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When I was a schoolchild I was puzzled by the idea of a flawed hero, such as Shakespeare's King Lear; when I was a young adult I was puzzled by the idea that as a successful author I had to create a flawed hero of a novel, who had to have a weak point. Why was this necessary? Why was it considered realistic?
After investigating the lives of heroes for a book of quotations, and some people for speeches, I was struck by how many heroes and heroines had been affected by:
Setbacks Before Success
1 The loss of next of kin (such as a parent, spouse, child, beloved grandparent, colleague). Even newspaper articles about successful singers, comedians, authors, actors and pop stars, often add harrowing tales, despite their youth. To give a few examples, Abraham Lincoln lost next of kin and failed in government.
2 Financial or career setbacks. Millionaires frequently have terrible setbacks, losing money at the start, or rising to success and then losing everything.
3 Poor health or death from nasty events. (Pop stars such as Amy Winehouse, dying from drugs and drink whether suicide or accidental; horrific car accidents; or deaths from disease, real or suspected - such as Disraeli, Hitler, and did Mrs Beeton die from complications from childhood or from something caught from her husband? See her biographies.)
Now I look at the life stories of many musicians and artists. The painter Van Gogh who cut off his own ear was, in simple, frank, colloquial language, simply nuts. Artists lived with misfortunes inflicted from outside or self-inflicted and mixed with and painted people you might not wish to meet in real life. Toulouse Lautrec was injured as a child, stunted, and painted women who were prostitutes. (Most respectable women would not pose for nude photos.)
In modern times Olympic heroes lose their status after it is found that they took drugs. Rolf Harris has lost his place. We are quick to knock down statues of modern dictators. Yet we are horrified that vandals destroyed the noses of Roman statues and ancient Egyptian rules destroyed their predecessors works.
Where am I going with this? How is it relevant to the statues of women? I was reading about the controversy concerning the statue of Mary Wollenstonecraft.
Mary Wollenstonecraft and Mary Shelley
She was an unmarried mother. She inspired feminists. Her daughter was equally famous Mary Shelley.
Byron
Our heroes such as the poet Byron were equally flawed characters. Yet we allow their contribution to literature or politics to over-rise our displeasure or controversy over their personal lives.
Boadicea
My first female statue in London would be Boadicea. She was controversial. If you believe she existed, that she mutilated her body, that she and / or her followers committed suicide rather than be captured (again) by Romans.
Most of historical figures are pretty controversial. As a tourist, enjoy the list of statues might add to your souvenirs, your record of your visit or tour around London and the UK:
Beeton
Why is there no statue of Mrs Beeton in Hatch End? Somebody please start a campaign. Every time you read a recipe with the list of ingredients at the start you are benefitting from the system and pattern which she established.
Top Ten Statues
Top ten statues or monuments, plaques or markers of women in London and England
1 Boadicea (fought the Romans)
2 Mary S e a c o l e (Crimean war, see my previous post)
3 Queen Victoria (statues worldwide). See portraits of royals in the National Portrait Gallery.
4 Edith Cavell, nurse executed in WWI, by national Portrait Gallery and National Gallery, near Trafalgar Square
5 Florence Nightingale, Crimean war nurse, lady with the lamp, outside St Thomas's Hospital, looking across the Thames river to Parliament
6 Violette Szabo, Albert Embankment, SEI (WWII heroine, spy, see film about her)
7 Amy Winehouse (singer songwriter, Stables Market, Camden, London)
8 Emmeline Pankhurst, Millbank, SW1
9 Anne Frank memorial in London's Hyde Park (house and statue in The Netherlands)
10 Princess Diana (Fountain)
Plaques in London
1 Mrs Beeton plaque in Hatch End
Statues Outside London
Jane Austen statue in Bath
Homes of Famous Women
1 Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Stratford upon Avon
2 Beatrix Potter, Lake District
3 Haworth Parsonage, Yorkshire (The Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne - also see their portrait in the National Portrait Gallery)
Tuesday 18 October, ITV programme , 10.40 pm, In the Shadow of Mary S e a c o l e
She was featured in a Google headline.
Many other women are commemorated with names and institutions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Amy_Winehouse
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mary-wollstonecraft-frontrunner-of-feminism-may-get-a-statue-at-last-a6914626.html
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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