Improve your English with Downton Abbey Characters. Season 1 Episode 7

1. Before you watch:

In this episode some people are going to:

1. Receive astonishing news

2. Get help from their employers

3. Do a cruel and malicious thing

4. Be very indecisive

5. Be angry about the other person’s inability to make a decision

Think who these people may be and what might be happening to them. Check your answers as you watch the film.

2. Choose the correct option(s). More than one may be possible.

1. Robert is eager/reluctant/appalled/embarrassed when it is necessary to discuss pregnancy and fertility issues.

2. Napier’s purpose in telling Lady Mary about the source of the rumours is to vilify her sister/help her to stop the rumours/acquit himself from the accusation that he was the source of that.

3. 3. By saying ‘I don’t like to play the part of Pontius Pilate”, Carson means that he doesn’t want to obey Lord Grantham/doesn’t want to sack Bates/is forced not to make a decision himself, but go to a higher authority.

4. By saying “I can more easily see Bates as an assassin than a petty pilfer”, Robert means that Bates is capable of murder/that Bates is incapable of any crime/that Bate isn’t likely to be a common thief.

5. Violet the Duchess advises Mary not to give Matthew the answer until the baby is born/ believes that Mary should refuse Matthew/believes that she should accept his proposal as soon as possible.

6. Thomas is shocked by the news of the coming war/does not believe there will be a war/believes that everyone should prepare to fight for Britain/believes that he should think of something to survive in it.

7. Mrs Patmore is horrified/frustrated/shocked at hearing Robert’s decision.

8. By saying ‘Clearly the judge thought there was some mitigating factor’ Robert meant that Bates was forced to steal by certain circumstances beyond his control/the judge was kind enough to give Bates a lenient sentence/the judge was not sure whether Bates was guilty.

9. Daisy put soap in the soup because she didn’t like that Mrs Bird was her boss/she wanted Mrs Bird to be fired/Mrs Patmore had asked to cook worse than before/Mrs Patmore had asked her to poison the servants.

10. The telephone company owner is not willing to take on a former housemaid/is happy to hire a person with experience of hard work/is not happy about the way Gwen wrote her application/does not trust Sybil.

11. O’Brian set up the bathroom accident because she believed that Cora wanted to replace her/she was not happy with the way Cora treated her/she didn’t want Cora to have a son.

3. Who says these things? Why?

1. “Now put that in your pipe and smoke it.”

2. “I was building my life on shifting sands!”

3. “No wonder he fell to pieces when his own mum snuffed it.”

4. “You have spirit, my lady. It’s all that counts in the end”.

4. Discussion:

1. These are the Duchess’s words: “I was right about my maid. She is leaving to get married. How could she be so selfish?” Later we hear that both ladies, Cora and Violet, believe that their maids are very fond of them. How does this reflect rich women’s attitudes to their maids in those days?

2. Regarding Carson’s attitude to the telephone, do you think he is a technophile or a technophobe? Can you predict what other 20th century inventions we are going to see in the next series? Which of the characters will be against them and which will welcome them? Do you think we can find any similarities in people’s attitudes to technology in modern days?

3. How would you compare Robert Crawley to modern-day employers considering the way he dealt with Bates and Mrs Patmore’s cases?

4. Isobel Crawley is clearly disappointed in Mary, saying ‘I though Mary was made of stronger stuff’. Do you agree with her? What factors, do you think, affected Mary’s decisions and non-decisions at that time?

5. How will the war change Matthew’s plans?