Poldark : If Elizabeth had not married Frances

If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I doubt she would have married Ross. I just can't imagine her living at Ross' house with Judd and Purdy, no money, doing any physical labor to keep things afloat. They seem so mismatched up until this point of the story.

Now if Ross hit the payload and becomes a wealthy man........

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I just can't imagine her living at Ross' house with Judd and Purdy, no money, doing any physical labor to keep things afloat.


and her mother constantly complaining that Elizabeth wasted herself on Ross...

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Between her mother and her own self importance, she never would have married a poor man even with a goodname.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I think she would have managed. She stepped up and supported Frances when he lost his mine. She stood by her husband, with her husband as he told his employees that they had lost their livelihood. She even managed when money became short. She handled the situation with a man she liked, not loved. She does love Ross. I'm not talking about the book Elizabeth but I think the show Elizabeth would have been happier married to Ross and living with little in the way of money. I even think she would have had some incredible character growth.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

CladdaghFae, I agree with you as I have stated in past threads that Elizabeth and Ross could have made it work. They each would have brought out character traits in each other that did not have the opportunity to be nurtured with their respective spouses. You'll find that view is a tiny minority though.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

She definitely would have made him less reckless and more worldly wise.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I strongly disagree! Ross is who he is, in the books and in both tv series. No wife is going to change him.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Not change, but mitigate, soften or work with different but complimentary approaches.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Ross had nothing from the time he returned. I just can't see Elizabeth marrying a man with nothing, living in poverty like he and Demelza did. She was already married to Frances when he went broke, what choice did she have but to try to look the prideful wife to Frances?

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Yup plus she wouldn't have had the smarts to help Ross like Demelza did those many times. I mean she still believes George didn't try to get Ross hanged.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I think the trouble is that in the book and the show Demelza is the obvious heroine. But I think Debbie Horsfield and Heida Reed have done an amazing job in fleshing out Elizabeth from the books. I can understand and see why she chooses and does the things she does. I like her.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I disagree that they have fleshed out Elizabeth "from the books"; they have fleshed out Elizabeth from their heads. Elizabeth from the books is a very different character from Elizabeth in this series. So far I have been bored by her, but it looks like she might be getting more interesting soon.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Yes she my fave in this series, sure if they had portrayed her like the books we would'nt have seen such a love triangle.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I think she would have had a hard time coping if she was married to Ross. Even if Francis was poor financial straits during the end of his life, he still owned the very grand Trenwith. I don't think Nampara would have been enough for her or her mother.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Maybe not her mother but I think Elizabeth would have been happy at Nampara if she was married to Ross. I think she was have gained a measure of peace and happiness being married to the man she loved. She didn't mind helping in the fields with Frances and Demelza never worked in the mines so I don't expect Elizabeth would have been expected to do that either. I actually think with Elizabeth as his wife Ross would have prospered sooner. Both Ross and Frances never confided in their spouses or that they don't confide fully. I think that would have been Ross and Elizabeth strongest point if they had married. Is that they would have talked about everything.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Agree, maybe if they had married from the start she may not have coped but if he had chosen her later on I think she would have gone out of her way to make it work, and by that time the Mother was very ill anyhow so could'nt influence her. like you said, when she was reconciled with Francis she did all she could to make the marriage work.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Exactly, when I'm think of the possibility of Elizabeth and Ross's marriage I'm thinking back to how they were before Ross left for the army. Or if Elizabeth had managed to reach Ross before her mother stopped her in the garden. I'm thinking of how they were then not how they are 3yrs later with other people.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I actually think with Elizabeth as his wife Ross would have prospered sooner.


No way, not imo.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

But Ross isn't Francis. Ross broke Jim Carter out of jail, helped the miners gather pilchards, permitted a smuggling ship to unload in his cove and store contraband in his house, was on trial for wrecking and murder, etc. This is a far, far cry from Francis doing a little harvesting.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

True that is why I say we have missed out on an incredible growth as a character from Elizabeth.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

She had numerous chances to show the growth you refer to, but she didn't. I think the early years of her marriage to Francis are a good indication of how well Elizabeth handles things when they aren't going well. She pushed him away when he reached out to her. She used excuses to keep him out of her bed. When he was drinking and visitng Margret, she was helpless to change things. How woukd she have coped with Ross?

