Why did he propose to Daphne? Was it just to mess with Hari? I didn't get the feeling he really loved her, but had seen her with Hari and wanted to marry her just to make Hari feel inferior. Am I totally missing the point?
I don't think Merrick just wanted to mess with Hari by proposing to Daphne. If anything, once he realized that Daphne truly liked Hari and wasn't just being kind to an Indian, his feeling for her soured. In the novel, Merrick says he didn't feel the same about her once he realized she was "unsound" (i.e., she refused to accept the predominant English view of Indians as inferior).
I think part of the reason he initially like Daphne so much was that she made him forget his own feelings of inferiority. In the novel, he says that Daphne didn't give a damn who your parents were or where you went to school. (Merrick was from a very humble background, unlike many of the English he met out in India who had family connections and had gone to "good schools".)
I don't think you're missing the point. Merrick did get more interested in Daphne after he saw her with Hari so his taking away something from an Indian was part of his motivation, but only part.
Merrick was a very complex character. Even after seeing the series and reading the Raj Quartet, I still have trouble seeing into him.
I remember seeing a PBS interview with Tim Pigott-Smith around the time The Jewel In The Crown was broadcast, and he had some interesting things to say about Merrick. He found it fascinating (and revealing) that Merrick would propose to Daphne as though he were making some kind of business proposal, without trying to touch her or establish a feeling of intimacy.
He also believed the proposal was a key moment in Merrick's "character arc" - he felt something inside Merrick died when Daphne refused to marry him.
How interesting, thanks.
"He also believed the proposal was a key moment in Merrick's "character arc" - he felt something inside Merrick died when Daphne refused to marry him."
I've always felt that, too, without ever putting it into words. It's almost as though Merrick was giving himself the chance to be a normal, happy person by proposing to Daphne and when she turned him down, the something that died in him was ordinary human warmth and the ability to resist his own inner darkness.
Another possible motive for his proposal to Daphne is that Merrick was probably mostly homosexual but in that time and place--and particularly in the police or military!--being openly so would be impossible. Merrick is shown throughout the series to be very calculating and efficient in advancing himself by whatever means necessary. Having a "beard" (i.e., wife for show) would have fit in very neatly with his career plans. However, as mentioned above, Merrick is a very complex character, and it's not impossible that he had some sort of affection for Daphne as well. His character is one of the most fascinating aspects (among many) of the miniseries.
"Tell you what . . . the truth is . . . sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it." --Jack Twist
I actually don't agree with the theory of Merrick proposing to Daphne so she could act as a beard, certainly not in a conscious, calculating way. (Susan? That's another story!) At the start, and throughout most of the series, he is extremely repressed. So much so that he was barely aware of his latent homosexuality, so it was not really conceivable that he act on it, or even plan to at this point.
Merrick was considered something of a catch among the young Englishwomen in Mayapore - young, unattached, relatively attractive and possessing a powerful position of some importance. If he wanted a beard, or a wife even to make him a home, he could have had his pick of any number of far more "manageable" women. But that a stickler like him chose Daphne Manners of all people is telling. Her very rebelliousness was an encouragement - she was more likely than most not to be bothered by their class difference, and was opened minded enough to associate with Indians.
Seeing Hari washing himself at Sister Ludmilla's served as a "lightening bolt" in terms of action for Merrick. Not only did he find the sight of this half dressed man erotic, but a black man at that! Merrick's interest in Daphne piqued when he saw her publicly addressing Hari in inviting him to open house at the MacGregor House. He cottoned onto Daphne's interest in Hari as a way of surreptitiously attaching himself to Hari. His motives were not so much to use her as a beard of convenience, but to rope her into a secret love triangle.
Glitter on the mattress, glitter on the highway...
Seeing Hari washing himself at Sister Ludmilla's served as a "lightening bolt" in terms of action for Merrick. Not only did he find the sight of this half dressed man erotic, but a black man at that! Merrick's interest in Daphne piqued when he saw her publicly addressing Hari in inviting him to open house at the MacGregor House. He cottoned onto Daphne's interest in Hari as a way of surreptitiously attaching himself to Hari. His motives were not so much to use her as a beard of convenience, but to rope her into a secret love triangle.
