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A major theme in the series has been the fear of aging, which has been haunting Mrs. Hawking as a middle aged superhero for many years now. When we first meet her in 1880, she’s forty, and she is already being treated like an old lady because of the standards of Victorian society even though she is vital and fit. We bring up her concern of the future as early as part II: Vivat Regina, when she expresses her hope that in making Mary her protege, her work will be carried on when the day comes when she cannot do it anymore. Aging and the accompanying physical breakdown are explicitly discussed in part III: Base Instruments, when an injury reminds her that she will not be able to break her body forever. The fear manifests again in minor fashion in part V: Mrs. Frost, to be deliberately invoked and examined in part VI: Fallen Women, when Mrs. Frost asks her if she really thinks she can be a fifty-year-old superhero still battering her body the way she did when she was twenty.
Now, while I haven’t totally nailed down the year in part 7, Mrs. Hawking will be at least fifty years old, and recovering from serious injury. She will be staring down the barrel of everything she’s been afraid of for the last ten years. And she will have to deal with probably the hardest thing possible for this character— what will she do when she can no longer do all the things that have formed the backbone of her identity?
This leads us to day’s piece, which will be very important scene imaged for the eventual Mrs. Hawking part 7, between our hero and Nathaniel. Much of it was inspired by a moment in The Crown, where love is expressed in terms of the duty it entails. This scene is about a different kind of love, but I thought that it captured something similar in how Nathaniel’s devotion manifests. Their relationship is one that came as a surprise to both of them— that Mrs. Hawking should come to rely on this young man who was thrust into her life only because of her loathed late husband, and who reminds her so much of that man, and that Nathaniel should come to believe his destiny was to support the work of this strange and difficult woman.
This needs some refining. But I think it has the potential to be tremendously powerful.
Photo by Daniel Fox
( Day #17 - Liege Man of Life and Limb )
Now, while I haven’t totally nailed down the year in part 7, Mrs. Hawking will be at least fifty years old, and recovering from serious injury. She will be staring down the barrel of everything she’s been afraid of for the last ten years. And she will have to deal with probably the hardest thing possible for this character— what will she do when she can no longer do all the things that have formed the backbone of her identity?
This leads us to day’s piece, which will be very important scene imaged for the eventual Mrs. Hawking part 7, between our hero and Nathaniel. Much of it was inspired by a moment in The Crown, where love is expressed in terms of the duty it entails. This scene is about a different kind of love, but I thought that it captured something similar in how Nathaniel’s devotion manifests. Their relationship is one that came as a surprise to both of them— that Mrs. Hawking should come to rely on this young man who was thrust into her life only because of her loathed late husband, and who reminds her so much of that man, and that Nathaniel should come to believe his destiny was to support the work of this strange and difficult woman.
This needs some refining. But I think it has the potential to be tremendously powerful.
Photo by Daniel Fox
( Day #17 - Liege Man of Life and Limb )
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