Originally Posted by Karen 17th January 2006


"Bless me! thought I, what thing is man, that thus
In all his shapes, he is ridiculous?
Ourselves with noise of reason we do please
In vain: humanity's our worst disease."

Rochester, from 'Tunbridge Wells'


If Rochester said in "Tunbridge Wells" that "humanity's our worst disease."

Taking it a step in another direction, what do you think was Rochester's BEST disease? Meaning, what do you think was his best quality? What was the part of Rochester that you liked best, based on what Mr. Lamb tells us?

Sddeb


I will be short and too the point. What I liked about him was just what Johnny says about him. His honesty. He was also rather humorous at times.

Deppraved


I like to think his best quality was his passion for romance and the arts. He seemed to only be able to connect with the world via verse.

His honesty was also a great quality, but he sometimes chose to use it to alienate people. Truth is subjective.

Nurseanne8


I liked his sense of independence in an era when personal freedom was not allowed due to the monarchy and the church. I could see him having a "great" time expressing disagreement with the current adminsitration's foreign policies.

Pamela


It is so difficult, at least for me, to separate this character from Johnny. But I think, like Johnny, that Rochester had a knack for seeing people for who the really were, for cutting through the layers of BS.

I think it was in the IAS interview when Johnny is asked what his internal dialogue is and he answers, "F*** it, just F**** it." I think that was pretty much the same attitude that the Earl had.

Whitehall


I admire Lord Rochester most for his 'independence'. By that I mean that he was never swayed by what was popular or who could do him the most favor - he had the courage to say what he saw as ridiculous or lewd, and he had the intelligence to constantly wish to keep learning and exploring.

Rochester chose to take the 'Road Less Traveled'. That made him an outcast of a sort in his society.... Just as it makes many of us outcasts in our society today.