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bitletsanddrabbles · 6 years

Note

Not a ship, but characters: Elsie Hughes or Cora? Carson or Robert?

First off, and this is very important, I really love all of these characters. Truly. I would have been really upset if anything had happened to any of them. I say this, because I'm about to rag on one of them a bit. I will likely use words that, in our time period, are considered near-obscenities. This is not from dislike, but rather an academic examination of their faults, using proper language.

Secondly, I will undoubtedly refer to the shooting scripts with commentary by Julian Fellows. I bought the one for first season as reference for my fan fiction and bought seasons two and three because I loved the commentary so much! I am seriously beyond annoyed that the later seasons aren't available, in no small part because I suspect it would shed light on the problem of Henry's personality. Anyway, they're great and I highly recommend them.

Next, I apologize for any massive grammatical errors, logic jumps, and other such communication glitches. I don't really intend to spend hours revising this, and I suspect my eyes will be crossing by the end.

And lastly, get comfortable. Get some tea, maybe a snack. Use the loo. Make sure you have no urgent appointments.

You will be here awhile.

In fact, in the interest of not taking up your entire dashboard, here. Have a 'keep reading' cut.

Mrs. Hughes vs. Lady Grantham is a difficult call because they're ultimately such similar and yet different characters. They're both involved in running the estate, but Mrs. Hughes is more involved with the back end schematics and Lady Grantham is more involved in presentation to society as a whole. Some would consider Mrs. Hughes's job more important, and ultimately it might be, but at the turn of the century Lady Grantham's job was not to be underestimated, by any means. She was essentially the sales, marketing, and public representation departments all wrapped into one person. Mrs. Hughes was production.

They are also bother nurturing to their 'families': Cora to her daughters and husband and Mrs. Hughes to her staff. They both do this well.

At the end of the day, having to choose, it becomes a call between Cora's growth as a character, which is interesting, and Mrs. Hughes's stability as a character, which is necessary to allow the movement of everyone else. Steady anchor points are often overlooked in stories, but they are terribly important to keep things moving along and stop them from devolving into a three ring circus. While I enjoy Cora's growth immensely, I think I'm going to have to choose Mrs. Hughes for this one. Downton really would fall apart without her, even if her husband doesn't want to admit it.

Which brings us to the easy choice: Robert.

Hands down Robert.

Charles Carson is an entertaining and enjoyable character. As a human being, he is a basically good man, but is an unfortunate product of his society. Very unfortunate. He is, by dictionary definition (see here) a bigot. He's rarely willing to change his opinion on things, sometimes flat out refusing. Despite his protests to the contrary, he's rarely sympathetic with anyone. He doesn't realize how much the firm structure he requires for comfort hurts others and will deny it when pointed out unless something really, astonishingly bad happens. You know, like one of his underlings trying to kill himself.

When not being asked to choose characters, I'm willing to overlook all of this to a certain degree, because he is human and he does try. The harm he causes is almost entirely unintentional, and when it is intentional, it's generally caused by the belief that he needs to be firm to be a good leader. Show them who's in charge, allow no shenanigans, etc. This is how he was trained. It also hurts him as much as it hurts everyone else. I mean, who else is actively leery of having fun?

No, generally Mr. Carson is a curmudgeon whose bark is worse than his bite and, along with his wife, I love him for his good points and despite his copious glaring faults.

Robert Crawley still easily wins.

People really like to go on about Robert's faults and his prejudice. After all, he is a "privileged white man" and our society hates those. We don't want to understand them. Papers can (and have) been written about how prejudiced Robert is.

The thing is, and what I find more important, is how prejudiced Robert isn't. Seriously, for a privileged white guy at the turn of the twentieth century, he could be far, far worse (see Larry Grey). Here, let's take a look at a few things, shall we?

We'll start with something very general. We'll start with his response to change. There sure is a lot of it in this show! And let's be honest, change is stressful. A lot of people don't handle it well. It's actually quite understanding that Robert's not fond of it. Up until that time period, things had moved around rather slowly. There would be the occasional war or medical discovery. There were always new fashions. That 'industrial revolution' thing had happened and things had started going faster, but compared to today's world when a phone you've had for a year is an old model, time might as well have stood still.

