Describe Aurora from "Aurora Leigh"

I think this doll, to the right, is the perfect representation of Aurora - the blowsy hair, the blue eyes, the moody/affected disinterest, and the pose is perfect. Like a Tim Burton, Nightmare Before Christmas-version of the character.

Aurora is smart, idealistic, naive, rebellious, and reflective. She has to be quiet in front of others, like the vicar and her aunt's friends, but she has a very lively mind that finds expression through poetry (her father's, by the way: since the books and poetry belonged to her father, it's another way of identifying herself as his daughter and tying herself closer to him).

She has an active, playful side that clearly makes her aunt very uneasy because, to her, it's an unfeminine, wild quality. Any wildness or expression of liveliness must be tempered to something more acceptable; anything not English must be ironed smooth within Aurora, though the niece makes this kind of work hard for the aunt. Ultimately, it doesn't appear to be very successful work.

Aurora also feels very much like an outsider, even though she never belonged anywhere in the first place. Born to a grieving father who never recovers the shock of losing his wife, she spent most of her childhood in solitude with said sad father, then with her aunt in England as the obedient niece.

And here's a LINK to a great Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry skit (related because it is a skit about the Brownings).