Due to sound issues during her presentation on the day of the conference, Alexandra Dold has been kind enough to provide a transcript for her paper Outlander's Jamie Fraser: Rebel or Hero? Read over it below or scroll to the bottom of the page for the pdf!
Outlander’s Jamie Fraser: Rebel or Hero?
Alexandra Dold 17015474@uhi.ac.uk Centre for History - University of the Highlands and Islands
First of all, thank you to the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies for setting up this conference and giving us all the opportunity to share our research.
Trying to analyse and evaluate the importance of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series as public history and a memory place in my dissertation, it became obvious to me that the novels favour a Highland perspective in regard to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745/46. Today I want to talk to you about the chapter I am currently working on. It explores the portrayal of main character Jamie Fraser’s development through English woman Claire’s first-person narration and sets it into context with historical assessments, in particular Robert Clyde’s 1995 analysis of Jacobitism.1 I will give you an insight into my results so far as well as an outlook of what I am still analysing.
Throughout the presentation I have some pictures from the television series for you to help you keep track of what’s happening, especially for those of you who haven’t seen or read Outlander.2 Even though the pictures are representative of the scenes I am talking about my analysis in the thesis I solely focus on the novels.
First of all, for everyone who doesn’t know anything about Outlander: Combat nurse Claire Randall (on the left in the picture) is married to Frank (you can see his hand in the foreground) but when she time travels from 1945 to 1743 she finds another love in the past, Jamie Fraser (on the right). Currently, there are eight Outlander novels on the market with book 9 set to be released this November. The television series, consisting of five seasons so far, is catchily advertised with the slogan: ‘What if your future was your past?’ which, in my opinion, summarises the potential for historical analysis perfectly. While admittedly Outlander i a cheesy romance story, it is also an adventure novel, science fiction, pirate story, Bildungsroman and tons of other genres, but most importantly: it is historical.
The title for this presentation is borrowing from Robert Clyde’s From Rebel to Hero: The Image of the Highlander 1745-1830. Here, Clyde outlines the development from rebellious Jacobite fighting the Crown to celebrated and romanticised hero. The image transformation of the Highlander is a slow one, taking almost an entire century, particularly due to Government-focused history writing and then romanticised fiction writing by Sir Walter Scott. In contrast to that, Diana Gabaldon’s fictionalised history focusing on Jamie Fraser presents a different development: Jamie becomes the audience’s hero within a few chapters of the first novel and him being a Jacobite rebel receives different meaning.
While the story of Outlander is told through Claire’s eyes, the author Diana Gabaldon is adamant that ‘[i]t's a book about male responsibility’.3 We thereby approach the story through the eyes of a twentieth-century independent woman married to a twentieth-century historian. Therefore, any information on the eighteenth century and its people, culture and attitudes we receive throughout the novels is biased.
Claire’s first encounter in the eighteenth century after her time travel is Jonathan Wolverton Randall, Esquire, Captain of His Majesty’s Eighth Dragoons.4 Claire assumes the man to be trustworthy, solely based on his outer appearance, possibly because she herself has served in the British army during WWII.5 This is reflected in Claire’s description: rather than simply stating Randall is wearing a dragoon captain’s uniform, the clothing receives a grand and very particular description. Claire details the coat as ‘deep scarlet, long-tailed and without lapels, frogged down the front’.6 Further, she notices that ‘[t]he buff linings of the turned-back cuffs extended a good six inches up the sleeve, and a small coil of gold braid gleamed from one epaulet’.7
However, despite serving in His Majesty’s army, it turns out Randall has no good intentions at all, and Claire is rescued by what is very dismissively described as ‘a heaving mass that looked like a bundle of old plaid rags’.8 The man, Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, is further described: ‘[...] the bare arms protruding from the ragged shirt were knotted with muscle and his whole frame gave the impression of being made of some resilient material such as bedsprings. No beauty either, with a pockmarked skin, low brow, and narrow jaw’.9 It is a very striking difference in observing someone, particularly considering that the latter rescues Claire from the former. Here, Murtagh’s dress functions as a clear contrast to the clean image of the English dragoon while at the same time introducing prejudices against Highlanders, quickly labelling them as some sort of rebels.