Robert still handles this change with relative grace for his age and station. Okay, Matthew and Tom, both being younger, from more hands-on view points, and more in touch with the world handle it better, but Carson and Lady Violet both handle it worse. Especially Carson. Robert handles it like a horse who has had something new suddenly introduced to the paddock: he shies, he bucks, he might run a bit or kick out a time or two, but if you slowly lead him back around to this strange thing enough times, he eventually figures out "Oh, hey. This thing isn't really a big deal after all, is it?" And he accepts it - embraces it even, in some cases - and moves on.

This brings us to the first point of actual prejudice and the one he is most undeniably guilty of, classism. First off, people ignore the fact that classism runs both ways. Miss Bunting was probably the single most classist bigot of the show, followed by the Sinderby's butler, then Lady Violet (who, according to every poll I've seen, is the most popular character in the show). Robert's classism (as with most of his prejudice, honestly) is institutionalized rather than personal which doesn't make it okay, but does make it easier to understand and fight once it's attacked in a rational manner. In other words, yes, he pitched an ever loving fit when Sybil married the chauffeur, but he got over it. He went from "you will have no money!" to "...okay, you haven't asked for it, but the money thing can happen" far faster than Carson went from "I will not dress the former chauffeur!" to accepting "Branson is part of the family now”. Carson also didn't have the excuse of feeling like his daughter was actively being taken away from him, off to a different country, a different life, and that he had somehow failed as a parent, which is undoubtedly how Robert felt.

Admittedly, once started, it wasn't all forward progress, but the hiccups there were tended to be fairly legitimate. Grief over Sybil's death combining with the last vestiges of feeling like Branson had taken his daughter away from him. Finding out his son-in-law had abandoned his pregnant daughter in hostile territory after helping to burn down someone's house. I mean I understand why Branson was doing what he was doing, but having an arsonist in the house is something to worry about!

The other thing to note about this is that while Robert definitely believes in the class structure and holds to it and sees himself at the top, he actually values the people below him. The reason Mrs. Patmore was so panicked about her failing vision in season one and so relieved when Robert sent her for surgery rather than turn her out with a meager pension is because so many people wouldn't have. It would have been "thank you for your services, good luck" and that would be that. He sees employing people and making it so they can have a wage his job and when he started not being able to pay a competitive wage or replace people when they quit, he saw it as a personal failure. His decision had created the underbutler position and I don't think he was really happy to have to do away with it (and, observant and in touch with things as he isn't, I am positive he didn't realize how pushy Carson was being about the whole thing. I doubt he would have liked it). He shows up at everyone's weddings. His perception is skewed, but his heart is in the right place.

And speaking of Miss Bunting, there is the point of his not being able to produce Daisy's name on demand. He doesn't deal with Daisy on a regular basis, so he would absolutely be less aware of her than he would be of, say, Carson or the personal staff. However, he did attend her wedding and she has been there for fifteen years. So what makes more sense - that he honestly doesn't know her name or that he straight up blanked on it? I think the second. After all, I once spent probably fifteen minutes all told unable to remember the name of my oldest cousin. He knew her at her wedding, he certainly knew her at the auction in season six and after!, I'm pretty sure when not being put on the spot by someone aggressively vilifying him to his face, he'd do a bit better.

The next big prejudice covered by the show is religion. This is one Robert has, but not in the way you would expect. In a society that could be very anti-Semitic, he doesn't give a flying fig if you're Jewish. His father-in-law was a Jew. Lady Rose married a Jewish boy and there's no indication of disapproval from Robert what so ever. He does have a problem with Catholics and that, Julian Fellows explains, was largely a point of national patriotism. England, as a whole, did not trust a religion that answered to an Italian instead of the Kng. It was seen as something of a conflict of interest. Again, this doesn't make it alright, but it makes it understandable within the context of the society (especially when your Catholic son-in-law burnt down someone's house) and was really more political than anything.

