Tag: scottish history

Posted on

Anatomy Lesson #59: Claire the Knife!

“Claire the Knife” is not a usual anatomy lesson. Rather, let’s explore the many images of Claire with a honed edge either in her hands or directed at her person! Such images are taken from S1-S3 of Outlander. There are even more examples in Herself’s books that weren’t translated onto the screen. Please notify me if I miss any fine examples of “Claire the Knife!”  Let’s get started!

Early in Outlander episode 101, Sassenach, Claire accidentally encounters Frank’s ancestor, Captain Jonathan Wolverton Randall, Esq. From Outlander book:

“Who the bloody hell are you?” I demanded again. 

… He bowed sardonically, hand over his heart. “I am, madam, Jonathan Randall, Esquire, Captain of His Majesty’s Eighth Dragoons. At your service, madam.”

Not an officer-and-a-gentleman, she is soon backed against a stone ridge with his sword pressed to her lovely throat (Anatomy Lesson #12, Claire’s Neck or The Ivory Tower). 

Your honor, I submit, Exhibit #1! <g>

Then, in Outlander episode 104, The Gathering, Claire twice encounters a knife, once in her hand and once shoved into her beautiful face!

Swiftly gliding into Mrs. Fitz’s kitchen, Claire grabs for a butcher knife amid bins of potatoes (Hey, I thought Jenny introduces those to Scotland?), chicken and other delectables. She is gathering provisions for a furtive flight to the stones. Outlander book explains: 

During my hours helping in the kitchens and orchards, I had managed to stow away sufficient food to see me provided for several days, I thought… I had stout boots and a warm cloak, courtesy of Colum. I would have a decent horse; on my afternoon visit to the stables, I had marked out the one I meant to take.

Her knife grab is thwarted by Ms. Fitz: 

“Claire! You aren’t wearing that to the ceremony, are ye lass?”

No, Mrs. Fitz, she’s not wearing that butcher knife! Hee, hee.

Later in evening as the entire ensemble is either oath-taking or stinking drunk, Claire sidles into the stables to steal away on Brimstone.

Oops! She steps on Jamie cocooned in hay (yay!).  Mistaking her as a threat, he threatens her with his dirk! (wink, wink) 

“Jesus H. Rosevelt Christ!” 

“No, sassenach, just me.” 

(We all ken he is divine, just not that kind of divine!)

From Outlander book: 

The obstruction rolled over with a startled oath and grasped me hard by the arms. I found myself held against the length of a sizable male body, with someone’s breath tickling my ear.

Then, Dougal and his band of merry men head off to collect taxes and conduct other clan “business” in  Outlander episode 105, Rent.  Dougal explains in Outlander book:

“Through the MacKenzie lands. Colum doesna travel, so visiting the tenants and tacksmen that canna come to the Gathering—that’s left to me. And to take care of the bits of business here and there.”

On the road, Claire witnesses “fowl” play by Dougal and his men. Declaring she will not eat yummy-looking birds she thinks were roasted by thieves, Claire quickly faces the point of Angus’ dirk.  Angus is having none of it that kind of name calling, especially from an English sassenach spy! Fortunately, Jamie talks him down and Claire flounces away with left eye intact. 

By episode’s end, Claire and Dougal are accosted by Lt. Jeremy Foster.

In Outlander episode 106, The Garrison Commander, both are delivered to the garrison at Brockton.  There, she enjoys a sumptuous meal (excepting the claret) with Brigadier General Lord Oliver Thomas, et al, until, horror of horrors, Captain Black Jack arrives. Thereafter, things take a distinctly downward turn! 

After aiding the amputation of a soldier’s arm, she returns to the dining room to find puir Corporal Hawkins performing ablutions on BJR! Claire recognizes the stropped blade as a family heirloom – the very one she used to shave first hubby, Frank.

If only, she held that blade to BJR’s neck – could have saved she and Jamie a world of hurt! Another blade – another time. From Outlander book: 

“Yes, I thought so. It had to be you, from MacKenzie’s description.” The door closed behind me, and I was alone with Captain Jonathan Randall of His Majesty’s Eighth Dragoons. He was dressed this time in a clean red-and-fawn uniform, with a lace-trimmed stock and a neatly curled and powdered wig.

