50. Commentary 1: Scenes 1/1-1/6 This opening sequence of scenes to Episode 1 ....
51. Commentary 2: Scene 1/7 Scene 1/7 is the first to place Dorothea and Celia Brooke in the domestic environment of their own rooms at Tipton Grange. Its significance for Andrew Davies is apparent in correspondence early in the development of the script with the first producer attached to the project, David Snodin. In a letter of 10 July 1991, Davies is concerned that Snodin had wished to omit this scene because 'all it tells us is that Dorothea does not want to wear a cross as jewellery and that someone's coming to dinner’. In a fuller extract from this letter attached to the Shooting script, Davies offers four detailed reasons why this scene is crucial as exposition of the sisters' characters and attitudes in Episode 1, but his adaptive methods here are also worth exploring.
For instance, Davies expertly selects and applies verbatim phrases from Eliot’s dialogue and descriptions of the sisters' reactions in Chapter 1. He does so both in their speeches and in his stage directions. Celia's arguments in favour of them wearing the jewellery (not to would be lacking 'in respect to Mamma's memory' and 'surely... there are women in heaven now who wore jewels') are taken from just one paragraph on pp.14-15 of the novel. Davies, however, intersperses them throughout the scene to maintain the momentum of Celia's attempts at persuasion. In the Shooting script, too, Dorothea dismisses the thought of wearing a cross as a 'trinket' only to be suddenly taken, just as she is in Chapter 1 with the sheer beauty of the gems. She marvels ‘how deeply colours seem to ... penetrate one ... like scent. They look like fragments of heaven’. Yet by the Post-production script, Dorothea’s attitude to wearing the jewels in company has lost the more judgemental line developed from Eliot’s dialogue (‘Who knows to what level I may sink?’), instead retaining a more ambivalent and suggestive, ‘Perhaps I shall…’ In performance, Aubrey subtly conveys the way Dorothea is torn between physical feelings evoked by the gems and her urge to renounce worldly temptations.
The deliberate omission of elements from the novel is also a strategy Davies’ employs when adapting this scene. Hints at Dorothea's spiritual and puritanical principles are reined back by the scriptwriter for his 1990s audience. For the benefit of the actor and director only, he notes in the stage direction, that Dorothea’s rejection of the jewels is 'not just Puritanical asceticism'. Dorothea's goodness is conveyed rather through her social conscience as embodied in her plans for the farmworkers' cottages, even if Celia's pragmatic 'Yes, very nice, but you know Uncle. They will never be built' sows the seeds for Episode 6's stark summation of Dorothea's idealism.
Davies uses the scene to reveal Dorothea’s and Celia’s differences as sensual young women. Celia, the younger teenager, is excited to wear the jewels at a dinner where they will have guests; she relishes the attention they will grant her and the timing of her request to Dorothea to look at the jewellery is no coincidence. At first Dorothea consciously rejects the jewels but then her senses take over as she studies them as Eliot notes 'under a current of feeling, as sudden as the gleam' (p.17) of the emeralds. The difference is that Davies focuses Dorothea’s reaction on the physical whereas Eliot blends this with the spiritual.
Both Davies’s scripting and the decisions made later in the direction, lighting and editing of this scene enhance this early example of Dorothea’s thoughtful yet mercurial character. Time collapses in the screen version. As noted by Bazalgette and James (BBC/BFI Screening Middlemarch Education pack 1994, p.12), the scene begins in daylight with Dorothea rationalising her plans but by the time she is handling the emeralds, only a few minutes later in real time, it is candlelight that illuminates them and in the process the potential for Dorothea’s emotional depth.
52. eaitn eaiotnoeai laeitn etna oilonpeti noptine tioae.
100. eianeaoiteaoin eaoiaek oitnoitneoitenopt..
150. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
200. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
300. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
400. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
500. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
1300. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
1400. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
1500. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
11300. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
11400. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
11500. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
111300. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
111400. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
111500. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
2150. Teoiniaeloiea tnoeatn ealiotn aoieltnotan.
151. eaitn eaiotnoeai laeitn etna oilonpeti noptine tioae.
1100. eianeaoiteaoin eaoiaek oitnoitneoitenopt..
1150. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
1200. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
21300. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
21400. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
31500. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
41300. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
511400. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
611500. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
111307. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
111408. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
111509. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
1111300. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.
1111400. eaneaintlieant oieatn lieant iean toatas iaiea ntiealn tiean tleai ntin ltaie ntln etaelntoi ait iatn ien eltn ieatnieant lieant ieantleantpoas 95ea ntiaentilne tasin oiealn tainieantealtnea ant in elti entia enltl entoienlteiantaelnteanltaientl al e nlti entaientila tlaoisetaet lip asntinl teaoint ieant la ntias lntasipen ltiaen tloiea nltiea ntasoie tae lei tnia ineltoiaen ltoeatl noasptl.
1111500. eoiatoiael ea aientopiea ieai taneoit lantp ai antila eiteaoi tlneait lntliea aeitnp al tnoie tliean tiae aii enltipaen tleant ieant lieant ieant painltai entlea x 65tn eila etip neltiean ti antienl tnteantaoile x laentiea ntal ntila ntilen tline tiplean tiean lai laet laeit l ieatli entlieatnlieatln aietln aitel n laeti i natiloan tipla ntileant ieat lnoasitl noeatlni.