Hope

Charity Hope Valentine is the proverbial “bad girl” with the heart of gold in this 1966 Broadway musical, later made into a movie in 1969 (and initially based upon Federico Fellini’s 1957 movie, Nights of Cabiria). Charity is a “dance-hall hostess” who works at the Fan-dango and probably holds the world’s title for “Girl with the Worst Luck with Men”. She falls for them over and over, and they repay the kindness by duping and dumping her, over and over. For some reason, our Sweet Charity is endlessly optimistic about her romantic chances, always feeling that the right guy is just around the corner. Well, he isn’t exactly around the corner – he’s in the elevator with her when they are both stuck in mid-passage. Oscar is a jazz-loving accountant who soon declares his love for Charity. Charity finds herself falling for Oscar, but rightly suspects he might look a little askance at her profession. When she does confess, after having quit her job, Oscar assures her that it makes no difference to him whatsoever. Right. We can tell you how that worked out. Oscar pulls the same trick (no pun intended) as all the other men in her life, only without their flair or panache. After all, his name is Oscar and he is an accountant. Good riddance. Charity, of course, picks herself up and goes on her way, perhaps not quite so merrily. After all, she is sans man and job, but she is a plucky sort, and we know she’ll make it. And with a name like Charity Hope Valentine, we’re rooting for her!

Jefferson Hope is a pivotal character in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1887 novel, A Study in Scarlet, the book in which Sherlock Holmes makes his debut appearance. While investigating the murders of two men in London, Drebber and Stangerson, Holmes makes his brilliant deductions, which lead to Jefferson as the murderer. Jefferson is a good man, who had fallen in love with Lucy Ferrier years earlier in the Utah Territory in the United States. Lucy, unfortunately, has been raised a Mormon and is forced to choose a husband from that religion, either Drebber or Stangerson. Jefferson spirits her and her father out of Salt Lake City, but while he is foraging for food, Lucy’s father is killed and Lucy herself is kidnapped and forcibly married to Drebber. Lucy dies shortly thereafter of a broken heart, and Jefferson plots his revenge, following the two men to England and doling out their just desserts. When Holmes’ trail leads to Jefferson Hope, Jefferson gladly affirms his suspicions. Jefferson is ready to accept the consequences of law for his crimes of honor, but his own poor health metes out death before justice can; Jefferson dies with a smile of peace on his face.

We cannot find any significant literary characters by the name of Hope