But the face was the same—Frank’s face. My breath caught in my throat.

This time, though, I noticed the small lines of ruthlessness around his mouth, and the touch of arrogance in the set of his shoulders. Still, he smiled affably enough, and invited me to sit down.

Escaping BJR’s clutches, Dougal stops off at St. Ninian’s spring for a wee nip of sulfurous water. Known in the highlands as a liar’s spring, he waits to see if the magical waters will burn Claire’s gullet (Anatomy Lesson #45, Tremendous Tube – GI System, Part 2)!  He draws a dirk to finish her off should massive heartburn set in. From Outlander book: 

“No!” Something occurred to me. “So at least you believe me when I say I’m not an English spy?”

“I do now.” He spoke with some emphasis. …

“St. Ninian’s spring.

…They call it the liar’s spring, as well. The water smells o’ the fumes of hell. Anyone who drinks the water and then tells untruth will ha’ the gizzard burnt out of him.”

Fast forward one episode, Dougal finally gets his wish as his dirk bites into Claire’s wrist!

Blood vow at a wedding she never sought, but well worth the scar!

Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone. 

I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One.

I give ye my Spirit, ’til our Life shall be Done.

Outlander Episode 108, Both Sides Now: Still on rent-collection duty, the MacKenzie band is raided by Clan Grant! Rent, horses, food, what-have-you, everything is fair game. In the aftermath, Jamie is scolded for giving his wife a dirk for protection but not teaching her how to use one. Time for Claire to get a knife-life lesson. Ned Gowan extracts a small sgian dubh drawn from a more private part of his, ahem, breeks. So, she takes a knife-wielding lesson from TV Angus/book Rupert. Willie is the sacrificial lamb: 

He poked a blunt forefinger under the lower rib on the right, … “This is the spot in back—either side. See, wi’ all the ribs and such, ’tis verra difficult to hit anythin’ vital when ye stab in the back. If ye can slip the knife between the ribs, that’s one thing, but that’s harder to do than ye might think. But here, under the last rib, ye stab upward into the kidney. Get him straight up, and hell drop like a stone.” 

Fab advice as hours later, Jamie and Claire slip into the heather for a quick tryst, soon to be disturbed by two Redcoat deserters (coitus interruptus –  snort!). Thwarting her assaulter, Claire thrusts the sgian dubh – into the spot – as she was taught. The lass learned her lesson well!

Then, comes Outlander episode 109, The Reckoning: Captured by the Redcoats, assaulted (again) by BJR, rescued and then skelped by her second husband, they seek their way back to each other. As an act of penance, Jamie swears fealty to Claire, this time the dirk is pressed against his bosom (Outlander book):

I swear on the cross of my Lord Jesus, and by the holy iron which I hold, that I give ye my fealty and pledge ye my loyalty. If ever my hand is raised against you in rebellion or in anger, then I ask that this holy iron may pierce my heart.

And, they are off to the races! Oops – not so fast, my lad. In the midst of “reconciliation,” Claire threatens Jamie’s chin with his dirk (Anatomy Lesson #26, Jamie’s Chin – Manly Mentus).

“If,” I said through my teeth, “you ever raise a hand to me again, James Fraser, I’ll cut out your heart and fry it for breakfast!” 

Och! Parritch sounds much, much bettah!

Then, things quiet down for a bit and we see little of “Claire the Knife.” That is, until BJR gets his hands on Jamie. He has coveted the lad since the first flogging. After Murtagh scraps what is left of Jamie off the dungeon stones, they flee Wentworth, returning Jamie to his lawful wife.  There she mends his mangled hand, courtesy of BJR and giant Marley.

Blades again, this time in the form of scissors, clip sutures used to mend his broken skin (Outlander ep 116, To Ransom a Man’s Soul).

