OK, I am cheating a little bit on I. I’ve been trying to
stick to characters from books (with or without film adaptations) that had
stayed with me for this series. However, my love and appreciation for my I
character is strong enough to allow an exception for one television character.
I is for Isabelle Crawley from Downton Abbey
Isabelle Crawley, a
distant relation to the well-to-do Grantham family, appears in the first
episode of the show with her son, Matthew. Isaballe is in every way a quiet
upstart in the eyes of the aristocracy she associates with. She elects to have
a job when she clearly has the means not to. She takes on the poor and downtrodden
as projects and routinely sets them on the path for a better life.
In short, in a cast full of the snooty upperclass, Isabelle
is the ultimate bleeding heart liberal and shy feminist. Her interactions with
Lady Violet bring comedy to the show, and her unprecedented empathy bring it
some humanity.
