Dragonfly: The Danger of a Woman without Tact (A Reactionary Moments Post)

Twentieth-Century Claire does not learn her place in Outlander, and the reader, on the whole, can be grateful for that, since playing by the rules accorded to women in 18th Century France, where she and Jamie are for the better part of Dragonfly in Amber, would be unsatisfactory to Claire and to the reader who has become accustomed to the tensions that her 1940s, war-nurse sensibilities bring to the narrative.  But she is still not given carte blanche to act like a freethinking, liberated woman (insofar as we think women in the 1940s were "liberated" in the contemporary, post-1960s sense of the word!).

This becomes abundantly clear during Claire's first meeting with Jamie's cousin Jared, and with his rival the Comte St. Germain.  Ever-conscious of illness, hygiene, and infection, Claire diagnoses a case of smallpox among the crewe of St. Germain's ship, the Patagonia, in a very public manner.  To prevent an epidemic, the ship (and its pricey cargo) are destroyed.

A careful reader of Outlander might remember the Comte's name.  Or might not.  I did not--until rereading Outlander, having already read the rest of the series.  Among the books in Geilie Duncan's secret room in Outlander is L'Grimoire d'le Comte St. Germain: "A grimoire. A handbook of magic" (Outlander 503).  It is a connection--a name that likely means nothing to the reader (though St. Germain is a suspicious historical figure), hence a detail easily missed, and testimony to the value of rereading!

Historical details notwithstanding, the Comte becomes a focal point for further instruction for Claire on her social limitations as a woman, and simply the lethal rules of social interactions.  Jamie asks whether she values their attempt to prevent the Jacobite Rising, and when Claire responds affirmatively, Jamie lays things on the line for her:

     "Aye, well.  If ye do, then you'll come here, sit yourself down, and drink wine with me until Jared comes back.  And if ye don't..."  He paused and blew out a long breath that stirred the ruddy wave of hair above his forehead.
     "If ye don't, then you'll go down to a quay full of seamen and merchants who think women near ships are the height of bad luck, who are already spreading gossip that you've put a curse on St. Germain's ship, and you'll tell them what they must do.  With luck, they'll be too afraid of ye to rape you before they cut your throat and toss you into the harbor, and me after you.  If St. Germain himself doesna strangle you first.  Did ye no see the look on his face?" (Dragonfly 123)

In a comment on a previous post, Melanie Bettinelli of the Wine Dark Sea blog asks why Claire's character hails from the 1940s, rather than later in the Twentieth Century.  The point comes back to me as I consider Claire's readiness to diagnose.  I am not sure about the 1940s, but I do know (from my mother's experiences assisting in surgery and working in a VA hospital) that in the 1970s, a nurse would never, ever have been permitted to make a diagnosis.  And Claire is trained as a nurse, though she acts like a doctor given that her knowledge is superior to 18th Century medicine.  Still... she should have had more restraint when it came to making a diagnosis.  As a woman from later in the 20th C, Claire would have been able to be a doctor, and would have had more of an excuse for her brash brazenness.

Or perhaps this is a hint of an argument that a feeling of historical and cultural superiority--a real hubris--runs through the 20th Century, as early as 1945.