Do Not Be Afraid to Imagine It
I stumbled upon “Little Dorrit” a couple of months ago after reading about it on the Internet. I’ve never been a huge Charles Dickens fan, but my love of British period pieces won out and I decided to seek it out and watch it. If I could summarize the story I would, but in true Dickensian fashion, the stories included so many characters and sub-plots that I would never be able to do the story justice.
One of the sub-plots is the relationship between Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam. Amy was born in the debtor’s prison where her father was an inmate. She grew up good friends with the turnkey (basically, the warden)’s son John, who is in love with her although Amy does not feel the same way. Amy meets Arthur when she is employed by his mother as a seamstress and the two form a friendship and of course, she falls in love with him even though he is completely clueless to the fact because as sweet and kind as Arthur is, he’s also a bit obtuse. This video behind the cut summarizes their relationship nicely (Spoilers ahead)
There were a lot of great scenes in it but one part that always stood out in my mind was when Arthur speaks to Amy after she rejected John’s proposal. Having never read the source material, I don’t know if it’s true to the book but the scene was so pitch perfect in every way it really stood out for me. Arthur is told by Mr. Chivery that Amy is in love with John but rejected him because she feels she cannot leave her father. Chivery asks Arthur to convince Amy to accept, but Amy insists to him that she’s never loved John and never will. She says that she is sorry he has hurt him and that it distressesher that he is upset.
It’s a beautiful scene and Claire Foy who plays Amy totally sells all of the conflicting emotions at play here. John has been her best friend since she was born and she is truly upset that he is hurt, worse yet that sheis the source of his distress. The fact that she is upset because he is suffering really speaks to Amy’s gentle and truly kind nature. At the same time, she knows how it feels when your affections are not returned as Amy learns from Arthur himself that he has feelings for another woman. Of course, Arthur reveals this without knowing about Amy’s feelings for him. When Amy told her older sister about John’s proposal, she says something along the lines that she should have accepted since she wasn’t going to get any offers from anybody else. Up until this point, Amy was perhaps holding onto hope that Arthur could return her affections but of course all that is shattered when he encourages her to accept somebody else.
I wish I could upload the scene becaues it’s so beautiful how gorgeous yet complex it is. The dialogue itself is fairly straightforward but the dichotomy of Amy’s conflict and layered emotions compared to Arthur’s simplicity and some would say ignorance is so interesting to watch. In a way, Amy knows that she can’t blame Arthur for being blind to her affections when she had been blind to John’s, just like how she can’t expect to him to alleviate her suffering if she can’t do the same for John.
I don’t know why I’ve been ruminating on that scene but it’s one that’s always stuck out in my head. And you know me, I’m a nerd and am always one for analysis. It’s the logical side of me. Perhaps this is why I have always been told I would make a great lawyer. Unfortunately, I don’t know any lawyers that get to analyze British period dramas as part of the job. Too bad!
