The first time I fell in love with the wrong man, I was a teenager, and the man was Victor Laszlo.
Now, Laszlo is only “the wrong man” by weird convoluted cinema logic. He’s been thwarting the Nazis across Europe for years; he’s articulate, bold, dedicated, noble, loyal, and let’s face it, a heck of a lot better looking than Humphrey Bogart. That’s a good man by any standards. He’s only “wrong” in the sense that he’s not the perfect match for Ilsa. Which is fine. Stay with Rick, Ilsa. I’d be more than happy to help your husband rebound.
I thought of Laszlo when I was rewatching North and South and found myself once again in love with the wrong man. Richard Armitage as John Thornton is universally acknowledged as a heartthrob, and I do understand the heroine’s attraction to him. I think Thornton is a great match for Margaret. But Nicholas Higgins, played by the marvelous Brendan Coyle (better known perhaps as Mr. Bates from Downton Abbey) steals the series for me.
Beyond romance, Thornton’s primary struggle is keeping his business afloat. That’s fine, and I appreciate that he has a reputation as a fair and honest employer. But that’s not heroism; that’s basic decency and basic economics. I can understand Margaret being impressed, contrasting him with other owners who are happy to gamble the payroll or skimp on safety equipment. To me, though, it’s like finding a historical hero who has bathes regularly and has reasonably straight teeth: historically unusual, but something I as a modern reader simply expect from a man. Plus, this is all undermined by the fact that the Thorntons (and all the masters) clearly still aren’t paying actual living wages for the people, including children, doing the physical, dangerous work.
At one point, Thornton proposes that his workers form a canteen to save money on food and volunteers an unused mill building as the location. This is unusual behavior for his position, sure. But the catalyst, and the man who does the actual work, is Nicholas Higgins. Nicholas’s honest answer about his family’s poor food situation inspires Thornton to consider his workers’ meals. Nicholas organizes the canteen; Nicholas’s daughter does the cooking. When Thornton later eats with his workers, it’s because Nicholas reached out and invited him. What’s more impressive: refusing to be ashamed of poverty and organizing a factory full of workers to pay into and dine in a restaurant, or owning an empty warehouse?
Thornton also educates a promising young orphan – the boy that Nicholas took in and cared for when his parents died. It’s pretty clear that finances are the only thing preventing Nicholas from having the boy educated himself. The child’s father, by the way, ruined Nicholas’s strike. But Nicholas promised that the man’s children wouldn’t go hungry, and he’ll keep that promise, even if it means humbling himself to beg for work when the strike leaves him unemployable.
Nicholas is an intense, complicated, thoughtful man. He struggles with religious faith (“I’m not saying I don’t believe in your God, but I can’t believe He meant the world to be as it is.”). He is a loving father who found his ill daughter work in Thornton’s safer mill but didn’t take it for himself. He is forgiving, accepting Margaret as a friend after her earlier snobbery and developing a friendship of sorts with Thornton after Thornton has treated him very poorly. Despite being uneducated, he’s clearly intelligent and hard-working, the sort of man who will rise high enough to hit his head on any glass ceiling and might make it through anyway. I can see him a few years down the road being a national union figure or a Member of Parliament.
And on top of that, you know what? He’s hot. Nicholas Higgins was rocking his dad bod before it became a thing. His voice is wonderful, and his face is extremely expressive.
You can have your Thornton, Margaret. I think he’s a nice match for you. But I’ve got my eye on that union firebrand living behind the Golden Dragon pub.
What about you? Have you ever been watching or reading a romance and found your attention wandering to a man who wasn’t supposed to be the hero? Do you think I’m utterly crazy in my love of Victor Laszlo and Nicholas Higgins, have I won you as a convert, or were you on my side all along?
Caroline AAR
Great topic! I agree that Nicholas Higgins is just as romantic a figure as John Thornton (and let’s face it would probably be easier to live with since he wouldn’t put his wife on a pedestal and would, instead, see her as a true partner in the marriage).
I know this has happened to me (lusting after the wrong man) in films, tv, and books many times. Of course, it’s early in the morning and I need to think some more to give examples…hmmm. Most often in romances this happens when there’s a friend of the hero or even the villain who is the voice of reason or has a raw sex appeal but so often those characters get books themselves. Paul Gibson in the Sebastian St Cyr has always been just as fascinating to me as Sebastian, so I was glad to see him get his own romance. Another is Stephen the Irishman in Braveheart (or any film/tv show where David O’Hara eats up the scenery but isn’t the traditional hero…similar appeal to Brendan Coyle by the way). My classic example is Tom Bertram in Mansfield Park (informed by Austen’s novel and the film version starring James Purefoy as Tom). That’s always been a complex hero I’ve wanted to see explored as a romantic figure…but I hate Austen sequels!
I’m sure there are more…
I just watched North and South for the fourth time–I wanted to show it to my niece who loves Downton Abbey. She too loved Nicholas and found Thornton to be a bit of a stretch as a lover. I hadn’t realized, until your column, that Thornton paid for the small boy to be educated.
Fun column, and I’m sure there are lots of times in books and movies that I’ve looked past the hero to the second lead but of course I can’t think of any at the moment. But as for North and South, nope, always swooning at John Thornton. 🙂
You can have Big, Aidan, Harry and Smith Jerrod. I love Steve! He’s adorable, kind, funy, forgiving, and he’s loves my favorite Sex & the City lady, Miranda. That was the relationship I was invested in and those two are the characters I adore.