All of Claire’s observations made in the scene just described and others following it reflect historical accounts of English travellers to the Highlands of Scotland in the eighteenth century. Murtagh is presented as the archetypical Scot. In his analysis, Robert Clyde explains:
Visitors to the Highlands and Islands were intrigued by the strange manners and customs of the people they encountered. The terms used by some of these travellers in describing Gaels are similar to those of some twentieth-century Westerners when describing people of Third World countries: wretched, idle, dirty, ignorant, backward, etc.10
These opinions were formed with the understanding that the ideal of a country, its people and culture was England and ‘Gaeldom presented a great challenge to this form of cultural manifest destiny’.11 You can see: this is where the labelling as rebels starts. However, once Claire begins spending more time with the Highlanders, her previous impressions of the men are subverted, and the audience’s favour shifts from the English towards the Scots.
Claire is brought to Castle Leoch, seat of clan MacKenzie, as a mixture of prisoner and guest.12 Arriving in the courtyard of Leoch, Claire is surprised to find the Highlanders not as barbaric as she thought. Particularly the warm welcome at the castle and the kind attitude of Mrs Fitz towards Claire convey a very different impression.13 This is furthered by the evidence of the building (Leoch) and its society which suggests a place that is well-connected and prosperous, in its own way.
The savagery expected of Highlanders, both by Claire and the audience from their historical knowledge, is brought up when Jamie, aware of their reputation, jokes whether Claire as an Englishwoman might be safe alone in a room with him. Claire simply says ‘”Well, you look harmless enough at the moment”’, indicating that her mistrust is about to shift to her being comfortable around him.14 Jamie assures her: ‘”Ye need not be scairt [sic!] of me”, he said softly. “Nor of anyone here, so long as I’m with ye”’.15 So here you can see: Jamie isn’t the big bad Highlander but a protective (and in Claire’s opinion a quite good-looking) man.
Instead, the English are now painted as the ones to be feared. Claire learns about Jamie being brutally flogged by Captain Randall solely for obstructing the Crown’s will. When asked what obstruction means, Jamie explains: ‘”Ah. Well, I suppose it’s whatever the English say it is. In my case it meant defending my family and my property, and getting myself half killed in the process”’.16 Here a clear favour for the Highland perspective becomes obvious. The Government soldiers are depicted as doing whatever they want to reach their goal of civilising the Highlands whereas Jamie is the noble Highlander fighting for his family and property: an exact reversal of roles presented in early history writing on the Jacobite Rebellion.
There are two scenes in which the subverting of expectations and opinions on the Highlanders become most prominent: when Dougal uses Jamie’s scars from the flogging to further a point he is making in a speech and Jamie’s consent to marry Claire to protect her from Captain Randall.17 The first shows Dougal’s cunning use of Jamie’s scars to agitate the listeners and steer them towards the need of a rising. The crowd is shocked to see what the Government, represented by Captain Randall, has done to Jamie for small crimes. The second scene represents Claire’s acceptance into the group and raises Jamie’s standing with the audience. He functions as the hero saving the maiden in distress.
In the eyes of the audience, Jamie has already evolved from a dirty and rough looking barbarian to the romanticised hero in Claire’s life. However, historically, the rebellion is just about to start. At first, Jamie is solely an unwilling participant in Dougal’s ploy to raise money but once Jamie and Claire find themselves in France, close to Charles Edward Stuart, they realise the potential to prevent the battle of Culloden and save thousands of lives, thanks to Claire’s knowledge of the future.18 Jamie meets with Charles, collects intelligence by stealing and reading letters and even meets the King of France to get all the relevant information leading to the unsuccessful rebellion.19 During their time in France, Claire’s narration is the driving force in making Jamie a hero. He is not interested in the Jacobite rebellion for political reasons but solely for his fellow Scots, supported by Claire’s knowledge of the future: ‘Who were we, to alter the course of history, to change the course of events not for ourselves, but for princes and peasants, for the entire country of Scotland?’20
Jamie and Claire’s efforts turn out to have been in vain when Jamie is declared a rebel on paper by Charles Edward Stuart. Unknowingly to Jamie, his name has been added to a statement that Charles is rightfully claiming the ‘throne of the three kingdoms’.21 Claire asserts:
The publication of this Bond of Association branded those who signed it as rebels, and as traitors to the English crown. It didn’t matter how Charles had managed, or where he had gotten the funds to begin; he was well and truly launched on the seas of rebellion, and Jamie – and I – were launched with him.22
After this, there is no escaping the course of history for the characters. So is Jamie truly a Jacobite rebel? Does he not act on the behalf of others rather than for his own political agenda?
