Soames + Irene (possible spoilers)

My wife & myself are watching the series now, and just remarked on the same thing last night -- she's not trying very hard to be a good wife, is she?

At least in the '67 production, Irene is a pretty blond. In the new production, she struck me as a scarecrow, and neither the missus nor myself could see why men were throwing themselves at her.

The whole carriage scene was odd. Swithin was humorous and likable up to that point, but now strikes me as far from that. Such aggressive behavior for a "gentleman!"

you must go to the source material to understand the concept of soames as "loathsome". the original novel was begun in 1902 and completed in 1905, many years before galsworthy took up the characters again. soames was based on the first husband of the authors beloved wife ada, who was the basis for irene. the books never fully reconcile the shift in attitude towards soames. however, donald wilson had the advantage of knowing the life stories of soames, jo, irene, &c. from start to finish, and was able to reconstruct back stories explaining their motivations. remember, the opening 3 hours of the series are almost entirely written by wilson, using mere hints provided by galsworthy.

I always felt sorry for Soames - even when I first saw the series as a young girl I always felt he was misunderstood. He really did love Irene, and I thought she treated him appallingly. I hated too that the family had sympathy for her. I found her rather devious and selfish.

I read the books a zillion years ago in college and don't remember whether there is any implication that the predatory Mr Lomax was trying to put the moves on Irene before even marrying her frivolous stepmother; maybe this was invented by the series writers. Between the two evils Irene probably saw Soames as the lesser one. After all, he was younger, hard-working, wealthy, generous, and socially respected. Even if he didn't understand Beethoven.

However, I think Irene was a little too young to realize what a bad bargain it all was. We aren't shown the immediate three years following the nightmare wedding night, but we are given the impression that Soames doesn't understand marriage or love very well. Irene is his trophy bride in some of the same ways Emily must have been James' (with their 22-year age difference). Soames is very bourgeois in his material pursuits, including Irene's wardrobe. It's almost like he's a child dressing a doll; did he even choose her clothes at the dressmakers'? He has no understanding of people who don't care about material things.

He also agreed to let her go if it didn't work and he goes back on his word when she reminds him. That makes his complaint about her lack of effort in the marriage less credible to me.




The Fabio Principle: Puffy shirts look best on men who look even better without them.

<< One of the things that bothered me about Irene: she always claimed she tried to make her marriage work with Soames--the viewer never sees any evidence of this--perhaps I missed something, or it's discussed in the novels?? She's always cold to Soames...I just don't like her. >>

She does seem excessively rude to her husband in the first 4 or so episodes...after she said she would try to be a loving wife in every way. I was rather impatient with her. Then later she says she knew from their wedding night that they were ill-matched, yet the show doesn't specifically detail WHY.

Also, part of it may be the problem most movies and TV shows run into with unsympathetic characters like Soames. Actors are usually better looking than most ordinary people, and the young Soames is probably more physically attractive than he needs to be. Looking at him, you think, "Well, he's kind of cute. What's the problem??"

I see Irene as rather like Elena in Uncle Vanya. She's a physically beautiful woman that men find attractive, but doesn't have great depth.