Poldark: 1970s Version

[Milz]

I haven't watched the P15 Keren either, but in the books, Keren wasn't only an outsider, she also had "outsider" attitudes. I remember reading that Keren would buy cooked food for meals rather than cook the meals herself. That and other things gave her the reputation of being a sloppy housewife who wastefully spent all of Mark's hard earned money

[Llywela]

I haven't watched the P15 Keren either, but in the books, Keren wasn't only an outsider, she also had "outsider" attitudes. I remember reading that Keren would buy cooked food for meals rather than cook the meals herself. That and other things gave her the reputation of being a sloppy housewife who wastefully spent all of Mark's hard earned money

Yeah, book!Keren is an outsider in every way. She comes from a completely different background than anyone in the area - and we are told many times in the books that pretty much anyone from outside of about a three-mile radius is considered a foreigner. Some are accepted more easily than others, depending on circumstances and attitude. Keren doesn't get on with the local women; she finds them limited and humdrum while they find her sloppy and disinterested. The house Mark builds is at some distance from the Mellin Cottages, so she doesn't mingle much with the other wives, which might have helped break down barriers. Keren has some book-learning, which sets her apart from the other villagers, and after being accustomed to moving around from town to town with the theatre company she finds the life of a miner's wife mind-numbingly boring, stuck in a dark damp house all alone for long hours at a time. She certainly isn't a natural housewife - although she does try, in her own slapdash way. She and Mark are the classic example of a couple who should never have got married, a tragedy just waiting to happen. They don't even know each other. Mark wants Keren because she is like no one he has ever seen before and he is entranced, but his love for her is a possessive love, while she doesn't love him at all, she accepts him because a) he wears her down via stalking, and b) he makes big promises about the better life he can give her, and she is miserable enough with her grotty living conditions to throw caution to the wind. The warning signs are there from the beginning: his stalkerish behaviour, and her demands and dissatisfaction. They both try to make it work. Mark gives Keren everything he can, within the strict limitations of what he knows, while she tries to keep house for him and please him, despite her increasing dissatisfaction. She is ambitious, Mark isn't, and she can't persuade him to aspire to anything more than he has. When Keren falls and injures her wrist, it happens because she is trying to mend the roof, which Mark hasn't been able to do because he's on nights and she can't live with the water pouring into the house any more, she's trying to knuckle down and improve things for both of them - but it is a fateful accident, as it brings her into contact with Dwight, who is kind and gentle and educated, and is also feeling lonely and isolated...and thus the whole thing spirals down to its tragic end.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Llywela

[Milz]

Yeah, book!Keren is an outsider in every way. She comes from a completely different background than anyone in the area - and we are told many times in the books that pretty much anyone from outside of about a three-mile radius is considered a foreigner. Some are accepted more easily than others, depending on circumstances and attitude. Keren doesn't get on with the local women; she finds them limited and humdrum while they find her sloppy and disinterested. The house Mark builds is at some distance from the Mellin Cottages, so she doesn't mingle much with the other wives, which might have helped break down barriers. Keren has some book-learning, which sets her apart from the other villagers, and after being accustomed to moving around from town to town with the theatre company she finds the life of a miner's wife mind-numbingly boring, stuck in a dark damp house all alone for long hours at a time. She certainly isn't a natural housewife - although she does try, in her own slapdash way. She and Mark are the classic example of a couple who should never have got married, a tragedy just waiting to happen. They don't even know each other. Mark wants Keren because she is like no one he has ever seen before and he is entranced, but his love for her is a possessive love, while she doesn't love him at all, she accepts him because a) he wears her down via stalking, and b) he makes big promises about the better life he can give her, and she is miserable enough with her grotty living conditions to throw caution to the wind. The warning signs are there from the beginning: his stalkerish behaviour, and her demands and dissatisfaction. They both try to make it work. Mark gives Keren everything he can, within the strict limitations of what he knows, while she tries to keep house for him and please him, despite her increasing dissatisfaction. She is ambitious, Mark isn't, and she can't persuade him to aspire to anything more than he has. When Keren falls and injures her wrist, it happens because she is trying to mend the roof, which Mark hasn't been able to do because he's on nights and she can't live with the water pouring into the house any more, she's trying to knuckle down and improve things for both of them - but it is a fateful accident, as it brings her into contact with Dwight, who is kind and gentle and educated, and is also feeling lonely and isolated...and thus the whole thing spirals down to its tragic end.

 

I don't think Graham addressed it in the book, but historically, actresses were of "low moral character" and were essentially regarded the same as prostitutes. In a way, Mark "married down" like Ross did.

 

But what's interesting is the persistent theme of obsession of a woman by a man (or men) and the down fall of that man: Clemmow and Jinny in Book 1 and Mark and Keren in book 2.

[Llywela]

I don't think Graham addressed it in the book, but historically, actresses were of "low moral character" and were essentially regarded the same as prostitutes. In a way, Mark "married down" like Ross did.

Believed to be of low moral character, at any rate. The village women looked down on Keren because of her background and different ways; Keren looked down on them because of their lack of education and limited horizons. Mark didn't see himself as marrying down - whereas Keren, in a sense, did. Keren saw herself as a cut above because she had more education and had seen more of the world. Talk about different worldviews colliding.

[CTrent29]

I'm not as impressed by the 1975 series as others are.  Although neither versions are completely faithful, I noticed that the 1975 version seemed even less faithful . . . at least the first 8 episodes (the adaptations of "Ross Poldark" and "Demelza").  I am watching both series simultaneously.

 

Also, I was disappointed to see that the 1975 version added that "Demelza gets knocked up" arc in order to establish hostilities between her and Elizabeth and force Ross to marry her.  What is disappointing about this is that one, it didn't happen in the first novel and two, this additional story arc knocked out the Christmas at Trenwith sequence that marked the end of the first novel.  Really disappointed.

 

Then there was the matter regarding Francis Poldark, George Warleggan and the Carnmore Copper Company.  Episode Six of the 1975 version featured the Warleggan Ball, like Episode Six of the 2015 series.  Yet, in the 1975 version, George told his father that he discovered the names of the Carnmore Copper Company on the morning following the family's ball.  I discovered in Episode Seven that Francis had told George . . . before Verity had eloped with Captain Blamey and Francis discovered that Demelza had helped them.  Now I wonder . . . why did Francis reveal the names of the Carnmore Copper Company's investors in the first place, if he didn't do so in retaliation to Demelza helping Verity?