MovieChat Forums > Hornblower: Duty (2003) Discussion > What a stupid line!

What a stupid line!

posted 17 years ago by Rosabel
11 replies | jump to latest

"I have to tell you, Madam, that if you were a member of the Royal Navy, the penalty for striking a superior officer is DEATH!"

I laughed out loud when I heard that line. I'm sure she'll keep that in mind when the pressgang turns up in Baltimore, drafting 18-year old women into the Navy! No man in the early 19th century would say something that stupid to a woman, no matter how badly she'd provoked him. She's not British, he's not her superior, she's not a sailor, and she's not A MAN. Threatening to execute her was just silly; what next - challenge her to a duel?

And I can't believe any American of either sex, in such a situation, would have neglected to inform Hornblower that less than 30 years earlier, their father and uncles had fought and beaten England so that they wouldn't have to put up with his loudmouthed threats. Sorry, but I'm glad this series ended when it did; it just jumped the shark.

Flat, drab passion meanders across the screen!

[–] SouthernLibrarian1992 17 years ago

I thought that was a dumb line too at the time. I'm not sure what the point to it was, unless it was to create tension and animosity between Hornblower and Elizabeth. And, she would have every right to say her father beat helped defeat the English as William Patterson was a Major in the Continental Army (he was also the second richest man in Maryland at the time of this episode).

[–] LeaMacleod 17 years ago

I think the point of that line was to introduce the law that says "the punishment for striking a superior is death" to the uninformed public, because it becomes important later on in the episode when steward Doughty accidentally knocks down midshipman Orrick. We fans who know the Articles of War by heart wouldn't have needed that reminder, we would have grasped the seriousness of the situation immediately anyway, but the average TV audience wouldn't know what a grave offense it was if it hadn't been set up in the scene with Betsy. It was clumsily done though, I agree with that.

[–] basford 16 years ago

Erm, hardly. The point of it is certainly very relevant. As the above poster says it was relevant to the scene with Doughty later on but no matter because she did attempt to strike him, and it was true the punishment for striking any superior was death. And it doesn't matter who or what she was, while she was onboard his ship she and her husband were his property and he could have easily executed her if he wanted to. Also he didn't know what her position was because she didn't tell him, and again whether she's the daughter of a wealthy American diplomat or a peasant she and her husband were entirely under Hornblower's control while they were onboard his ship because he hadn't been instructed by the admiralty to carry them onboard. Whether England had been beaten during the previous war with the Americans or not, he was entirely at liberty to have her executed if he wanted during the circumstances and there would have been nothing she would have been able to do about it.

England expects every man will do his duty - Lord Horatio Nelson, Trafalgar 1805

[–] thebadwolf 16 years ago

basford is right while on board a ship civilian or not striking a officer superior to yourself had the penalty of death as a civilian all officers were superior. If Hornblower felt like it he could have legally just hung her by the neck until she was dead or simply thrown her overboard

I would say he was pretty decent as he didn't even have her whipped. (I am not saying he should have but doing so would have been considered a light sentence.)

Cybermen"You have declared war on the Cybermen"
Dalek"This is not war,this is pest control"

[–] basford 16 years ago

You're right, he was actually pretty decent to not have issued any form of punishment on her. Hornblower is a complicated fellow which is hardly suprising as he is heavily based on Horatio Nelson. Like Nelson he has the ability to be astonishingly cruel and kind. At heart though he is a decent man, in fact when he is at his best he is of utmost decency. But he does behave like a dick in this episode I have to say. Mind you, he is like that in most of the books.

England expects every man will do his duty - Lord Horatio Nelson, Trafalgar 1805

[–] thebadwolf 16 years ago

I don't think the OP understood how much of a master a captain was in those days they could do pretty much anything they liked to those onboard the ship in the same way a king could to one of his subjects

Cybermen"You have declared war on the Cybermen"
Dalek"This is not war,this is pest control"

[–] zen0x 16 years ago

Yeah, the captain could also marry couples in those days.

[–] thebadwolf 16 years ago

Yeah, the captain could also marry couples in those days.

They still can a captain can marry couples today but they can't hang you

Cybermen"You have declared war on the Cybermen"
Dalek"This is not war,this is pest control"

[–] zen0x 16 years ago

Without the hanging? There is just no fun these days!

[–] Jessica_Rabbit69 15 years ago

"I would say he was pretty decent as he didn't even have her whipped"

I think he was more than decent. He should have at least given her a good spanking. Preferably administered by the so-sexy-it-should-be-illegal Lt. Bush. :)

Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

[–] max-silver 13 years ago

And I can't believe any American of either sex, in such a situation, would have neglected to inform Hornblower that less than 30 years earlier, their father and uncles had fought and beaten England so that they wouldn't have to put up with his loudmouthed threats.

Not quite. More than just a little credit goes to the French. Without them, the Continental Army would, as had happened to its naval counterpart, be destroyed.

The French whipped the rebels into an almost adequate fighting force.

Sorry, but I'm glad this series ended when it did; it just jumped the shark.

A&E stopped making it because it got to be too expensive. That's it.