Up pops Season 2. Claire, being pregnant with Faith, isn’t into knife heroics.  An exception is her work at the Paris charity hospital, L’Hôpital des Anges. There, the scalpel blade slips nicely into her hands. Consider a workman’s festered wound due to an embedded splinter. She opens the wound and removes the offending object (Outlander episode 203, Useful Occupations and Deceptions). That knife has a life of its own!

Fast forward to Outlander episode 213, Dragonfly in Amber, wherein Jamie and Claire find themselves mired in a desperate struggle with Dougal – sly Uncle is intent on killing the sassenach witch!

He should have known that Jamie would protect her with name, clan and body!  But, neither reason, threat, nor cajoling stops Dougal’s advance. A blade to the chest is the only remedy  – in which Claire takes an equal hand – she finishes what Jamie cannot do alone!

Then, comes season 3. The next time a knife creeps into Claire’s hand, it is at the teaching theater awaiting her first anatomy class as a medical student (yay!). Arriving early, she feels the heft of the professor’s scalpel and is pleased with the heft; it fits well in her surgeon-to-be hand (Outlander episode 302, Surrender). 

Following the swiftest medical education ever, Claire is soon a practicing surgeon, clipping “necrotic” tissue from a patient’s abdomen (Outlander ep 305, Whisky and Freedom). Time and training has given Claire the license to legally cut another human. Such is her special calling and she fulfills it with grace and skill. Snip, snip. (Pssst… necrotic tissue isn’t pinkish-red in color, but don’t tell anyone.)

Next thing we know, Claire has donned a bat suit and gone back through the stones to seek A. Malcolm of Edinburgh (Outlander ep 307, Creme de Menthe). Confronting an exciseman in nothing but her shift and a hidden knife, Claire stabs his leg. Have knife – will travel!! He falls, striking his head on the hearth.  

Jamie arrives and what to his wondering eyes should appear, but a dying man – oh such is his fear!

Sassenach, what the devil happened????

I step away to do a little smuggling and return to find my wife with her knife and a dying man!!!

Still counting? Trying to save the life of the SOB (she’s a doctor!), Claire sends for a trephine from the local barber surgeon. She opens her medical kit, retrieving her trusty-not-rusty scalpel. Yes!

She makes a swift cut through the scalp – a space is opened through which the trepanning instrument is inserted. Then, she starts drilling for oil.  Not really, she drills to relieve pressure from an epidural bleed. 

Hang on, Snoopy, hang on – we’re almost finished! Then, in episode 308, First Wife, Claire uses her magic scalpel to open a nick near Jamie’s left oxter (Anatomy Lesson #4, Jamie’s Chest” or “the 8th Wonder of the World!). Her goal is to retrieve bits of lead discharged from Laoghaire’s fowling piece. She grasps and retrieve the bits leaving Jamie’s axillary/brachial artery intact (Anatomy Lesson #56: Achy Brachial Artery)! She is super good with a knife!  

The last time we see Claire wield a blade in TV Outlander, she confronts the Bakra (Outlander episode 313, Eye of the Storm)! Picking up a machete (ax in Voyager book), she screams and advances on Geillis Abernathy! She must prevent the witch from her fulfilling her plan to kill young Ian and pass through the time portal to slay Bree. 

Whack! Claire’s blade finds its mark and the wicked witch lies deid! Graphically explained in Voyager book:

Reflections of the fire burned red in the pupils of her eyes. The red thing, Jamie had called it. I gave myself to it, he had said. 

I didn’t need to give myself; it had taken me.

After fleeing Abandawe cave with Ian and Jamie, Claire trembles in the jungle with gore dropping from the machete. 

It is then she realizes, the 200+ y.o. bones she examined in Boston with Dr. Joe Abernathy (Outlander ep 305, Whisky and Freedom) belonged to none other than Geillis Abernathy!  And, Claire herself, ushered in that well-earned fate! Like I said, Claire the Knife!

To summarize, over many episodes, Claire is at one end or the other of a blade; always has been – always will be. <G>

Bobby Darren sang the hit, “Mack the Knife.” I re-imagine it as, “Claire the Knife:”

Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear

And it shows them pearly white

Just a jackknife is Miss Claire, babe

And she keeps it, ah, out of sight.

