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Daisy is One of My favorite Characters: POSSIBLE SPOILERS!

posted 8 years ago by angelosdaughter
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Daisy is one of my very favorite characters, along with Mrs. Hughes, Mrs Patmore,and Thomas. In my opinion, Daisy grew the most. I remember Daisy talking with Mr. Mason saying, "I were never special to anyone but William." I think she might have been an orphan, and maybe Mrs. Patmore brought her into the kitchens. She certainly treats and advises her in a motherly way, even paying for some of her classes. When Daisy finds her voice she really uses it, sometimes unjustly, but like many young people, she is idealistic and passionate. She becomes a surrogate daughter to the now childless Mr. Mason, and he becomes a father to her. She is ready to defend him like a tigress; she is special to him. I am glad that in the end it seems as though Mr. Mason and Mrs. Patmore may have a future together. And at last in her adulthood, Daisy will have parents, someone to whom she belongs. I much prefer Daisy to the simpering and hormonal Rose McClair, although even she shows some awareness of worlds other than her safe and protected one.
In some ways I find the servants' area below stairs more interesting than that of the family upstairs.

I could be a morning person if morning happened at noon.

[–] OnlyRocknRoll 8 years ago

Daisy may have been a good cook, but she was an idiot.

I don't think that Mrs. Patmore should have twisted her arm into marrying William Mason, but in the earliest episodes she made a fool of her self with various crushes on men that were NOT interested in her,including Barrow. She was nasty to Ivy because Alfred liked her instead.

She reads a few books, becomes a social critic/reformer, an then starts yelling at the man who was buying the farm that old Mason worked. She was so dense that she couldn't see that SHE was making things worse for old Mason. Then she jumps to the conclusion that he'll get Yew Farm when it wasn't even negotiated yet let alone a done deal when she tells old Mason about it.

She was an ignorant, tactless, whiny IDIOT who needed a good clout on her noggin and a swift boot to her fanny.

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[–] dustnik2 8 years ago

I always liked Daisy, but I HATED what was done to her character in Season 6 (like many other characters.) She was turned into a shrill, entitled brat. I wish she would have gone off to college in the end, but that would mean someone actually leaving Downton.

You can't hold her early crushes against her. Remember, she was very young, and we all had unrequited crushes when we were her age, didn't we?

[–] OnlyRocknRoll 8 years ago

In addition to books about English history, Molesly should have given her a book on Critical Reasoning along with Miss Manners book of etiquette.

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[–] angelosdaughter 8 years ago

We are given very little of Daisy's backstory aside from her comment that "I were never special to anyone but William." She might have been an orphan. She had little education. As a 'below stairs' servant, she would not have had training in etiquette except for the barest essentials. She,to whom little sympathy or manners had been taught, cannot have been expected to have those qualities. They cannot necessarily be found in a book, especially those to whom, like Daisy, reading is a chore. Critical thinking could not be expected of her. Indeed even now many people lack the ability to reason critically.
Daisy at the end of the series has been somewhat chastened by the mistakes she has made and softened by the example and counsel of people such as Mrs. Patmore, Mrs. Hughes, Mr. Molesley, Mr.Mason, and even the Granthams.

I could be a morning person if morning happened at noon.

[–] condorilloclqt 8 years ago

I also liked the character, i believe that in somewhere, JF stated that Daisy came from a very poor big family of farmers, almost like a orphan, and basically Mrs Patmore pitied her and brought to work besides her in the kitchen when she was a girl. Also, Daisy had the lowest position among the servants, the same Fellowes once said that the difference betwen Daisy and Carson was bigger than the difference betwen Carson and Lord Grantham, that speaks volume about her background and rank among her fellow workers and society back then. Also Daisy it was suposed to be 14 when the series started.

Having said that, we most remember that her adolescent years, she spended it in the kitchen, working from 6 to 10 pm, without social life, without real friends and knowing more about the world. For that reason, i think that is totally credible that she is naive and clumsy in her ways, but in the end, the causes that she defends are the correct ones. On the contrary, i hated both of the Bates, they were the ONLY SERVANTS who never complained about the society in wich they lived, for them, all was perfect.

Also, we must not forger that JF is a very conservative person, any person in the show who is liberal or socialist is portrayed as a stupid. Look Tom, a socialist who burns a castle, Sarah Bunting as a rude person, Daisy in the last series for speaks her mind about the injustices of her time, etc. In the other hand, JF tried to sell the idea that all the conservatives are kind, fair people, who never let down a tenant farmer, or Cora would gave one of her expensive coats to her housemaid, etc, simply ludricrous. The aristocracy didnt even know the names of most of their servants names, only the ones who spend more time like the butler, valet and lady maids.

[–] OnlyRocknRoll 8 years ago

I found that the traditional aristocracy as portrayed in this series were equally stupid, mean, cruel, nasty, immoral, self-satisfied, and complacent as the servants were.

