———- SPOILER ALERT ——–
This post will concentrate mainly on Chapter 2, and the first memory that Claire has about Frank in Voyager. The main reason for this post is the fact that Frank and Claire lived together for twenty years. Therefore, his conceptions and opinions play a major role in his relationship with both Claire and Brianna. They have even shaped Brianna’s personality – she has an interest in history as an adult. Jamie even acknowledges Frank’s influence over his wife and daughter at a particular point in book 4, Drums of Autumn:
“The lassie’s loyal, ye said. She’ll have loved her father enough to shape her life to do as he would have wanted, even after he’s dead. D’ye think she loved you less?” (ch. 21)
. . . But Randall had had the keeping of them for twenty years: there was no doubt he had set his mark on them. But what mark had it been? (ch. 44)
I might be an exceptional case, but I did enjoy watching that interaction between Frank and Claire in Episode 201, “Through a Looking Glass, Darkly.” If book Jamie acknowledges that Frank played a role in the lives of both his wife and his daughter, the TV adaptation should emphasize it by giving us something about Claire and her twentieth-century husband (which it did). Furthermore, Frank is a character that most readers dislike in Voyager. Of course, readers’ perceptions of him start changing in subsequent books. Sincerely, I hated him in the third book, but my opinion of him began to change as I began to read the rest of the series because of Claire’s feelings of guilt when having pleasant memories of him. Therefore, he is an enigma. Was Frank unfaithful to Claire? That is open to discussion, but I tend to suspect that he was. If Claire was able to love him back, would that have stopped Frank looking for other women? We might never know the answer to this question. What we are aware for sure is that he was a great father. Overall, he was a good man with some imperfections. The fact that he was able to love and care for a child that was not his is admirable. In real life, some fathers forget about their wives and biological children. The purpose of this post and subsequent ones about Claire and Frank is to delve into their relationship and decipher the puzzle that he represents. Furthermore, it seems that he still has to play a major role in the series based on some revelations in book 8.
A Loveless Marriage
Roger MacKenzie wants to solve a “puzzle,”: the fate of Jamie Fraser. His passion to solve the puzzle is typical of historians. According to Claire, she is accustomed to it because of Frank:
I did know historians. I’d lived with one for twenty years. Frank hadn’t wanted to leave this particular puzzle alone, either. But neither had he been willing to solve it. . .
In subsequent books, there are subtle details that Frank did research about Jamie Fraser. It seems that Frank became aware at a certain point that Jamie did not die. Why did he keep this information hidden from his wife? First, he wanted to keep Claire and Brianna safe in the twentieth century. Second, if he stopped loving Claire, he never stopped loving Brianna. Of course, there are other reasons involved that require more examination. It seems that Claire was not aware of Frank’s research about Jamie. She simply did not want to be reminded of Jamie.
. . . After my return, I had resolutely refused to look at any material dealing with Scotland’s past, even though the eighteenth century had been one of Frank’s areas of specialty. . .
In regards to Frank, the reader gets some insight about him especially when he meets Claire for the first time after she came back from the eighteenth century. Claire compares his looks with those of his ancestors. She describes his face as “intelligent, kind, and slightly tired, unshaven and with smudges beneath his eyes.” Obviously, he is concerned about her, and, even though he does have a temper, he is not malicious as his ancestor, Black Jack. Claire proceeds in trying to explain her disappearance. As a scholar with the twentieth-century mindset, Frank is in disbelief. His behavior is understandable, especially if it is compared to Jamie’s. Frank’s rational mind requires a logical explanation. Therefore, being kidnapped by fairies is not something that he understands. On the other hand, Jamie is a man of his culture and times. He is superstitious, and he believes in fairies. Therefore, it is easier for him to give Claire’s story credibility. Of note is Claire’s musing just before confessing her pregnancy to Frank.
. . . I didn’t want to be talking about it, but I had some feeling of obligation to this man. Not guilt, not yet; but obligation nonetheless. I had been married to him.
Throughout the series, Claire remembers Frank in a good light most of the time. She was fond of him but not in love with him. Associated with the memories of him are feelings of guilt. I tend to suspect that she blames herself for not being able to love Frank again once she was back from the eighteenth century and make him happy.
Claire relates to Roger that she offered Frank a divorce. She was aware that Frank would not love her: “. . . I told him I knew he couldn’t feel the same for me, no matter what he believed had happened. . . ” However, Frank decided to stay with her. He thought it was not proper to abandon a pregnant woman suspected of not having a firm hold on reality. Was he honorable? Did he stay with Claire for other reasons? It is hard to tell. However, Claire describes him as a “decent man.” Another piece of evidence in his favor is his love for Brianna. Furthermore, it seems that he wanted a family, which he could not have because of being sterile.