There were more issues at play with Sybbie's being Catholic, of course. There was that whole grieving thing, again the lingering feeling that Branson had taken Sybil away, etc. As usual, though, once it was clear he was outnumbered and the change was happening, Robert set aside fears that his granddaughter might go burning houses if that Italian guy thought it was a good idea and got on with life.

(Seriously, this really does seem to be comparable, at least in the mindset of the English, to a modern day Englishman following the president of a different country rather than the Queen. Not necessarily terrible, but potentially so, especially if war breaks out and the two countries are suddenly on opposing sides. Treason is a thing that can be kinda messy.)

Then there's sexism. I honestly think Robert gets way more flack for this than he truly deserves. It's not that he isn't sexist at all (again, institutionalized sexism), but that most of his worst offenses are actually a combination of his being legitimately not-super-observant and the aforementioned "horse in paddock" syndrome. He is used to his family behaving in a certain way. He is also, as with Cora, part of the sales/marketing/pr department. He is concerned about what the neighbors think because he is expected to and people in this day and age just don't get how important that was. The thought that his family would be seen poorly was not just a threat to him and his masculine pride, but to them and their opportunities in life. A lot of his keeping them at home was honestly trying to protect them, even if it was also underestimating their abilities, and really - they were just discovering their abilities! How was he supposed to know all about it?

Suddenly the war happened and his wife and daughters started behaving differently. He was legitimately confused, and no wonder! Can you see season one Mary slopping pigs? Can you see season one Edith running a magazine? People really did think that things would go 'back to normal' after the war, but they didn't. The women in his life started moving without warning and left him struggling to cope with the unexpected change.

Once he circled back around enough times to realize this big, scary change really wasn't big or scary, he was proud of them. He was proud of Mary for taking on the task of agent. Heck, he was practically proud of her for growing up enough to have an affair with Tony Gillingham! He accepted Marigold without batting an eyelash and got to the point where he was pleased to call Edith an "interesting woman". He was really, really proud of Cora after Rose lured him, carrot in hand, to the hospital! He had never been more proud or the woman he loved.

And he loved her. She was the pillar holding him steady, and that is not just a pretty turn of phrase. One thing our society that has not changed one whit in the past hundred years is that men are supposed to be emotionally dependent on the women they are intimate with. There is huge pressure put on men to have a girlfriend or to be married, and it's not all machismo and Mummy dearest wanting grand kids, it's "this is the person you should talk to about your problems." This leads to emotional discussion being firmly linked, in the male view, with sex. Women, being encouraged to have friends to talk to, don't have that mental connection, and this causes a metric ton of relationship problems. So we come to his affair, if you want to call it that, with Jane (And honestly, while it nearly went beyond two kisses, I still think calling it an affair is giving it an awful lot of credit).

The war was over. Things were changing. While it might be socially permissible for him to discuss the politics of the changes with Bates or some other man, the resultant emotional turmoil was something Cora was, by societal standards, supposed to help him get through. For over half of his life, she had done just that. Now, he needed that emotional support and suddenly it wasn't there because his wife was off learning how to be useful and important. This was a great thing for her, and ultimately for them as a couple, but everything has consequences and the immediate consequence of this was that she didn't need to lean on anyone, he did, and he didn't have anyone. It is really rather unbecoming for a fifty year old man to go crying to his mother every time he needs bucking up.

Jane was young, pretty, was going through the rough transition of losing a spouse, was lonely as a result, and had a son, which appealed to Robert since he'd always wanted one. I seriously think he initially took an interest in her as much to take an interest in something as anything. Things got worse the longer he went without someone to talk to about his feelings, and she wasn't getting any less lonely or in need of someone to make her feel wanted. Then, finally, Cora got the flu. While it seems outrageous that he would have an affair with a maid while his wife was maybe dying, his wife maybe dying was why he badly needed the emotional support of his wife, which he in turn couldn't have because his wife was maybe dying. Again, at fifty, running to Lady Violet at this juncture would have been viewed as A Bit Much by a lot of people. The fact that those people were absolute prats from a modern view point doesn't change this.

