What hold did Davey have over Joss?
Was expecting some sort of 'big reveal', but it never came. Presumably the book explains this better?
shareBecause he was a Man of God? Supposedly.
shareI have not read the book for the original source.
But in the '83 version, I got the impression that Davey having been into local lore (Druid stuff) had managed to obtain the locket from Joss that he stole from Mary's father during the wrecking Joss did that killed Mary's father.
It's mentioned in the '83 BBC/ITV version early on that the locket her mother and dad had went missing when his ship was foundered and the crew murdered. Later, we see that Davey has managed to get his hands on the locket--it's displayed in his grip.
So I just presumed that Davey knew exactly what Joss had been up to and could black mail him by using the locket whenever he wanted to. The locket was the smoking gun. And Davey was probably wanting to fund his various Druid activities and lifestyle and church through the continuing booty.
Have not yet seen ep 3 of this current one, so don't know if Davey's role is portrayed that way.
Yes, this is what I thought, too. Blackmail.
shareOk. That makes more sense. Thanks for your answer. And, yes, they do make a big deal of showing the locket in Davey's possession.
Only thing is:
1) One has to think that using one killing as a means of blackmail will offer diminishing returns over time (after committing 10 murders the idea that Davey's threat to expose the first would strike fear into Joss's heart and reduce him to a gibbering wreck seems a little odd)
2) Davey has the locket in his possession so the law could equally question how he came by it. It's his word against Joss's that it was Joss responsible for the murder. I guess him being a man of the cloth and Joss being perceived as scum plays into it, but you can still imagine Davey hanging on to other evidence to bolster his case.
3) Joss's claim that Mary's father was a wrecker/murderer himself is presumably a cover for his own sins?
Although this would support the idea that he feels more than just regular guilt over a murder - the torment he's shown undergoing might equally be a function of fear of being exposed as a killer of his own brother.
Either way we are never given any clear indication as to what the back story of the locket might be let alone why it serves as a smoking gun.
I may need to read the book lol.
Yes, I also came to the conclusion that the book is required reading now. Have been searching my book shelves to see if it happens to be there, sadly not.
It would be interesting to see how du Maurier presented everything without seeing it through the eyes of modern writers.
Even the very good 1983 series with Jane Seymour and Trevor Eve took its liberties, probably.
This serial had me searching out the original novel of which I possessed a copy and I would certainly recommend it to anyone. Having completed the novel, I have to reveal that the locket referred to in this correspondence is completely and utterly the invention of a dramatist or dramatists - a locket plays NO PART WHATEVER in the original novel and, equally, there is absolutely NO suggestion that Mary's father died as the result of a wrecking - whether orchestrated by Davey and Joss or by anyone else. The correspondent who believed Davey's status within the community (nothing more nor less) led Joss to defer to him has it about right. When Davey is revealing to Mary his role as mastermind of the wreckers and smugglers he tells her how Joss (the terror of the district!) would stand nervously before Davey twisting his (Joss's) hat in his fingers and regularly tugging his forelock as Davey instructed or berated him! Davey has no sister in the novel (Hannah is his HOUSEKEEPER and there is no Beth)and Hannah is quite unaware of her employer's double life. The events leading up to the revelation that Davey is the mysterious mastermind are much more involved than what Harry reveals while sharing a cell with Jem and this again never happens in the novel - the two are not even imprisoned at the same time. It is not seeing a picture of a shipwreck in the parson's study which makes Mary suspicious of Davey although a picture IS involved. Lastly, despite an admission by the clergyman that he finds the barbaric religion of the ancients preferable to 'sickening' Christianity there is no hint that Davey actually practised human sacrifice - as I felt the dramatisation attempted to suggest towards the end. I repeat that I can recommend the original novel very strongly indeed.
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