It is stated, quite cleary, on several occasions, that Merrick is a sado-masochistic homosexual. I don't know what show anyone else was watching.
Life sucks, then you're reincarnated
It is stated, quite cleary, on several occasions, that Merrick is a sado-masochistic homosexual. I don't know what show anyone else was watching.
As others have said, he was a very eligible bachelor. Still, he chose Daphne for several reasons. He wanted to protect her from 'ruining' herself by falling in love with an Indian. I also think he did it in part to goad Hari. Ron honestly believed she would see him as a better match, since he was white, powerful, and upwardly mobile. Sure, Hari was eloquent, charming, and had gone to her father's school, but what did that matter? He was still an Indian. (Merrick even said, "Color is basic, it matters like hell!")
But I think it mostly had to do with Daphne's social standing. Her uncle had been a popular governor in the territory, and her aunt was the respected Lady Manners. Merrick was always trying to climb up in society, which is the main reason he married Susan. Why else would he switch his affections from Sarah (when she effectively rejected him) to Susan? Why that family? It was lucky for him he was there when Teddy was killed: it ingratiated him to the Laytons, especially Susan. From there, all he had to do was read her psychiatric file to get inside her head, and he was exactly where he always wanted to be: part of the upper class he couldn't get into otherwise.
And, not to be crass, but it only cost him half an arm.
[deleted]
Thank you! This is exactly how I perceived him/his motives.
And thanks for posting the bit from the DVD commentary. I'll have to borrow it from my library again so I can listen to it.
Yeah, when Hari says during the last inquest that Merrick had his hands on Hari's genitals while he was questioning him lets us realize that it was Hari Merrick was attracted to after all, not Daphne.
.
Merrick WAS a complex individual, but many of his motives were implicit in some cases, explicit in others. He had pretentions to move above his class, to become more privileged. This was not only for his feelings of inferiority regarding his beginnings, but also his sexuality. In one area at least, he felt that he was on safe ground, as an Englishman, he would always be ranked above an Indian. To his dismay, not only was Hari a more rounded personality, but he had even gone to a better school. That in itself would have made him dislike Hari. Add to that, the moment he first saw Hari, before he knew anything about him, he was probably attacted to him as a bit "of rough" someone who could be thought of sexually, then discarded. Hari was anything but that, therefore an additional threat. Using Daphne as a leg up into society seemed to Merrick ideal. Here was a girl of the right class, plain, possibly destined for spinsterhood, maybe naive, and possibly not very sexual....absolutely ideal. When she not only proved to have more gumption then he thought, but was obviously sexually interested in Hari, his hatred of Hari deepened. Daphne was daring to break one taboo, that of a white woman having sex with an Indian, Merrick, having to break a double taboo himself could never take it that far and he hid his jealousy by showing contempt for Daphne. When he damned her by saying she liked black cock, he was covering up his self disgust at liking exactly the same thing. Most of what he does follows from this, his sexualised torture of Hari being one of the most shocking. He carries the seeds of his own downfall within him. He is a doomed character. We see that throughout the enfolding story, and his death was a tragic inevitability.
sharehimbletony
Iknow this was posted awhile ago - BUT I have seen the series at least 5 times, and read the entire series of books 4 times, and I think you hit that bit on the head, perfectly. You also were also able to do it briefly, but utterly consistently. Brilliant!
Nail. Head. Himbletony (and others too here.)
That Merrick was an amazing character wasn't he? Talk about complex.
What I would add to all of the above was that of all of the things Merrick was dealing with in his inner desire for Hari (yes, the bit o'rough!), then his duality of his feeling was increased and turned to abject hatred of Hari once Hari opened his mouth and spoke with an upper class English accent.
We're back to the starting point things always begin in that world: CLASS.
That added another layer of complexity to Merrick's involvement with Hari. The appraising look on Merrick's face the moment Hari first spoke to him in the refuge was utter gobsmacked astonishment.
