"POLDARK" (1975) and Misogyny

"POLDARK" (1975) AND MISOGYNY

I have just finished the first half of the 1970s adaptation of the “POLDARK” novels.  The 1975 series covered the saga’s first four novels in sixteen episodes.  And Episodes Thirteen to Sixteen adapted Winston Graham’s 1953 novel, “Warleggan”. And how did I feel about it?

Personally, I was disgusted. Those episodes, especially Episodes Fifteen and Sixteen, struck me as one of the most blatant displays of misogyny I have ever seen on television.  Episode Fifteen featured the rape of the character, Elizabeth Poldark by her cousin-in-law and former beau, Ross Poldark, the series’ protagonist. He had raped her out of jealousy and some puerile attempt to stop her from marrying his rival, George Warleggan. And yet, the series went out of its way to demonize Elizabeth’s character in an effort to justify Ross’ rape of her.  In Episodes Thirteen to Sixteen, the series transformed Elizabeth into some cold and money hungry bitch concerned only with a life of luxury and no concern for anyone else, including her son by her first marriage, Geoffrey Charles Poldark.  This is ridiculous, considering Elizabeth was portrayed in the novel as a loving mother.

The producers and screenwriter Jack Russell clearly wanted to establish the belief that Elizabeth was being punished by Ross for not only rejecting him, but for also being some money-hungry bitch.  It was disgusting to watch.  What I found even more disgusting was that Russell added a scene in which she and Ross encountered each other a few weeks after the rape.  In that scene, he merely regarded her with disgust for marrying George, despite the fact that he had RAPED HER only a few weeks earlier.  I was so disgusted by this that I had to turn off the DVD to collect myself before finishing the episode.  

Episode Sixteen finally ended with George enclosing the Trenwith estate from tenants.  The latter retaliated with an attack on Trenwith, before burning it down.  This never happened in the novel and it was quite clear to me that the producers and Russell created this whole scenario as a smoke screen to keep the viewers from remembering the fact that Ross Poldark is a rapist.  By the time I finished viewing the 1975 adaptation, I felt ugly, dirty and disgusted.