"It's a changing world." - Bill Molesley
In the new Season 4 of the popular British show Downton Abbey, new plots and crazy schemes are cooking up with the new episodes, new guest stars, new love interests, fresh drama, and great tragedy! The last season ended on the shocking note of the death of Lady Mary's husband, Matthew in World War I, and the new season started 6 months after. The first episode of the new season starts by showing the different parts of Downton Abbey and introducing the audience to a buzzing staff and a grieving Lady Mary. For my inquiry, I 'closely read' the first 30 minutes of this episode for observations and inferences. While watching, I found two main ideas I wanted to focus on for my inquiry project; the way different characters were affected by Matthew's death and how the death affected the balance of power in the abbey. I chose to focus on these issues because the emotions and power-to-resistance dynamic going on within the abbey really stood out to me from the moment the episode started. I noticed how different characters grieved for Matthew in different ways such as Mrs. Crawley staying very reserved while Lady Mary was completely cold and made her feelings quite clear to the people around her. Also, I noticed how Lord Grantham chose to move on from the death and even use it as an opportunity to grab control of the abbey from an oblivious Lady Mary. Overall, Matthew's death negatively affects Donwnton Abbey by causing emotional problems for different characters and by disrupting the balance of power in the abbey.
First, Matthew's death negatively affects the different characters in the abbey. For example, Matthew's death has the biggest negative affect on Lady Mary. She becomes very moody, depressed, snappish, spacey and in her own world. But Matthew's death gives Mary more than just a bad attitude; it's put a strain on her relationship with her family. When Matthew was alive, Mary and her sister Edith were much closer and even though they weren't 'best friends', they talked to each other and had lively conversations. Now, Lady Mary can't stand to see her sister Edith happy with her boyfriend because she sees Edith having the romance she can't ever have without Matthew. Also, Matthew's death puts a big strain on Lady Mary's relationship with her son, baby George. When they were together, Matthew brought out a light and a great joy in Lady Mary. Before she was with Matthew, Lady Mary was very stubborn and didn't have a lot of fun. Matthew inspired and empowered Mary and made her feel like she was invincible. Having a child with Matthew was Mary's dream, but without Matthew, Mary doesn't know how to care for George. She doesn't show joy anymore and she doubts her abilities as a single mother. When I was watching, I noticed that Mary was letting the nanny take care of her son as if the nanny were the mother and Mary even called George a "poor little orphan", implying that she, herself, was not alive anymore emotionally though she was physically. This shows how Mary is very resistant to be a mother because she's so consumed by grief that she doesn't know how to suddenly jump into the whole new world of caring for an infant. To continue, Matthew's death negatively affects his mother, Mrs. Crawley by making her lose her self-confidence. In the episode, Mrs. Crawly said she was "getting used to not being a mother". Having lost both her husband and now her son, Mrs. Crawly has given up on her old ways of being as helpful as she can and always having an opinion. I noticed that Mrs. Crawley had similar feelings of grief to Lady Mary but they were both affected by Matthew's death in different ways. While Lady Mary made her emotions very clear, Mrs. Crawley tried to keep her grief on the inside, and not cause any trouble for anyone else at the abbey. Overall, Matthew's death negatively affects the different characters in different ways by causing both individual grief and straining character relationships.