So, while both his society and ours agree that having an affair at the time was wrong, the real question here is what his society would have considered right. Please do ring me up when you've figured out the answer, because honestly? I've no clue.

Of course, once Cora didn't die, he looked back at things, got his head on straight, and ended things with Jane like a gentleman. He did the right thing, in the end. I consider this to be a far more material point than the fact he didn't intuitively pull a graceful way to maneuver a situation that he had no real coping mechanism for out of his ear.

There is one prejudice that I've seen him assigned in fan fiction, and it pisses me off every time: homophobia. This is one prejudice that Robert has barely any of. Yes, it's there in his little chuckles with Bates, but honestly? Compared to Carson? Compared to Jimmy and Alfred and the police and parliament? A little chuckle in private that is meant without malice is hardly a complaint. Thomas isn't happy at Downton most of the time, but he's there. Other employers would have sacked him the second they put two and two together. Heck, left to his own devices and reasonably assured there would be no scandal, Carson probably would have sacked him. I am quite certain that at some point there was a conversation in which Robert brushed that concern off as absolutely no reason to sack a perfectly good footman. This doesn't mean he didn't make a hash of things on a regular basis, but that was more from not understanding the problem than actual malicious intent. If, for example, someone actually pointed out that in hiring Bates he'd basically told Thomas "I would rather have a normal man who will never be able to do his job than a filthy degenerate like you" I would expect him to balk ("I never said that!"), bolt ("Pff, none of the staff would think that!"), and then, when finally reaching the point of accepting it, feel absolutely terrible. He flat out lied to the police to keep the man out of prison, for crying out loud!

While he is not an advocate for gay rights, by any means, it is something that he is absolutely not fussed about.

He has other legitimate flaws. His temper. His passiveness in many situations. But he is a genuinely good man. He cares about his people and wants them to do well. He wants to protect them and provide for them and make their lives comfortable. He is genuinely interested in improving the world as a whole.

There are so many people you can not say that about, and many of them get far more credit.

And on that note, I am going to bed.

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bitletsanddrabbles · 7 years

Text

Dear Doctor

A series of letters between Thomas Barrow and Richard Clarkson, written while Thomas was at the Stiles’s. These were written with no aim except to help with a short piece I’ve been wrestling on and off with for over a year now.

Ultimately, they failed, but I’m posting them anyway to keep myself from picking at them and trying to turn them into something.

Fandom: Downton Abbey

Characters: Thomas Barrow, Doctor Clarkson

Relationships: General

September 30, 1925

Dear Dr. Clarkson,

As per your request, I am writing to let you know I arrived safely in Driffield and am settling into my new home. While Driffield itself is about the same size as Downton, the house is, needless to say, considerably smaller. It is actually about on par with the Dower house, both in size and population. My employers, Sir Mark and Lady Stiles, are both elderly and inclined to quiet living. I've spoken to the cook, Mrs. Jenkins, and the maid, Elsie, and am not expecting there will be much in the way of entertaining.

On the bright side, I suppose this means there won't be too many people poking into my private affairs. That will make things easier.

I look forward to having a lot of time to read. If you have any recommendations, feel free to share them.

Sincerely,

Thomas Barrow

October 5, 1925

Dear Thomas,

It was good to hear from you. Thank you for writing. I am glad to hear that you've arrived safely and that your new circumstances, if not as busy as they could be, should at least allow for plenty of relaxation. Hopefully your new coworkers, while few, will prove lively and make good friends. It is, after all, better to have a few good friends than a lot of bad ones.

I'm afraid I don't have much time for reading, outside of work, so my list of suggested books would be either very short or very dry. I could recommend some very good medical journals, if you like. I don't know how strong your interest in medicine is, now that the war is over.

Sincerely,

Dr. Richard Clarkson

October 8, 1925

Dear Dr. Clarkson,

Life is settling into a routine, as it does, I suppose. Unfortunately here the routine is a lot of nothing much. I have about a half day's worth of work and an entire day in which to do it. It's funny. I remember back before the war, Bates going on about how I'd like nothing more than a position where I had nothing to do but stand around. I can now say quite firmly that he was wrong. I'm about out of my mind with boredom.

