I've watched and have taped all the PBS Downton Abbey series and I love them. For the most part.
What a great quote on marriage came from Season Four's January 19 program. Lord Grantham is trying to console his valet whose wife has pulled away from him (the valet) due to a rape she's kept secret. The valet is hurting. He has no idea what has happened. Here is Lord Grantham's wonderful counsel.
"There's no such thing as a marriage between two intelligent people that does not at sometime have to negotiate thin ice. You must wait until things clear and they will. The damage cannot be irrepable when two people love each other as much as you two do."
HOORAH! So true, so true, if my 40-plus years of marriage experience counts for anything.
But...I have to admit as a southern USA born and raised romance writer, I've found a lack of ardor in the English gentlemen heroes! After all, I have to compare them to our American romantic heroes like Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, or Tyrone Power, to mention a few. Now I've aged myself!
For example, get this scene also in the January 19, 2014, Season Four movie.
Mary, emerging from her year-long widowhood, has attracted a new handsome, rich beau who has fallen head over his polished heels for her. She seemed to be responding to him on a couple of outings. Now they are out on a walk alone on the grounds of Downton Abbey. He asks her to marry him, even if he has to wait a year or two for her to be ready. They are standing about a foot or two apart and looking into each other's faces. He tells her poetically that she totally fills his mind.
Mary replies, "But that's just it, Matthew still fills my mind and I don't want to lose him."
The next thing just blew my warm, southern romantic mind. This lily-livered English gentlemen, STILL a foot or two away, then ASKS her if he can kiss her, in order to have at least one great memory to carry with him.
Can you, my American friends, in your wildest imagination, ever dream of Clark Cable asking Scarlet, "May I kiss you, my dear? I want at least one good memory to take with me."
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Rhett Butler to Scarlett O'Hara: "What you need is kissing and plenty of it by someone who knows how."
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Can you imagine pirates Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power asking ANY heroine they are in love with this kind of question when what the antsy heroine needs is to be clasped in the hero's arms and given an unforgetable kiss that will make her knees buckle and blot all thoughts of any other man clear out of her mind? Don't you just long for Mary to receive such a kiss? As wonderful as Matthew was, it is TIME to move on. He's been deceased over a year.
Now, that I've expressed my romance-writer, woman-married-to a warm-Southern-hero mind, what is your opinion? Would you like to join with me in sending the writer of the series, Julian Fellowes, a message?
Something like: "Hey, why don't you bring a warm-blooded, AMERICAN Navy Seal or cowboy or law officer or any type of Carolinian CHRISTIAN hero into the story to really sweep Mary off her stilted boots?"
And it wouldn't hurt if he looks a little like Peter Facinelli...
And it would be WONDERFUL if he has the Christian integrity, strength and fervor of Tim Tebow.
What do you think? I would love to know your thoughts. Do you think this "American hero" also needs to be wealthy? Leave a comment and even a photo of someone you recommend for this part!
Thanks for stopping by!
Elva Cobb Martin
Elva Cobb Martin is a freelance writer, Bible teacher and grandmother. She is president of the American Christian Fiction Writers new South Carolina Chapter. She has been published in Decision, Charisma, and Home Life and is currently working on an inspirational romance novel. Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina, with her husband and high school sweetheart, Dwayne. You can connect with her through her web site at www.elvamartin.com , on Face Book and Twitter @Elvacobbmartin. Or leave a comment below on this blog!
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