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.
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3 comments:
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.
What 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.
I think Mrs Crawley is not perfect, and that the Duchess is no fool.
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