this has been "Jane Austin's Men Ranked".
Let me know in the comments below who you
think should be number one
and who you think should be number 13.
Who is your least favorite of these
and who is your most favorite.
Also, if you would like to please subscribe
or like this video or just be generally awesome,
'cause you are great at doing that.
And keep having an awesome day because you're awesome.
Bye.
♪ You know that I'ma keep it cool ♪
♪ With you I feel like breaking rules ♪
♪ On the edge looking out ♪
♪ With no parachute ♪
♪ You know I'm dreaming about us two ♪
♪ Playing around without a clue ♪
♪ On the edge leaning out, leaning out ♪
♪ With us is all or nothing ♪
♪ Oh oh ♪
♪ But I guess I need more of you ooh ♪