That's not to say I'm about to do anything stupid or drastic. I'm not, I promise. It's just a bit...I suppose frustrating is the word. I had more to do as an underbutler. I had more to do as a footman. It seems that every time I think I'm actually moving forward in life, I'm somehow moving backwards instead.

I've already read through a small stack of books from the library. Admittedly, I'm a fast reader, but at this rate I'm going to have read everything in the house before I've been here a year. At least when I make it back to visit, I'll be able to give Molsley a run for his money.

Needless to say, I would very much appreciate any medical journals you might recommend. No need to waste all of that war training, after all.

Sincerely,

Thomas Barrow

October 13, 1925

Dear Thomas,

I am sorry to hear that things are not working out as well as you'd hoped. I can understand how feeling you're headed in the opposite direction of the one you want would be frustrating. I can only suggest that you give it time. You've been there less than a month, after all. You may discover there are local events that add a bit more interest. In the meantime, I am sending a list of recommended medical journals, along with a copy of this March's edition of the British Journal of Surgery. Somehow I received two copies, so there's no need to worry about returning it.

You said that your new house is about the size of the Dower house. I know you're not fond of asking for advice, but have you considered writing to Spratt and asking him what he does in his free time? I understand that Lady Violet has more visitors than your current employers, or she seems to at any rate, but Spratt is still likely to have more free time than Mr. Carson.

You might also ask some of your former coworkers. I met with Miss Baxter yesterday and she mentioned receiving a letter from you. It's good that you're keeping in touch with people here, for your sake and theirs. I'm certain you've been told this, but you have been missed.

If you're ever coming this direction, please let me know. I would enjoy being able to have lunch or tea together.

Sincerely,

Dr. Richard Clarkson

October 18, 1925

Dear Dr. Clarkson,

Thank you for the reading material. I think I will take out a subscription to the British Journal of Surgery. Found it very interesting. Elsie, the maid, found it interesting that I was interested, so it made for an evening's conversation as well. That was nice. Elsie's a pleasant enough girl, I suppose, although we don't have much in common. Nothing I feel comfortable admitting to, at any rate.

Sir Mark and Lady Stiles were invited up to Sledmere House for the day earlier this week, leaving me with almost an entire day to myself. I took the opportunity to go out to Bridlington for a couple of hours. It's a miserable time of year to visit the sea. It was raining, but the change of scenery was nice. Had lunch at a very nice little tea house. At least I'm earning a butler's salary, so I don't need to worry about treating myself occasionally. I suppose I never worried about it before, but it's the one thing about being in charge of a house that's living up to my expectations.

I wrote and asked Spratt about what I might do in my free time. All he said was “get a hobby”. I am not writing back and asking what sort of hobby he had in mind. I think Miss Denker mentioned he collects stamps at one point, but that doesn't sound terribly exciting, and I don't trust her word as far as I could throw it anyway. I think I'll stick to reading about the proper way to sew up a wound.

I hope you are well.

Sincerely,

Thomas Barrow

October 22, 1925

Dear Thomas,

While stamp collecting is a fine hobby, inarguably, I must confess I have never seen the appeal. I will not, therefore, blame you for passing on the opportunity to start. Reading seems a more enjoyable past time. You might also consider writing. While many people find writing reports and similar paperwork to be tedious, I've always found that it helps clear my mind and settle my thoughts. It seems like the sort of thing that might be well suited to your temperament.

I have not been to the sea for years. I remember loving it when I was a boy. Perhaps when the weather clears up I will find an opportunity to visit. If nothing else, I could stop off in Driffield on my way, if you have time for a visit.

If nothing else, I will need the holiday after this whole hospital merger nightmare. Fortunately things are settling down with the board, but these sorts of procedures are never as neat as they should be. I hope everything continue to go smoothly for you and that Christmas time, at least, has a bit more interest.

