The Woman in White, some BSG recs, and statistics
You know, I've yet to encounter a version of The Woman in White, except for a German tv miniseries, which does not change one crucial plot element. (The Woman in White, dear readers, is a Victorian mystery/thriller written by Charles Dickens' pal Wilkie Collins, the Thomas Harris of his day, who was a rather unorthodox gentleman living with two
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They changed that? I don't consider it so hard to understand, especially if the audience is *told* the gentleman would lose his status, his property and his money to a legitimate heir (no matter how distant, or to the Crown/government). That seems reason enough for motivation.
In these productions with the substitution of a rape - is this rape a witnessed thing? I mean, a servant's word against a gentleman in those days - the gentleman could easily destroy the character of his accuser in public.
I don't know if this was true or common practice, but Michael Crichton in The Great Train Robbery made mention of male sufferers of sexual diseases searching out virgins since having sex with a virgin was a spurious cure for those ailments. The scene in the book had a young but experienced prostitute selling her 'virginity' to a gentleman in need of a cure. (The movie substituted Leslie Ann Down's character for this act, which did not even near completion. Nor ( ... )
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In these productions with the substitution of a rape - is this rape a witnessed thing? I mean, a servant's word against a gentleman in those days - the gentleman could easily destroy the character of his accuser in public.Exactly! One of the film versions (the one with the 12, 13 years old Anne raped as backstory) had her writing about it and depositing the pages in the late Mrs. Fairlie's coffin (as a substitution for the church registry proving Glyde was illegitimate, plot-wise, for the showdown). The ALW musical had Anne raped at age 16 and pregnant, but neither case provided a witness other than herself, in which case, as I said above, Sir Percival would never have worried ( ... )
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If Anne *hadn't* been a servant, if she'd been, say, a relative of the next-in-line (young wife?). But then it wouldn't be Collins' story, even if the accuser had the status to back up her allegations and make them a hard threat. (Would a society woman break silence, though?)
The history buff thing. I've never seen a production of Pride and Prejudice that *didn't* have the entailed estate mentioned, meaning that the sisters would be destitute once their father died. That seems to work there; people recognize the dilemma.
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Yes, doing what, making what kind of money to live on? After having been trained to be ladies only.
Same thing sort of applies to gentlemen, since some levels of society had gentlemen who did not work, per se. Managing their estates, if they did, yes. But professions?
Enough people have read Jane Eyre to get some idea of the status of governesses. (Especially the scene where the ladies of society mock Jane/governesses within earshot as if her listening in accounted for nothing.) Then again, maybe because of Jane Eyre there's a romantic air about that profession.
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(Much like you can differ between the description of nurses pre-Florence Nightingale - vulgar women with a penchant for drinking, a la Sarah Gump as written by Charles Dickens - and post-Nightingale nurses - angels of mercy.)
But Jane Eyre the novel changed all that, and yes, I think ever after, there was an aura of romance around the profession. Which Charlotte, who after all knew as did her sisters that teaching wasn't one bit romantic because she had tried it herself, probably never intended...
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