Favorite Characters: Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack)

I was intrigued by the idea of Gentleman Jack when I first heard the series was being created, since I love historical LGBTQ stuff, and Suranne Jones has had my fealty since she played the TARDIS in “The Doctor’s Wife.” But man oh man, do I love Anne on Gentleman Jack. A great character to scratch my costume drama itch in a way that I’ve rarely seen before (some spoilers.)

Anne Lister, a well-to-do young woman living in Victorian Yorkshire, assumes the running of her aunt’s estate, which she is due to inherit. Both her aunt and her father are ailing, and Anne takes it upon herself to be the head of her household, particularly where business is concerned. She thoroughly confuses the residents of Halifax by dealing with her tenants directly and undertaking a venture to sink her own coal pits when she realizes that the men she’s contracted to handle it for her have been skimming. No one there is used to women who talk about money or get their hands dirty, certainly not women who aren’t easily manipulated or flattered into backing down. Anne’s bluntness and ambition is hard for them to wrap their heads around.

On this front, I very much like that Anne has a definite learning curve to deal with. Yes, the men she approaches in business often underestimate her, but that doesn’t mean she never makes mistakes or that she’s always as self-assured as she presents herself. She takes both pride and pleasure in the great time and effort she spends learning new skills, from her studies of anatomy abroad to her crash course in the coal industry from a local advisor. She can be reckless and her gambles don’t always pay off, but she’s always prepared to put in the work needed to make what she feels is the soundest choice.

Of course, her boldness and business acumen aren’t the only things that turn heads wherever she goes. Anne is also a lesbian, one who wears skirts in the most masculine fashion possible and whose romantic exploits are widely whispered about in Halifax and beyond. Anne is lively and gregarious, often acquiring both lovers and casual friends on her extensive travels, but she also knows how some view her as a curiosity to be displayed and wondered at.

Most of her lovers leave her when they marry, and even for those who keep seeing her on the side, Anne knows the real score. She dreams of having a wife, a companion to take back to her manor house with her, and in her low moments, she regards her married lovers as cowards for giving into the societal expectation of marriage with men. But while it’s true that she is brave to live pretty openly as herself, she also has the benefit of being the heir to the family estate, financial independence that can allow her to make her own way in the world. And she knows that it isn’t just her own strength of character that keeps her forging her own path. Her lovers can blend into what society says women should be, how how they’re meant to look, but Anne has never been able to do that. She admits to Miss Walker that, if women were punished for homosexuality the way that men were, she would be condemned because she’d be incapable of hiding.

Really, she’s a woman with a lot of love and longing in her heart, and she at times uses her confidence and bravado to disguise it. She’s grabbed at life with both hands and had a wide array of experiences that most women in her era don’t dream at, and she’s glad for every single one of them, but she also dreams of a life at home, of living day to day with a woman who loves her and not apologizing for the simple blessing that everyone around her seems able to enjoy.

Relationship Spotlight: Anne Lister & Ann Walker (Gentleman Jack)

Before I get started, I realize that both the people I’m going to be talking about today are named Ann(e). To reduce the confusion of saying “Anne” and “Ann,” I’ll distinguish them this way: Anne Lister = “Anne,” Ann Walker = “Miss Walker.” I’m also aware that these were real people. However, for this post, I’ll be talking about them strictly within the context of the TV show – I don’t know enough about the real people to make any comments along those lines. Having dispensed with those preliminaries, here we go! (Anne-Miss Walker-related spoilers.)

At first blush, Anne’s decision to seduce Miss Walker feels both cavalier and a little obvious, and on some level, it is. If Anne is a swashbuckling intellectual of a well-traveled woman, leaving scandal and rumors in her wake wherever she goes, Miss Walker is presented as the epitome of Victorian femininity. With her china features, softspoken voice, and gentle demeanor, she fits well into “angel of the house” motifs, a “charming little wife” for anyone. True, she suffers from some sort of nervous complaint, but that can seem like just another way of showing how meek and fragile she is, prone to swooning and the like. And she’s rich to boot? When the two first meet, my brain went, Well, of course Anne is into Miss Walker.

But quickly, things become less straightforward than that. Anne is a player, no doubt, and she helpfully narrates to the camera in early episodes just how she plans to entice the virginal Miss Walker into falling in love with her. However, it’s soon apparent that Miss Walker isn’t just a conquest to Anne, a perfect Victorian prize for her collection. Anne puts the moves on Miss Walker, but Miss Walker captivates Anne without even trying, more than the very independently-minded Anne would probably care to admit. It’s clear in the unstudied way she lights up and, occasionally, starts to babble when she’s around Miss Walker. That’s no play – Anne is smitten.

This is why Anne’s love for Miss Walker puts her at her most vulnerable. Over the course of the season, Anne is increasingly interested in forging as much of a marriage with Miss Walker as she is allowed to have, and Miss Walker’s hesitation absolutely wrecks her. She expresses it in anger more often than grief, but it’s clear in no uncertain terms that Anne views a secure future with Miss Walker as everything she needs, and she can’t bring herself to settle for anything less than that.

In turn, I love how quickly and deeply Miss Walker comes to care about Anne. While other people regard Anne as a curiosity, either to gawk at, puzzle over, or be entertained by, Miss Walker thinks Anne is simply wonderful. She’s utterly taken by Anne’s confident stride and the handsome figure she cuts, defending Anne against anyone who’d titter about her in private. In LGBTQ stories, we so often see masculine gay men and feminine gay women held up as the ideal, and so it delights me to see a Victorian butch like Anne being wholly desired by her gentle feminine lover.

We also see there’s more to Miss Walker than meets the eye. It can’t be denied that she isn’t as eager to throw over societal conventions as Anne; she worries about how things appear, and she agonizes over her immortal soul when a so-called friend casts aspersions on her relationship with Anne. But that doesn’t make Miss Walker weak. She’s survived a great deal before she meets Anne and has been carrying immense burdens entirely alone, and even if Anne perhaps helps her bring it out, the strength that Miss Walker pulls out of herself is there, waiting for her to recognize it. Her choice to be with Anne despite what society tells her is monumental precisely because Miss Walker puts so much stake in it. In choosing love, she realizes how much she’s going against, but she still chooses it anyway.