Sincerely,

Dr. Richard Clarkson

November 19, 1925

Dear Thomas,

It has been nearly a month since my last letter and I've not heard back from you. I would not be overly concerned, except that I bumped into Andrew this morning and he said no one at the house has heard from you either. I hope that you have simply become unexpectedly busy and that all is well. Do write, though, when you have time, and let me know if anything is wrong.

Sincerely,

Dr. Richard Clarkson

November 21, 1925

Dear Dr. Clarkson,

I'm sorry for the long stretch between letters, truly. I am. I have already written up to the house and assured everyone that I've simply been too busy to write. That is mostly true. The rest, I couldn't tell Baxter. It would worry her too much.

The truth is, I had a bit of a bad spell.

My employers had been talking about visiting relations the first week of November. It was their nephew's birthday, so they were going to be gone for at least three days. I had thought to surprise everyone by visiting Downton, unannounced. I'd have taken a room at the Grantham Arms for a night or two and had plenty of time to see everyone.

Two days before they were scheduled to leave, Lady Stiles started coughing. It was nothing but a bad cold, in the end, but at her age a bad cold can become bronchitis or pneumonia so very easily. There was no question of their making the trip. I hate to say that it wasn't so bad while she was ill, but I was busy. The local doctor had us watching her like a group of hawks (is there an actual term for that? I feel there must be, but I don't know it) and Sir Mark had us waiting on her hand and foot. Elsie was the one providing direct care, of course, but I was still busy.

Once she recovered, I started to feel off. I am still bored here. There's nearly no one to talk to. I think there are cemeteries that are more lively. And having lost that one opportunity to come and visit, particularly with the promise that the Stiles's will be staying home for Christmas, I began to question if I'd ever be able to visit. That's part of the reason I wanted to stay in Yorkshire, after all, so I could still see everyone. Here I'd been gone over a month and hadn't had time to more than write. I understand that a month isn't a very long amount of time, but it suddenly seemed like a year.

I was home sick.

There, I've said it. I don't know when Downton became home or when the other staff became more of a family than the one I grew up with, but there it is. I miss the children. I miss Baxter and Andrew and Mrs. Hughes and Anna. I even miss Mr. Carson going over my work like a Sergent, while Mr. Bates could get away with murder.

I'm lonely.

I was only starting to really pull myself out of it when your letter arrived. I'm sorry to have worried you, again, and thank you for caring. I really do appreciate it. And don't worry, now that my head's cleared a bit, I know I'll make it back to visit at some point.

I wish you the best, always.

Sincerely,

Thomas Barrow

November 21, 1925

Dear Dr. Clarkson,

Unfortunately the post had gone out before I'd had time to regret that last letter. I hope this one catches up to it.

I'm certain it sounded like I've spent the better part of the past month simply moping. I haven't, I just really haven't had the heart to write is all. I've continued to read. I did take out that subscription to the British Journal of Surgery and looked into a couple of your other recommendations.

Elsie and I actually went to the pictures together. We went to see the newest Chaney film. Turns out she likes scary stories. It was well done, although I preferred the book. This played up the horror a bit much for my taste. Left out the mystery and I didn't feel as connected to the characters. It was worth seeing, though, if you have time. It really is amazing how Chaney can do that to his face.

I hope things have been as dry in Downton as they have here. We all nearly froze on Guy Fawkes day, but at least the local events weren't rained out.

Sincerely,

Thomas Barrow

November 25, 1925

Dear Thomas,

I've some business in Beverly in the first week of December. I thought, if you had the time, that I might make a long drip of it and come for a brief visit.

I thank you for responding as quickly as you did to my last letter, but I will not pretend that they weren't concerning. Loneliness and homesickness are perfectly natural, of course, but they should not be left un-tempered if possible and there are only so many films released per year. I should like the opportunity to visit anyway. I have been curious what your thoughts on the last Journal were.

Sincerely,

Dr. Richard Clarkson

November 28, 1925

Dear Dr. Clarkson,

I can be available between the hours of eleven and one any day of the week, if you can provide one day's notice. I look forward to seeing you.

Sincerely,

Thomas

#downton abbey #downton abbey fanfiction #writing excercise #thomas barrow #dr. clarkson #letters

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