Dinna mess with the Sassenach Surgeon!

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

Follow me on:

Photo Creds: Starz, Outlander episodes 101, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 116, 203, 213, 302, 305, 307, 308, 313

 

Posted on

How Claire Got Her Name – 2017 SDCC with Diana!

In Shakespeare’s play, Juliet argues on behalf of her Romeo:

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

Really? What do you think? If Claire were an Alice, Beatrix, or Portia, would she prove as compelling a heroine? And, how did Diana choose her name? I asked Diana during our 2017 SDCC convo. Not surprisingly, her answer proved both informative and entertaining!

Speaking of names, Diana is not stingy with them. In her The Outlandish Companion (Vol. 2), she lists the names and descriptions of all characters in her big novels plus all the Lord John books. They begin on p. 249 and continue through p. 367! She names doormen, cooks, laundresses, tavern owners, the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker. Seriously, in my view, giving names to even minor characters adds flesh to the skeleton of a story, causing greater emotional investment by the reader.

Now, I cannot write about Claire until we’ve dealt with Jamie! I am betting not all fans are aware of the origins of Jamie’s name, so let’s pause for a brief review of this interesting and diverting tale!

Starz, episode 209, Je Suis Prest

Waaaaay back when Outlander book was a mere twinkle in Diana’s eye, she was mulling over a setting for her intended historical novel. Now, Diana rarely watches TV, but on this day, she was doing her nails, so a wee bit of boob tube time was just the ticket (those splendid nails, again <G>)!

She just happened to tune into a PBS rerun of Doctor Who (who else). This rather old episode featured a “companion” of the Doctor’s – a young Scottish fellow named Jamie MacCrimmon, whom the good Doctor picked up in 1745, same year as the Jacobite rising!

In her The Outlandish Companion (Vol. 1), Diana shares her TV epiphany:

This character wore a kilt, which I thought rather fetching, and demonstrated – in this particular episode – a form of pigheaded male gallantry that I’ve always found endearing; the strong urge on the part of a man to protect a woman even though he may realize that she’s plainly capable of looking after herself.

Momentarily, harken back to Starz episode 115, Wentworth Prison (2015). Claire pays a visit to prison warden, Sir Fletcher Gordon, claiming she is Jamie’s distant relation and requesting a face-to-face with the prisoner; her duty as a good Christian woman! Fletcher denies her request (too dangerous), but relinquishes a small wooden box sheltering all of Jamie’s worldly goods, and they are darned few. Heart wrenching! ?

Ever insightful, Claire offers the following piercing description of the warden (Outlander book). Leave it to Claire to compare the fellow to food (snort!):

Sir Fletcher Gordon was a short and portly man, whose striped silk waistcoat fitted him like a second skin. Slope-shouldered and paunch-bellied, he looked rather like a large ham….

It just so happens, actor Frazer Hines who plays Sir Fletcher, is the same lad who played Jamie MacCrimmon in the original Doctor Who episode. Great casting coup!

Starz, episode 115, Wentworth Prison

Diana continues her Outlandish musings about creating Jamie and Outlander book:

I was sitting in church the next day, thinking idly about this particular show (no, oddly enough, I don’t remember what the sermon was about that day), when I said suddenly to myself, Well, heck. You want to write a book, you need a historical period, and it doesn’t matter where or when. The important thing is just to start, somewhere. Okay. Fine. Scotland, eighteenth century.

After Mass, she pulled a scrap of paper from under the front seat of her car, and began writing. And, voila, Jamie stopped being a twinkle in her eye and stepped onto the pages of time. Lucky us!

Well, it wasn’t quite that simple. Consider reading Diana’s full account in The Outlandish Companion, Vol. 1, for further fascinating insights into the origins of Jamie, Claire, and her first and very splendid, novel…well, actually, her first four big novels!

