I thought that cliche she used when the king was plowing her; "I closed my eyes and thought of England," was sooooo dumb. She never said that in the book, and it's been used so many times in British tv shows and literature (usually the adult-oriented kind) that it made us all groan while watching.
Usually it's a phrase a British Nobleman tells the wife who doesn't love him (it was a business arrangement between families) to do that while they're having sex to produce heirs. Either that, or it's a joke for women married to men they don't like, but have to have sex with to keep him happy and her in a comfortable home and lifestyle.
What really happened was (in the book), Claire wore the infamous red dress, went to see the king, had to mediate the duel between the little frog-like wizard and the asshole Count, the wizard gets a fake poison, the Count gets a real one and croaks, the wizard leaves, the count's body gets cleared out, and the king did a quickie with Claire because his mistress was waiting in her bedchamber down the hall. They barely even removed any clothing.
To be fair, after a while of reading, it seemed almost like every time Jamie and Claire were together, their lives became chaotic and trouble was drawn to them like a magnet. Whereas, things were quieter when they weren't together.
I personally wouldn't marry a man who had belted me for "disobeying him," but then again, I wouldn't have tried escaping at that specific time that Claire did when she tried to go home. She was an idiot, running off like that. Despite her intelligence about a lot of things, sometimes Claire would do something really stupid.
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Mustang (5256)
9 months ago
From what I have found online that phrase wasn't documented until 1912 https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/close-your-eyes-and-think-of-england.html so although it is fair that Claire would be aware of it, it would hardly mean anything to the people of Scotland at the time she is in. And yes it is groan inducing.
Speaking of Claire removing her clothing that was part of the humour when I started watching the show, she was naked every episode from memory and multiple times per ep!
I can only go by the TV series and it seems Claire even in her WW2 home era was prone to chaos, if I recall correctly she was not all that in love with her husband? Maybe I am getting that wrong. She certainly didn't have any problems cavorting with Jamie. Jamie would probably be happy tending a farm somewhere with a nice quiet wife and growing crops!
Claire is extremely emotional I agree and not as smart as we are supposed to think she is.
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AmeriGirl26 (12493)
9 months ago
Claire was not naked all the time. It's just those scenes stand out to people more than the scenes where she was clothed.
The problem with Claire's relationship with Frank was, she first fell in love with him quickly before the war. If she hadn't gone time-traveling, I think the two of them would have had an okay life together, but they could have easily had a falling out too. It wasn't unusual for people to have married in haste during WWII, only to find out that when their new spouse was actually home and in a peaceful setting, that they actually weren't that great of a person. It's like a more extreme version of leaving the "honeymoon phase." The trouble was, divorce was difficult to get and discouraged in the 50s, so often people stayed in bad marriage for a long time, due to public opinion and the kids, like what Claire and Frank did.
However, going back in time caused Claire not only to be traumatized by an indirect ancestor of Frank's that looked exactly like him, but she found her true soulmate in Jamie, and honestly, after being with Jamie, Frank didn't stand a chance. It would be like comparing Adonis to Pinocchio.
(Claire found out later on that her first husband was actually descended from Black Jack Randall's younger brother, not the man himself. She was fooled for a long time due to an error in historical records, gaps in the historical records, and the fact that he looked exactly like her husband, despite living 200 years ago).
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