Angel Clare hate club

[silverflight8]

It makes me smile every time Angel Clare comes up on meme and piles of people talk about how much they hate him. I hate his guts. I hate him so much. I love a lot of characters usually, I like antagonists and villains and protagonists and most characters. But I can't stand Clare. He makes my blood boil. I mean, I liked Alec better than him, and Alec is a rapist. THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG THERE if I like Alec better. I hate him so much that I went through and stripped out a lot of the italics and capslock I used but guys, normal text formatting isn't enough to contain my seething hatred and loathing for him.

I think it's a combination of Angel basically dismissing Tess after he finds out her past, running off like a huge prat, and then--when he gets back--doing absolutely nothing. What is the use of repenting if you never do anything?! "Let her wake naturally"--oh thank you so very much, Angel Clare, that's all you can do? That's all you do in the whole thing! Oh my god, why are you such a horrible person? Maybe this comes of being weaned on stories where it's normal for the protagonist(s) will do something (anything) to help each other. I'm not asking him to whip out a weapon and fight through all the men surrounding them. But he literally leaves her to be killed.

Also, he never gets his comeuppance. At least the husband in the Mayor of Casterbridge does. No, he just goes off with Lizzy-Lou and presumably marries her in a bit. It reminds me of the closing stanza of "Clementine."

I really have to get around to reading Jude the Obscure. I don't like Hardy's poetry (I can't get over his Titanic poem. It was an abomination) but I love his novels, and that's the last of the big ones I haven't read.

Comments

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ha, I didn't realize you were (one of) the Angel Clare hate club! I've never read the book, and meme has pretty much convinced me not to, at this point.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

I am a card carrying member :P

I really do like Thomas Hardy! Some of his characters really make me angry, but I love how he draws out characters and sketches out the landscape (it's based on rural Dorsetshire). But yeah, rage occasionally. Far From the Madding Crowd wasn't bad though, and his works are pretty feminist for his time.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about Angel Clare except RAGING HATE, hahaha.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

HE SUCKS. HE IS HORRIBLE. I HATE HIM.

That's all you really need to know :P

[kaesa.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha I asked someone (I'm thinking it was you?) to please explain this Angel Clare person last post, and yeah, um, he sounds awful and useless, like someone took a cardboard standee and tried to make it into a major protagonist.

(Clearly he should hook up with Bella Swan.)

Edited to remove a rogue I. Apparently all the hate made me think of a different Clare...

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was me! I feel my explanations are not at all adequate to explain how BURNINGLY ANGRY he makes me and other people. Ugh, Angel Clare! Ugh, ugh, ugh!

haha, omg

[insanepurin.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Tess, but I do know what happens in it and I read the excerpt where Angel rejects Tess, and gaaaaaaah! He's basically the personification of Double Standards. Tess deserves SO much better than him. May I join the hate club? :D

Link me to the memes? I tried to look them up on tumblr, and all I get is a bunch of Cassandra Clare spam.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Well, they are quite lovely in the interlude before the marriage business goes down; reading the whole novel in its entirety makes me grumpy because if Hardy'd cut off right there at the dairy then everything would have been gorgeous and beautiful and tralala no bad things would have happened. (He was quite lovely up until then.) Of course that wouldn't have made such a good novel blah blah structure but it was pretty idyllic in the middle. And then Clare goes and ruins it >:(

The Angel Clare Hate Club is open to all members, in order to better facilitate the mission of HATING ON ANGEL CLARE. Do join!

It's not a series of meme but rather an panfandom anonmeme--fail_fandomanon. We totally need a meme that talks about the hateability of Angel Clare.