A real hero is needed to be Brown's role model

Jul 14 2008 By Sarah Evans

It is hard to find anyone who wants our country to be run by Heathcliff, the anti-hero of Emily Bronte's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights.

Ever since our Prime Minister, apparently with no shade of irony, acceded to the suggestion by a New Statesman journalist that many women saw him as a Heathcliff figure, media commentators have been exposing the dangers in such a role model.

The general consensus is that it must be a long time since Gordon Brown read the novel, and some speculation that the closest he may have got to it is the classic Laurence Olivier 1939 film adaptation.

Indeed, most newspapers have published photographs of the dashing young Olivier as Heathcliff next to the 50-something Gordon Brown.

The Prime Minister did add that he could be considered "an older Heathcliff, a wiser Heathcliff".

We see Heathcliff age during the course of the novel and it cannot be generally regarded as an improvement in terms of positive leadership qualities.

Wisdom is not a virtue for which the world of Wuthering Heights has much time. Gordon Brown pointed us in the direction of his wife to provide a reference on his romantic qualities.

It begs the question of what Cathy or Isabella would have said about Heathcliff's capacity for romance. Cathy would have stopped eating for weeks at the very thought.

Claiming affinity to literary creations is a dangerous game. Self delusion is a common human attribute and people can't be relied on to explain what sort of person they are in normal circumstances never mind when they have their sights always fixed on public image.

In fact people can't be relied on for very much at all as another news story last week demonstrated. Memory and the Law, published by the British Psychological Society, is no arid piece of academic research.

It is aimed at those working in the justice system who have to make life changing judgments on a daily basis which involve evaluations of memory based evidence.

The report sought to show that the reliability of memory varies according to the age of the witness, the kind of events recalled and how long ago they took place. People genuinely believe they are giving an accurate account of events but they simply are not.

Maybe literature is just as real as the stories we tell each other and ourselves, believing they are the truth.

So back to Heathcliff. If not he, what fictional character should run the country?

Family and friends sat over our supper table and considered. Batman and Long John Silver were dismissed pretty rapidly as not having the required skills in long-term conflict resolution. Kurz, of Heart of Darkness, was considered too controversial.

Because I am sure male models are too last millennium to be helpful in terms of leadership, I was keen to find a few women.

Even I found it hard.

If you think Heathcliff is a bit on the obsessive side for a PM, the female characters created by women tend to make him look quite wishy-washy in the introspective stakes.

Think Charlotte Bronte, Virginia Woolf ,Rebeccca West, Alice Walker, Sarah Waters.

Male novelists produce virtually no appropriate women -"Telling", I say, "That's how it is," responds my husband.

We considered Nancy in Oliver Twist but she is too on the Heathcliff line. I think Betsy Trotwood, David Copperfield's aunt, is a strong contender.

Then there are a number of possibilities among Shakespeare's heroines. Both Portia and Viola are well up to the task. Paulina from A Winter's Tale would be an interesting choice.

My favourite is Anne Elliot of Persuasion. Outstanding at conflict resolution, she gets on with her duty regardless of whether anyone recognises the fact.

She is a realist with strong views on debt avoidance. She is extremely reliable in a crisis, able to give directions and make excellent judgments.

She will listen and observe rather than talk, dominate and generally show off.

But there are not many about so perhaps we need to cherish our Prime Minister a bit more.