She told Ross that she thought she loved Francis but she was wrong. Would she have felt that way if her marriage to Francis hadn't soured? If Francis hadn't started drinking and whoring? I doubt it. Imo she decided she didn't love Francis after things soured.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

But she didn't love Frances like she said. She would have tried harder to keep her husbands affections if her husband had been Ross. I don't see Elizabeth pushing Ross away and seeing how he still gets flustered by her after 3yrs I dont see Ross straying from Elizabeth. Also seeing how passionate they were I could just picture all their squabbles finding common ground though their passion for each other,

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I'm sorry but this is a silly notion that love and passion conquers all. Their love and passion, would not have been able to conquer the fundamental aspect of their personalities. They would not have blended well together. Elizabeth was very happy in her place in society and Ross riled against it. Ross cared too much for his workers and their families, sometimes more than his own. Elizabeth would never have accepted being placed second, in his concerns. He is fire and she is ice. It might create steam but not a happy marriage.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

Again when I think of Ross and Elizabeth marrying I think of the people they were three years ago not now, and to be fair she was all fire with Ross on the one night they spent together. A man she loves as appose to being lukewarm with a man she merely liked and was content to spend the rest of her life with. I didn't say love and passion conquers all, only that they do have love and passion between them.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

First there is about ten years between Ross coming home and when the VBT occurs, so I don't know where you came up with three years. When Ross came home he was destitute, he had nothing to offer Elizabeth, a gentle breed woman. Elizabeth would have asked Ross to play the system and work within genteel society, that is not in Ross' personality. Elizabeth was in love with a young rash man, the bad boy, which has its appeal to a young impressible girl but that love could never have sustained the young woman she had become or the woman she wanted to be. Their love would have soured faster than her love for Francis' did. At least Francis had a standing in their community and wealthy friends, a big estate that he inherit, Ross had none of these things. I think you have to remember that the first book was called the "renegade", it was called that because that is what Ross is and Elizabeth could never have been happy with a renegade.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I agree.

Ross is a man who has no qualms with flouting the law when it suits his needs. He was like that before he went to war in America and came back still like that. Ross's activities would have embittered Elizabeth -- with or without her mother standing behind her, hissing all the time about what a rake Ross is.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Francis


True that is why I say we have missed out on an incredible growth as a character from Elizabeth.

I don't think Elizabeth is capable of that kind of growth. For example, in Series 2 episode 9 (Spoiler Alert), Elizabeth is frustrated because she has been waiting for Ross to return, to no avail. Aunt Agatha reminds her of what happened the last time she waited for Ross fruitlessly: she ended up marrying Francis, whom she did not really love. Aha! The light bulb goes on, and Elizabeth draws the obvious, logical conclusion: Last time I was passive, and got stuck with a dud, so this time I should ... remain passive again, and marry another man I don't love! QED. Case closed. Cogito ergo stupid.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

When Elizabeth is on screen it makes you wonder what she is doing between visits of other people. It seems like she has absolutely nothing else going on. What a boring life. You can see why gentle-women would have so many hobbies because the days would be excruciatingly slow.

What would Elizabeth do at Nampara? What would she have done with Ross was on trial or when he was looking at going to debtor's prison? I just don't think she would have been able to handle it.

However, I think Ross is a total dick for giving Elizabeth that $600 saying she needs it more than Demelza because Demelza is miner's daughter with other skills. WTH. She's got to raise your son!

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Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I think Ross is a total dick for giving Elizabeth that $600 saying she needs it more than Demelza because Demelza is miner's daughter with other skills.

In the long run, though, that will work out very well for Ross. Now that Wheal Grace has hit a huge load of tin, Ross and Demelza will be getting rather wealthy. And since Ross bought back Geoffrey Charles's share of the mine from Elizabeth, he gets to keep it all.

Re: If Elizabeth had not married Frances

I would been over to his house the second I found out he wasn't dead, damn girl.......
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