Starz, episode 208, The Fox’s Lair 

Back at SDCC, 2017…. During our drink time, I commented to Diana that many fans know the origin of Jamie’s name but how did she choose the name, Claire, for her heroic heroine? I was certain she had faced this query many times, but, turns out she has rarely been asked this question. So, here is her answer!

Years ago, Diana read The House of the Spirits,  a debut novel (1982) by Isabel Allende. This story details lives of the Trueba family, spanning four generations and tracing the social and political upheavals of Chile during the post-colonial era. The youngest daughter, Clara de Valle, has paranormal powers: she is clairvoyant and telekinetic and rarely attends to domestic duties. Ah, hints of a prototype! Wink, wink!

So, considering a name for her WWII combat nurse, she reflected on Allende’s heroine, Clara. Now, one translation of the name, Clara, is the equivalent of English for “clear.” And, the Latin word, clarus, the English equivalent of Claire, also means “bright” or “clear.” Such adjectives were a perfect fit for the woman who is front and center in all Outlander books, so Diana chose Clear Claire!

Let us be clear about this! From a very early age, Claire is very clear about who she is and what she wants. Hearken the following interaction between Claire, age 5, and her Uncle Lambert!

My father’s only brother, and my only living relative at the time, he had been landed with me, aged five, when my parents were killed in a car crash. Poised for a trip to the Middle East at the time, he had paused in his preparations long enough to make the funeral arrangements, dispose of my parents’ estates, and enroll me in a proper girls’ boarding school. Which I had flatly refused to attend. Faced with the necessity of prying my chubby fingers off the car’s door handle and dragging me by the heels up the steps of the school, Uncle Lamb, who hated personal conflict of any kind, had sighed in exasperation, then finally shrugged and tossed his better judgment out the window along with my newly purchased round straw boater. …He had glanced down at me, fixing me with a fierce glare….

I had nodded, content. And had gone with him to the Middle East, to South America, to dozens of study sites throughout the world. Had learned to read and write from the drafts of journal articles, to dig latrines and boil water, and to do a number of other things not suitable for a young lady of gentle birth—

Pssst….the small domestic service of lighting a smoke for her uncle is conjured up for the TV version. Claire doesn’t do this in the books.

Starz, episode 101, Sassenach

Another great example of Claire’s clarity: at the liar’s spring, she gives it to Dougal point blank. She bloody well knows who she is (Outlander book)!

Are ye a spy for the English or the French?” he asked, with another bewildering change of subject. At least he was being direct, for a change. “Certainly not,” I said crossly. “I’m plain Claire Beauchamp, and nothing more.

Starz episode 106, The Garrison Commander

Is Claire clairvoyant? With that name, she could be. After all, she is known as a white lady and she does posses some very interesting powers that grow over time. She also mixes it up with a real seer while visiting Jamie’s crass grandsire (Dragonfly in Amber book):

“You’ll be my lady Broch Tuarach?” she said, though there was no more than a hint of question in her soft Highland voice. “I am. And you’re … Maisri?” A small smile lit her face. ..A seer, hm? I thought she looked the part.

“Aye, I have the Sight,” she said, the smile widening a bit on her lopsided mouth. “Do mind-reading, too, do you?” I asked. She laughed, the sound vanishing on the wind that moaned through the ruined walls. “No, lady. But I do read faces, and …” “And mine’s an open book. I know,” I said, resigned. … “They do say as you’re a white lady,”…

Not to further belabor the point, but we can count on Claire to live up to her name.

Starz, episode 208, The Fox’s Lair

That’s it! That’s how Claire got her name. I like it – both name and story!

So be very clear, “clear” means understandable, comprehensible, intelligible, plain, uncomplicated, explicit, lucid, coherent, simple, straightforward, unambiguous. I wouldn’t dub Claire as plain or uncomplicated and sometimes she is a bit ambiguous, but the rest of the synonyms fit our heroine to a T!

Diana and OA in 2015

Therefore, would a rose by any other name smell just as sweet? Probably.  But, I for one, cannot imagine any other name for Jamie’s beloved soulmate. Thank you, Diana!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist