Appearance and Personality
The novel describes Fuchsia as "a girl of about fifteen with long, rather wild black hair. She was gauche in movement and in a sense ugly of face, but with how small a twist might she not suddenly have become beautiful. Her sullen mouth was full and rich -- her eyes smoldered."
Fuchsia is a dreamer and a romantic, who escapes the dull pace of life in Gormenghast by reading fantasy tales. She frequently disappears into her secret attic rooms to fantasize and sulk. She scrawls on walls with charcoal and makes such wild claims as, "When I am Queen, I am going to burn down the castle!", which upsets the aged Nannie Slagg. Lady Fuchsia Groan will never become Queen; but her fantasies of romance and adventure seem to keep her forever young. She responds to everything with childlike enthusiasm; and, beneath her callous and bratty exterior, she is sweet and loving. She loves her father, though she barely knows him; and, during his slow descent into madness, she often says she "cannot bear" to see him this way. She also has an enduring friendship with Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor, the Gormenghast physician. What Fuchsia seems to want most is someone to love her. Actress Neve McIntosh said of the character, "She locks herself in her attic where she lives in her imagination. All she wants is a knight in shining armor to come up to the castle tower and carry her off." Fuchsia's favorite drink is elderberry wine .
Read more about this topic: Fuchsia Groan
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