In the Thomas Hardy novel The Mayor Of Casterbridge, upon which the screenplay for The Claim was based, the character corresponding to Daniel Dillon was set to marry the character corresponding to "Lucia", with whom he had an earlier affair, until "Elena" shows up with "Hope". Dillon takes up with "Elena" and dumps "Lucia". "Hope" first romances "Dalglish" with Dillon's blessing, but then "Dalglish" takes up with "Lucia" and marries her. This makes "Dillon" furious. "Elena" dies, but first writes a note to "Dillon" that "Hope" is not really his daughter, but the daughter of the man to whom she had been sold. "Lucia" dies, freeing "Hope" to marry "Dalglish", which she does. "Dillon" wanders off a broken man and dies in obscurity. Everyone in the novel is trying to maintain a facade of Victorian propriety to cover up all their shenanigans. If Thomas Hardy had been writing in the 20th century, he would have been writing plots for soap operas.
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