Furthermore, Matthew's death negatively affects the power situation in the abbey by disrupting the balance of power. For a very long time, Lord Grantham had complete financial and business control of the abbey until Matthew came and they had to share control. I noticed that now that Matthew's shares of the estates have been passed down to baby George, Lord Grantham sees an opportunity to take control of the whole abbey again. George's estate shares are controlled by his guardian until he is of a certain age. And with Lady Mary so consumed with grief, Lord Grantham sees the perfect opportunity to grab power again by taking control of George's estate shares while Lady Mary is oblivious to what's going on. He makes subtle attempts to push Mary to 'stay in bed' or 'not bother herself' to attend the abbey's business meetings. This shows how without Matthew helping to run the abbey, the balance of power is disrupted because Matthew's estate shares being up for grabs has caused Lord Grantham to become greedy. He becomes so taken with power that he's willing to undermine his daughter to control the abbey. In addition, I noticed that certain characters were resisting Lord Grantham's power grab and rising above their usual place of silence by encouraging Lady Mary to take an interest in the abbey affairs. One character I noticed doing this was Lady Grantham. She argued in defense of Lady Mary to her husband to give Mary her rightful place in control even though Lady Grantham is usually an outsider to the abbey's business. Another character trying to help keep Lady Mary in power was Tom Branson, Lady Sybil's husband. Tom was very eager to help Lady Mary gain control of George's estate shares because he knew she could do great things to preserve the land and hold on to Matthew's ideas of economizing and modernizing the abbey. All of this shows how Matthew's death disrupts the balance of power because it causes Lord Grantham to become greedy and then forms a chain reaction of other characters rising up against him to give Mary control of George's estate shares. Overall, Matthew's death negatively affects the power situation by disrupting the balance of power in the abbey family.
In conclusion, Matthew's death negatively affects Downton Abbey by causing emotional problems for different characters and by disrupting the power balance in the abbey. Matthew's death consumes Lady Mary with grief, separating her from her loved ones, and makes Mrs. Crawley doubt herself. The death also disrupts the balance of power in the abbey and causes different characters to rise up to fight for who they want to control George's estate shares. When I was closely reading the episode, I noticed something very important in the first few minutes; I noticed that when the Dowager Countess is visiting Matthew's grave with her friend Bill Molesley, Bill says, "..it's a changing world." and she replies, "You don't have to tell me." I think that the idea of the "changing world" refers to the changes in the micro, or the personal emotional hardships of the individual characters and character relationships. And the phrase also refers to the changes in the macro, or the balance of power and control over the abbey. Both the "changing world" of the micro and the macro are connected because of Matthew's death, which affects both the individual characters and the control of the abbey. The "changing world" is also a direct reference to the actual time period the show is taking place in, which was in the year right after World War I in around 1919 when England is changing or adjusting to life after the war. And the financial aspect or power situation of the abbey was a part of that normalization. To summarize, Matthew's death is the connection between the changing world outside the abbey, which relates to the power situation being affected, and the changing world inside the abbey, which was how the different characters were affected by the death. All in all, Matthew's death creates big changes in Downton Abbey by emotionally affecting characters and disrupting the balance of power over the abbey.
In conclusion, Matthew's death negatively affects Downton Abbey by causing emotional problems for different characters and by disrupting the power balance in the abbey. Matthew's death consumes Lady Mary with grief, separating her from her loved ones, and makes Mrs. Crawley doubt herself. The death also disrupts the balance of power in the abbey and causes different characters to rise up to fight for who they want to control George's estate shares. When I was closely reading the episode, I noticed something very important in the first few minutes; I noticed that when the Dowager Countess is visiting Matthew's grave with her friend Bill Molesley, Bill says, "..it's a changing world." and she replies, "You don't have to tell me." I think that the idea of the "changing world" refers to the changes in the micro, or the personal emotional hardships of the individual characters and character relationships. And the phrase also refers to the changes in the macro, or the balance of power and control over the abbey. Both the "changing world" of the micro and the macro are connected because of Matthew's death, which affects both the individual characters and the control of the abbey. The "changing world" is also a direct reference to the actual time period the show is taking place in, which was in the year right after World War I in around 1919 when England is changing or adjusting to life after the war. And the financial aspect or power situation of the abbey was a part of that normalization. To summarize, Matthew's death is the connection between the changing world outside the abbey, which relates to the power situation being affected, and the changing world inside the abbey, which was how the different characters were affected by the death. All in all, Matthew's death creates big changes in Downton Abbey by emotionally affecting characters and disrupting the balance of power over the abbey.
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