With the long-awaited premiere of Season 3 of "Downton Abbey" on PBS tonight, I thought some of you might be interested in this post that I wrote last year, about some interesting parallels in several
of the storylines between "Downton Abbey" and the OUTLANDER books.
* * * SPOILER WARNING!! * * *
Spoilers for Season 2 of "Downton Abbey" below.
If
you're sensitive to spoilers, don't read below unless you have seen
Episode 6 of "Downton Abbey" Season 2.
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1) Lady
Sybil abandoning her upper-class upbringing, wealth, and a life of
luxury in order to marry Branson, the chauffeur. There are many
similarities to the Dottie-and-Denny storyline in AN ECHO IN THE BONE. I
was surprised and pleased to see Lord Grantham, in Episode 6, let Sybil
go with his blessing, and enough money so they won't starve. I wonder
what Hal's reaction will be, in MOHB, to the news that his daughter
Dottie has decided to turn Quaker and marry Denny Hunter?
2) Ethel,
the former housemaid with a bastard child. Watching Episode 6, I was struck by the choice Bryant's father gave her: he
would take the child and raise it as his heir, in a life of wealth and
privilege, but she would never see her son again. I couldn't help
thinking that Brian Fraser, too, was the bastard son of a housemaid,
acknowledged by the laird (the Old Fox, Lord Lovat). It's all too easy
to picture Lord Lovat giving Brian's mother precisely the same choice.
3)
The marriage of Daisy and William, when William lay dying from his war
injuries, seems very reminiscent of the deathbed scene in DRAGONFLY IN
AMBER, when Mary Hawkins marries Jonathan Randall. Daisy doesn't love
William, doesn't particularly want to be married to him, but allows
herself to be talked into it, and in the process, she presumably gains
some amount of financial security, by taking advantage of his military
pension. I think the same is true of Mary Hawkins.
4)
Lady Sybil's attempt to elope with Branson, in Episode 5, by fleeing to
Gretna Green, just across the border in Scotland. Those of you who
have read THE SCOTTISH PRISONER will recognize the similarities to
Isobel's attempt to elope with Wilberforce, the lawyer. (Of course it
was a much more arduous journey to get to Gretna Green in 1760 than in
1918!) And Lady Mary gets there just in the nick of time, just as Jamie
did in SCOTTISH PRISONER.
5) Cora (Lady Grantham),
Lord Grantham's American-born wife, like Claire, is an outlander, who
has made a home and a life for herself in England. I loved Robert's
line to Cora: "If you're turning American on me,
I'll go downstairs." <g>
6) In some ways, the Dowager Countess reminds me of Jocasta Cameron.
Consider, for example, her reaction to the idea of Downton Abbey being turned into a hospital for wounded soldiers:
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I think it's a *ridiculous* idea.
Lady Sybil Crawley: Why?
Dowager Countess: Because this is a house, not a hospital.
Lady Mary Crawley: Granny, a convalescent home is where people rest and recuperate.
Dowager Countess: But if there are relapses. What then? Amputation in the dining room? Resuscitation in the pantry?
Or
an autopsy in the garden shed in the dead of night, like we saw in THE
FIERY CROSS? <g> It's probably just as well that Jocasta
never found out about that. I think she would have been appalled at the
idea. On the other hand, she did let Claire operate on John Quincy
Myers on her dining room table, in full view of a roomful of guests, in
DRUMS OF AUTUMN.
I think these two women, with their powerful personalities, have a lot in common. But I have to say, I much prefer the Dowager Countess's sense of humor and way with words. <g>
7)
And finally, because I can't help thinking of this every time I lay
eyes on the man: Dan Stevens, who plays Matthew Crawley, looks very
much like my mental image of a young Lord John, possibly as he looked
around the time of BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE or SCOTTISH PRISONER. What do you think?
I'm very much looking forward to the new season of "Downton Abbey"! It should be fun. <g>