Claire remembers the time when they both had sex again. Earlier that day, she laughed for the first time in a year and together with Frank (it was because of Brianna’s sneezing). Apparently, it seems that Claire lived for many years unhappily and that Brianna was the bridge between her and Frank. Of note is that scene in which Claire starts breastfeeding Brianna and notices Frank’s arousal (he was out of the shower covering himself with a towel). Claire relates:
He stood still a moment, then leaned forward and kissed me briefly on the cheek, the warmth of his bare body unsettling near.
Claire is no longer sexually attracted to Frank. The memory of Jamie is vivid in her mind. Furthermore, she later reveals in her musings about her suspicions of Frank being unfaithful to her, another reason why she feels uneasy in regards to Frank’s nearness. In fact, one can see that there is nothing left between them in the following passage:
He and I did not touch each other, though, nor did we truly talk about anything beyond our basic domestic arrangement – except Brianna.
The baby was our shared focus; a point through which we could at once reach each other, and keep each other at arm’s length. It looked as though arm’s length was no longer close enough for Frank.
Claire is no longer attracted to him, but he is. From Frank’s point of view, Claire has grown cold. Therefore, Frank will go outside and look for those things that he cannot get from Claire: not necessarily love, but comfort in the form of physical contact (this explanation is subtly given in book 6).
Was Frank unfaithful? So far, I have given a possible explanation for him being unfaithful. The evidence required to confirm his infidelity is non-existing. It is based mainly on Claire’s suspicions (nothing factual, at least at this stage). He was never caught in the deed of kissing or embracing other women. Claire details the girl who got upset at a faculty party. She might have been having an affair with him, or she was probably just infatuated with him. Furthermore, he was “discreet” too by arriving home at night and keeping his clothing spotless (which might also mean that there was nothing between him and the other girls).
The Eighteenth Century Experience
As stated in one of the passages detailed above, Brianna was one of the topics of conversations between Claire and Frank. There is the scene in which Claire is breastfeeding her daughter even though Brianna is not hungry but wants to be comforted. Frank expresses his concern about the baby being spoiled based on somebody else’s opinion (Mrs. Hinchcliffe). Of course, Claire disagrees with this outsider’s opinion based on her experience in the eighteenth century of seeing babies nursing happily at their mother’s breast. Of course, there is much more that Claire has absorbed from the eighteenth century, especially from Jamie. That day in which she ended having sex with Frank, Claire had a busy day. Everything went wrong – the furnace broke down, Brianna got pinched by a pin stuck in her new dress, and she was not much into having a long nap. Claire did not have time for herself, and she was tired from the night before. When Frank arrived, he was not impressed with her looks, especially because they were having guests for dinner. What hurt Claire the most is the misconception that most people have about mothers who stay at home: the notion that they have plenty of time. Claire becomes upset and leaves, and decides to go the Church of St. Finbar, named after an Irish saint. Of note is Frank’s interest in some Catholic practices.
“Why go in for this Perpetual Adoration business? You’ve never been the least devout, no more than I have. And you don’t go to Mass or anything; Father Beggs asks me every week where you are.
I shook my head. “I can’t really say, Frank. It’s just something . . . I need to do.” I looked at him, helpless to explain adequately. “It’s . . . peaceful there,” I said, finally.
This passage brings to mind some of the “Catholic” (in fact, syncretic) practices that Jamie Fraser does. Throughout the series, Jamie hardly ever goes to church to hear the mass. Of course, he does go for funerals or weddings. At Fraser’s Ridge, he attends the sermons given by his son-in-law, whose faith is mainly Presbyterian. However, Jamie has a strong belief in saints.
In a former post, I discussed in detail how Jamie performs a ritual in special “Places.” The first location is that place where he finds Adso, the cat, after having a vision/hallucination of his mother. Another site is the White Spring where Saint Killian resides according to his beliefs. Of note is the fact that he finds peace at these “Places.” Here is the link: Jamie Fraser as a Half-Ghost. Jamie’s traditional beliefs have influenced Claire to the point that she has absorbed some customs from him.
Quotes
I cannot finish this post without adding a notable quote, especially one that reveals about Claire’s lack of interest in Frank.
. . . It wasn’t Frank I reached for, deep in the night, waking out of sleep. It wasn’t his smooth, lithe body that walked my dreams and roused me, so that I came awake moist and gasping, my heart pounding from the half-remembered touch . . .
Sources
Gabaldon, Diana. Drums of Autumn. 1997. New York: Dell Publishing. 2002. Print.
– – – . Voyager. 1994. New York: Bantam Dell. 2002. Print.