All right, so this is a bit of a cheat. I haven't written about Victorian fiction in simply ages (although surely adaptations and not-really-adaptations somehow count?), and then when I finally get round to reading a story by one of my favourite Victorian novelists it's not even a full-length novel, but a novella of 125 pages. Still, I'm sure I can find something to say about it.
The novella in question is A Rogue's Life, by the - almost - always readable Wilkie Collins. It is really enjoyable after a somewhat irritating start - I'll get back to that - but it made me ponder why I don't feel the same degree of warmth towards rogues as I do towards villains.
I think it's fair to say that the words rogue and villain aren't entirely the same, but can I really claim that there's that much of a difference? "Villain" shows up as an alternative when you search for synonyms for "rogue", and they have other synonyms such as "rascal" and "scoundrel" in common. Isn't rogue essentially a sub-category of villain? Maybe, but in that case it's a sub-category I have problems with. What I appreciate in a villain, apart from brains, is drive and strength of will. Rogues, like villains, act selfishly and immorally, but they also tend to be lazy. They don't expect to have to make an effort to achieve their goal: they want success to be handed to them on a plate. Fiyero's song "Dancing Through Life" ("life is fraughtless, when you're thoughtless") from Wicked comes to mind when I try to pinpoint a rogue's outlook. Now, there are loveable rogues to be sure, mostly of the mildly criminal but humorous kind. But to my mind, it's hard for a fictional character to pull off the blithe and laid-back opportunism of a rogue without becoming annoying.
Frank Softly, the protagonist of A Rogue's Life, is a case in point. When he is revealed to have made money out of drawing caricatures, his father (a hard-working doctor, a profession Frank has tried but detests) orders him to stop for the sake of the family honour: "I answered dutifully that I was quite ready to obey, on the condition that he should reimburse me by a treble allowance [...] or that Lady Malkinshaw should confer upon me the appointment of physician-in-waiting on her, with a handsome salary attached". Frank's father refuses his "extremely moderate stipulations". There is more in the same self-congratulatory vein. When Frank later tries his hand at portrait painting, he finds it quite beyond him to paint a flattering portrait of his brother-in-law Mr Batterbury (who's hilarious: Collins can be relied on to make the most of his side characters). He follows up the painting with a self-portrait, "making my own likeness quite a pleasant relief to the ugliness of my brother-in-law's". To sum up, far from finding Frank charming, I found him smug and conceited, and didn't particularly wish him well. With rogueishness so often comes a kind of "aren't I a bad lad" preening which can be hard to bear.
The story improves immensely, however, when Frank becomes embroiled in the mysterious doings of the father of a girl with whom he has fallen in love. For one thing, Frank's feelings for the fair Alicia are genuine: for a rogue, he is remarkably steadfast in the relationship department. More importantly, however, the plot becomes thrilling enough for the reader to better put up with its protagonist. It's a page-turning adventure story full of chases, near-escapes and cunning strategies in order to avoid the law. The narrative is wrapped up rather hastily, but for the latter part of the novella I was hooked.
The story also contains one of those neat legal conceits that you often find in Collins: the reason Mr Batterbury is concerned for Frank's welfare at all is that Frank's scornful sister Arabella will be left a legacy of three thousand pounds, providing Frank outlives the aforementioned Lady Malkinshaw, his marvellously robust grandmother. It's an amusing situation, though not quite as amusing as Frank finds it. I was firmly Team Batterbury here: no-one can say he doesn't put some solid work into getting that legacy (I'll not reveal whether he's successful).
A Rogue's Life is a good read. But if you're looking for a loveable rogue, I don't think that you'll find him here.
