It’s finally over – that loved and lauded TV hit,”Downton Abbey.”(Over except for what will probably be endless reruns and, invariably, a movie.) What lingers for addicts like myself isn’t just the memory of living vicariously in the Edwardian age, with those oh- so-elegant costumes and table manners. What also lingers, especially for writers, are numerous witty echoes. (The Dowager’s ”What’s a weekend?” seems to be the most quoted.)
However, amid all the memorable lines, I’m haunted by one from the final episode: “Your Mary isn’t my Mary.” A riddle? Not at all. Merely that Lady Mary’s new husband sees her as a warm passionate woman, generous-hearted with the servants — while her brother-in- law knows first-hand Mary’s snobbery, coldness and cruelty to her sister. Actually, both men are seeing the real Mary, just opposite sides of her.
How many of us have at least one person in our life whom we find difficult and whom we could describe in negative terms? My father, for a personal instance, I would describe as taciturn, stern, morose. Yet, as I discovered at his funeral, a friend who’d known him for decades recalled a man with a great, if cynical, sense of humor, who was devoted to his mother and sister. Which image was right? Both of them – for if there are the proverbial two sides to a coin, there are certainly multiple sides to every person.
In my youthful “other life” as an actor, I was taught that to enact a villain believably, I had to find something good in her. Just as when playing a “goody-goody” heroine it enriched the performance to inject some not so nice traits. I later learned that this applies to writing, as well. To portray someone as “good” or “bad,” is to confine that character to one dimension – which is simplistic and also makes the story less interesting.
Since I’m addicted to journaling, I confess that when I have difficulty with someone in my life, writing about that person from my own angry view, and then from the imagined view of someone who admires that same person, is an effective way to recognize an inescapable truth: none of us is either/or.
WEBSITE: www.annehosansky.com
BOOKS : Role Play and Ten Women of Valor – both available at CreateSpace.com, Amazon.com and Amazon Kindle. Widow’s Walk– iUniverse.com. TurningToward Tomorrow – xLibris.com.