Nurses do not fare well on page or screen. They run the gamut, as the wit once said, from A to B. A drug addict such as "Nurse Jackie" on cable. An ornament, like the beautiful young thing in the immortal hospital novel "The House of God", described as a "rainbow in a waterfall". I am certain there are exceptions such as Audrey Hepburn's nursing sister in "The Nun's Story", but they are rare.
I am heartened then to see Mrs. Crawley in Masterpiece Classic's "Downton Abbey", which has two more episodes to go on PBS. Mrs. Crawley is the mother of the new heir-by-accident to this great house, In contrast to the other women of her family, she seeks a purpose in life beyond being decorative and procreative in her youth or being a snobbish scold in old age. Nor has any man used her as a bank, as the Lord of Downton Abbey has used his American heiress wife. Mrs. Crawley,"trained as a nurse" wants to be "useful", and wins a place on the local hospital's Directors Board, after her quality is seen and recognized. And though she is a minor character, she shines above all others in this story.
Something not right there. I've always thought of nurses as "Angels of Mercy", since reading The Life of Clara Barton as a youth and several serious hospital stays in my advancing years.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of Mrs. Crawley's misdiagnosis of her butlers rash? I love her character so I was a bit upset when the dowager duchess got the best of her in that scene.
ReplyDeleteI think Mrs Crawley is not perfect, and that the Duchess is no fool.
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