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[–] angelosdaughter 8 years ago

...and even with that said, these fictional characters were better than their real-life counterparts.

I could be a morning person if morning happened at noon.

[–] OnlyRocknRoll 8 years ago

Certainly far more entertaining.

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[–] myndchanger 8 years ago

I think that the point was that Aristocracy was mirrored by the peasant/servant class. It was the end of an era where working in a Big house was considered safety, and wages were sent back to the family. With the rise of the industrial. workers were paid a little more but treated worse. Many women like Daisy left, found a job but when something went wrong, became a Maddie Earp in order to survive.

[–] condorilloclqt 8 years ago

It depends, in the xix, probably was in that way, but the show in the final season is in 1920´s, in that period England had advanced more in social justice, protection of the workers, etc. Off course, if we compare the safety of the workers with our standars its another world, but in that period, all that were serious advances for the working class. Also it wasnt all about money, it was about freedom also, servants were forced to be unmarried because their fidelity must be with the "family", they basically worked all the day from 6 to 10 pm, only with the sundays off (only to go to church). So, it wasnt strange that young servants wanted to work in hotels, restaurants, as secretaries, etc. Also most of that advances were not enjoyed by the servants of those houses, because the law didnt apllied to them (the chamber of lords and the upper classes tried and succeded from including them in those new working laws). So, the resentment betwen the "servant" class was very high in that time, if they worked there, was because they must, but to any chance of scape they leave it (as few servants in the show did it).

Also those houses, even having a little army of servants were facing financial troubles, possitions like lady maids, valets were being made by other servants because there wasnt enough money to hire more workers. So in reality, Anna would probably be working as a lady maid for Mary and Cora, Carson would also dress Robert and be the butler, etc. JF specifically said that somewhere, but for dramatic purposes they decided that the house would still have specific servants.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (47421091) 8 years ago

I HATED Daisy. She was one of the most annoying characters in the show. It wouldn't be fair for me though not to mention that the actress who played the part was brilliant. Hated the character, loved the portrayal.

[–] mecham-173-366932 8 years ago

Daisy created a domino effect - BAD -she told Edith about Kamal Patuk creating a scandal so Mary had to marry to keep it hidden. -GOOD -She mailed the letter for Lavinia which made it possible to save DA.
She may have been at the bottom of the ladder but she saw so many things like a mouse in a pocket. I wondered about her age - she was there for at least the 13 years and then young Andy fancies her when he is so young? I agree that she was annoying in season 6 causing disruption for the whole family but proud she finished school with good grades. Maybe it will come in handy later....

[–] tomcervo 8 years ago

She's in her mid-20's by stories' end; a young teen when we first saw her. When you consider that she's had almost no childhood or adolescence, her rebellion late in the series is understandable. She's making up for years of self-suppression.

Her outburst at the auction, which everyone complained about, is exactly the sort of thing that an outraged teen like the younger Sybil would have thought and perhaps said, and she was absolutely right.

[–] Moonlighty 8 years ago

I disagree. If you've lived in a society where you don't even interact with the family you work for and there's a very rigid social structure, you don't learn a couple things then explode in rebellion. You aren't a completely different person who can go so far beyond acceptable social behavior because you learned about political parties. You aren't a completely new person as if years of social structure no longer affects you.

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Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that I'll be over here looking through your stuff.

[–] condorilloclqt 8 years ago

Daisy never interacted with the "family" much, but she clearly interacted with the rest of the servants and betwen them there was a clearly structure. The servants class and working class, wich Daisy belong, was well aware of the politic system and becoming increasingly aware of the injustices of their time. In fact, the series never explored, but in that time people like Robert, Carson and others were really, really afraid that Britain would be another revolution, the USRR emerged then, also the comunists in german, france, etc.

In britain there were a lot of strikes that finally would produce the big strike of 1926, unemployement was high because the war economy was no longer and a lot men came back from the army and didnt find job, the labour party replaced the liberal party (remember how Robert and Violet were afraid of Lloyd George and the liberals, now its worse, is the labour party), almost 1/3 of the workers had join a union, etc. The women (some part of them) have the vote, etc. The behaviour of Daisy, agreed it was rude, but it was the normal of the working class peopole, in the contrary the behaviour of the Bates was the strange one. Fewer and fewer servants wanted to stay in a job that practically you must work 24/7 and basically go and help lady Mary or lady Edith put the food in their mouths.

Again, JF was so conservative that he couldnt resist protray a people like that like a stupid and spoiled, look Tom Branson, his evolution was to be Mary´s cheeleader with Anna, or Edith, instead of living independent in London with her daughter she crawled back to the house to be humilliated again.

[–] Am_I_the_one 8 years ago

I couldn't stand Daisy! She was a selfish brat! Mr. Carson should have fired her a long time ago.