Hari was "a gentleman," something Merrick never would be. That moment was Hari's undoing.
Remember how Hari just simply dismissed "the policemen" harassing him? He was raised an upper class gentlemen and saw policeman as working class. He probably didn't mean to be haughty toward Merrick but it was his natural inclination through a lifetime of upper class living.
Merrick had that psycho-sexual torture thing going on--because he was attracted as well as to "punish" Hari for attracting him.
But Hari for Merrick was the ultimate thing he could not cope with---a "black" Indian who had been raised in the highest echeolons of wealthy British society and went to "all the right schools" as a "gentleman," when he, the scholarship grammar school boy from the working classes, couldn't cope with the idea of a Hari having had that kind of class status back home.
He was beating Hari for being everything he wasn't---the total irony of the British man he was versus the public school boy Hari was in Merrick's own country.
Merrick just could not deal with that kind of social class confusion in his mind--add to that his sexual attraction for Hari and his self-loathing of himself (as a working class lad AND a homosexual), then that was a volatile mix of a nighmare for Hari once ran across Merrick who was in a position of authority like that.
Why did he propose to Daphne? Was it just to mess with Hari?
I didn't get the feeling he really loved her [Daphne], but had seen her with Hari and wanted to marry her just to make Hari feel inferior.
This commentary is excellent. I watched the first installment of this series when it first came out, quite a long time ago. I can recall few BBC series that were quite so honest or upfront in dealing with some serious topics like Merrick's sado-masochism. Pigott-Smith's portrayal was so memorable, that it was difficult for me to separate his acting from the character for a long time. It was pretty brave of them to make this into television series at the time, I think. And it was also such a unique time and place in British history, the last years of the Raj, with WWII in the background. It's an unflinching portrayal of the race and class differences among the British and the Indians. And it was the last gasp of British Empire, and Britain being such an important player in world history. Also, as someone who grew up in the Deep South in the US during the 60's and 70's, and who moved back recently, the issue of race and class is something I see a lot of commonalities too. Especially the racism of lower-class whites, who still need to feel that black people are inferior, ass Merrick did. I also see the parallels of rampant police brutality against mostly black people, and their higher levels of imprisonment. The occupation of policeman attracts a certain type of personality, someone who can be cruel and sadistic as Merrick was. I think that is a person who is attracted to an amount of authority that they can then use for the purposes of intimidation and power over others, especially those they see as inferior to them, as Merrick did. It is universal in society, not just the late occupation of India by the British.
Ssssshh! You'll wake up the monkey!
Pigott-Smith's portrayal was so memorable, that it was difficult for me to separate his acting from the character for a long time.
Oh, I did not realize that until I read your comment! This time around, I must say I find Mildred Layton almost as horrfying as Merrick! And Peggy Ashcroft is so darling, this was the same year she played Mrs. Mooire in "A Passage to India." Another wonderful and memorable character.
Ssssshh! You'll wake up the monkey!
It just shows what a brilliant actor Judy Parfitt is - she was absolutely brilliant in JITC, and Call the Midwife, in fact I have rarely seen her give a less-than-perfect performance. But I must say in JITC, she just blew me away, bye, bye away!
shareI would put it this way: it was clear from the very first scenes that Merrick was an extremely stiff, racist and possibly sadistic policeman, but I only had my eyes open to his character when he proposed to Daphne. As one comments, it was like a business proposal. For the love of God it was on their very first "date" (if we can even call it that). Immediately in my head I was saying to Daphne, "Turn around and run as fast as you can." It was clear that this guy was mentally unsound and so out of touch with his own feelings that he would harm, if not destroy, everything around him. He viewed Daphne as a fungible item who could fulfill a function for him (as a British police/soldier he will need a wife and possibly children) and serve his purposes, but he has absolutely ZERO feeling for her (and I am not referring just to sexual feeling, which, as we understand without doubt later in the series, he would have no sexual desire for Daphne in any case). He was just like a shell or cyborg in human form.
share