I also perfer Michael Hurst’s Iolaus to Kevin Sorbo’s Hercules, Tyrion as the real GOT’s hearthrob over Jamie, and I always want Judy Garland’s Hannah to pick the delightfully charming Peter Lawford character in Easter Parade rather than the boring, overly critical Don played by Fred Astaire.
Tyrion over Jamie for sure. Love that character!
Definitely Tyrion over Jaime…in fact, Tyrion over all the other men on GoT!
The one that no one agrees with me about is who is Buffy’s perfect partner? Most fans say Angel, some say Spike, I say Riley. For starters, he’s alive, supportive, and could give her children. He’s also the only one who sees her for who she is as a woman rather than as a Slayer.
I would also be, like my daughter was in middle school, on Team Jacob.
I would have said Riley too, except in Season 5 when the writers were writing him out, they made him as controlling and jealous and whiny as Spike. Such a disservice to a good character.
When I read Gillian Bradshaw’s Wolf Hunt, which is a reworking of Bisclavret, I wished the heroine had ended up with her friend Tihar instead of Tiarnán. Tihar was such a charming character with a great sense of humor. He stole the show in my eyes.
Oh, and Raoul in Phantom of the Opera! The Phantom is creepy as heck, plus of course he murders two people.
Yes, yes, YES! I am so SICK of people romanticizing the creepy Phantom.
Yes I too prefer Raoul and he’s the one that ends up with Christine.
This may be blasphemy, but I’ve always thought Mr. Bingley would be much easier to live with (and more fun) than Mr. Darcy.
You’re very brave to write such heresy, lol. Bingley is a little too much of a betta for me, letting other people make his decisions for him, but he was nice and loved Jane. 🙂
One of the reasons I have difficulty reading Gaskell as a romance writer is because of her interest in mediating class conflict in England during the Industrial Revolution. As gorgeous and talented as Richard Armitage is (And He Is!), he’s a symbol of capitalism and the means of production, the business owner, as opposed to the worker, such as Higgins. Gaskell is a middle-of-the-road author for her time, trying to find spaces where capitalists and workers can co-exist peacefully without tearing the country apart, as many in the 19th century truly feared. For me, she does not pull it off successfully, but her attempts are very interesting to observe. Higgins symbolizes honesty and integrity, and those are appealing traits. But the means of production, as symbolized by Thornton, is glamorous and charismatic and meant to be seductive to the heroine. Where does Margaret fit in within this class construct? Her attraction to Thornton always has to be read within this frame, I think.
Growing up, I often felt that I chose the nerdy man, or the bespeckled man wrapped up in his books or his inquiries and concerns about life — i.e. Mr. Spock, when others seemed to gravitate to the dashing Captain Kirk. In Woody Allen movies, I was always captivated by Allen’s fumbling and anxious characters juxtaposed against the secure, attractive men that swept in and got the woman. They always seemed more substantial. Reading romances today, I’m still drawn to the quieter, intelligent and respectful heroes rather than the beefcake, domineering alpha men that dominate the genre.
True, but couldn’t you say the same for Anne as opposed to Elizabeth? The two main couples in Pride and Prejudice were very well suited to each other.
Contrariwise, when Richard Armitage played Guy of Gisborne in the BBC’s Robin Hood, no matter how nasty they tried to make him, you couldn’t help feel Maid Marian should dump Robin for him. Guy might have been sadistic and brutal with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but our household always rooted for him. (Right up until he killed her…) Come to think of it, we always rooted for Guinevere to run away with Lancelot in the BBC’s Merlin.
Well he accidentally killed her but yep, he looked lovely in all that black and he was so nasty. But he did love Marian.
Nope, nope, nope! Higgins is wonderful, but I’d take Thornton any day of the week. He started out as a draper’s assistant and worked just as hard as Higgins to get to where he is. It would be a little much to expect him to cook for the workers on top of all his duties as a business owner, and as a business owner myself, I know it’s not exactly a glamorous position, and Thornton put in long hours. I was perfectly happy to see him delegate the organization of the worker’s meal room to Higgins, and I know that Higgins is in a great position under Thornton to work his way up out of poverty while helping other workers along the way. As you pointed out, he pays a fair wage, cares about the health of the workers, and arranges for Boucher’s son to be educated. He protects Margaret’s reputation even when he believes her to be a liar and to be in love with another man. And he can kiss like no other… =) Maybe you can tell I’m a bit obsessed with Thornton.
I hoped Rory from Gilmore Girls would meet Tristen again. Tristen was in a couple of the earlier shows, memorably putting on the play ‘Romeo & Juliet’. He liked her, but in stupid blockhead male fashion he acted cruelly and was a jerk. Yet there was the scene when we saw his pain and longing, and that won me over. He was the wrong guy; he did not make another appearence in the series. Jess was my runner-up for Rory. Never wanted Logan or cheater Dean for her.
Jess was my favorite but I definitely would have liked to see a romance play out between Rory & Tristan at Chilton. The actor, Chad Michael Murray, got a job on Gossip Girl so who knows what would have happened if he stayed. I really disliked Logan and I’m sure the actor who played Dean has since improved but, imho, at the time was painful to watch.
I think the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale fits in this narrative of the “”wrong man.”” I have to admit that it’s always been my favorite of the romantic fairy tales.
I wonder how many people saw North and South AFTER Downton. I actually find Downton Abbey deathly dull (and as a casual viewer, there are far too many characters for me to even begin to care about them), but I do know many people who fell crazy in love with the actor there and so go back and watch his earlier work with a different opinion of him.
I don’t know, but personally, I saw North and South first.