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The fifth season premiere of Downton Abbey was not kind to Lady Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael). The kitchen maids wondered why she was so tired looking, she was reminded of her missing/presumed dead lover, she had to pretend to not care about her secret bastard daughter (whose name is Marigold for some reason), and she almost burned down the entire house after she drunkenly threw a book into the fire. Oh, and she almost died in that fire.
But to be fair, Downton Abbey has never been kind to Lady Edith. The show has always made a point of depicting her as a bitter loser, which is not only unkind, but unfair. Her only real sin in five seasons has been to vindictively reveal that Mr. Pamuk died in Lady Mary’s bed, and that action was born out of bitterness and resentment. We had watched for weeks as Mary not only pushed Edith down, but also mocked her for her feeble attempts to shine.
Most of the other underdogs on Downton Abbey eventually get their due. Daisy evolved from being a downtrodden kitchen maid to a talented chef and natural leader. Thomas has been routinely scorned for his incessant scheming and then-taboo homosexuality, but he always is allowed to scrabble back up top — and he’s managed to secure friendships and respect. Even Molesley, who could be considered the “Jerry” of Downton Abbey has started to win the admiration of the new lady maid, Baxter. But there’s been precious little kindness shown to Edith over the years.
In season three, it looked as though Edith might finally find happiness. Sir Anthony Strallen wanted to marry her, but then the old bugger got cold feet and left her at the altar. Then, like a phoenix from the ashes, Edith pulled herself up and began a writing career. She found her literal voice. Then, she found a sympathetic editor who soon became her lover. Of course, this new romance was also not without turmoil. Mr. Gregson had an insane wife and a plan to move with her to Germany, but then he disappeared in Germany, and Edith was left knocked up and alone.
Why does this happen to Edith? Sure, Mary endures tragedy, but Mary is also wealthy, chic, and constantly pursued by scores of handsome suitors. Edith is just…there. It’s almost as if Downton Abbey’s creator and head writer, Julian Fellowes has it out for poor Lady Edith. How dare Edith not be dazzlingly beautiful? How dare she feel jealousy for her chilly older sister? How dare Edith exist for something other than marriage? And yet, when Fellowes was interviewed about Edith, he claims that nothing could be further from the truth. He claims he likes Lady Edith and likens her to the people we all know in life who can never get it together. That would be charming except the rest of the clip is just Downton Abbey cast members puzzling over her epic bad luck.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6IdimL3smk]Maybe there is a silver lining to all of Edith’s heartache. NPR’s Linda Holmes has suggested that, until recently, Edith’s suffering was the direct result of allowing her life to be directed by the patriarchal society around her. She writes that “Perhaps the lesson of all these stories of Edith being left and left and left again is nothing brings in misery like being entirely at the mercy of other people’s decisions to stay or leave, which is where Edith’s father, well-meaning though he may be, has left her.” Holmes sees the Marigold storyline as evidence that Edith is learning to take her destiny into her own hands. She won’t be content to let other people tell her that she can’t be an unwed mother. She won’t go along with society’s plans. She will keep her baby and she will hide it with a farming family close to Downton, damn it!
That would be nice, except it seems clear from the start of season five that Edith is sadder than ever. So sad that she almost burned the house down by accident. Fellowes seems to have positioned her decision not as a bold move for feminism, but an opportunity to show once more that a woman’s greatest success is tied up in giving birth to a child and loving it. After all, that’s the triumph of Sybil’s storyline. She died, but her daughter lives, so we can’t be too sad. Even Matthew’s death happened right after he blissfully met his son.
Of course, the season could move away from this. Maybe Edith will finally get her happy ending. Perhaps Gregson will come back from the dead Germany and the family can be reunited at last. But would that be the ending that Edith deserves? I still don’t understand why she must stay at Downton. In my mind, her happiest ending would be taking Marigold to America. After all, she has a wealthy grandmother and uncle in New York City and they aren’t ones for convention. She can raise her daughter in peace, write popular novels that satirize upper crust customs, and live a life out of Lady Mary’s all-too-perfect shadow.
It’s a perfectly fair, wonderful, and believable ending for Edith, which is why I’m convinced it won’t ever happen. [Watch Downton Abbey]
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