It is important to state that Jamie never openly claims himself to be a rebel or Jacobite. In fact, during the entire Jacobite rebellion depicted in the first three novels, Jamie only refers to himself as a rebel once, namely when trying to convince Claire to go back to her own time: ‘”I am a traitor twice over [after killing his uncle Dougal MacKenzie], a rebel and a murderer”’. But again, it is not his conviction but how other people see him and he only states it in order to save Claire’s life, thereby again being a hero.23 Even when asked by one of his business associations whether all Scots might be in support of the Jacobites, Jamie avoids the question: ‘”If you’ve had much to do wi’ Highland Scots, [...] then ye’ll know that it’s rare to find two of them in agreement on anything much beyond the color of the sky – and even that is open to question from time to time”’.24 It isn’t until much later when Jamie is involved in the American Revolution that he becomes a full-blown rebel: Jamie is forced to take a stand and he wholeheartedly states it: ‘”You declare yourself a rebel, Mac Dubh [Jamie]?” “Aye, Murdo, I do. I am a rebel”’.25 Throughout the Jacobite Rebellion, Jamie stays in his role as hero for the audience as he does all he can to save his men and Claire.26 While Jamie and Claire are part of various historical events such as the Battles of Prestonpans and Stirling, all historically situated in the novels, the military strategies are not important. Rather the focus is put on Claire as a healer and Jamie as protector of his men.27
After the Battle of Culloden, the story follows a (historical) rebel rather than a (plot) hero. Jamie together with other surviving Jacobites hides out in Leanach cottage where they are found by Government soldiers. The omniscient narrator hears Jamie’s thoughts on possibly being taken to London to make a spectacle of his execution as the notorious ‘Red Jamie’ and has a front row seat to the execution of other surviving Jacobites.28 The sentence for high treason is carried out without trial but the surviving men are aware they cannot deny their involvement in the rebellion anyway.29 On a little side not: Jacobites were shot with musket balls such as these. These ones here have most likely not killed anyone, they were found by my neighbour when metal detecting in a field next door. You can still find evidence of that on the wall of the Old High Church in Inverness, if anybody is ever coming to visit. Anyway, Jamie manages to escape his destiny due to him being a hero beforehand in a scene I am not discussing today.30
From a Government point of view, Jamie is the rebel in need of catching and detaining. Jamie giving himself up to the Government in order to support his family with the reward money, another heroic act, means, historically speaking, catching a treacherous rebel for the Government.31 Jamie is sentenced to life in prison for treason and is imprisoned in the fictional Ardsmuir Prison. When Lord John Grey takes over the administration of Ardsmuir prison, he is surprised to hear that the prisoners are not difficult, as he ‘had understood them to be mostly Jacobite Highlanders’.32 This clearly shows the Government perspective and their expectations which is further supported by Jamie’s reputation as ‘Red Jamie’, a notorious Jacobite rebel in need to be kept in irons for everyone’s safety.33 This is partly due to the fact that ‘[o]lder men who fought in the Rising were often prejudiced against Highlanders’.34 The idea of the rebellious and barbaric Highlanders is stuck in people’s minds. While the perspective supports the Government view of Jamie being a rebel, Jamie continues being the hero for the audience at Ardsmuir prison. When a piece of forbidden tartan is found in one of the cells, Jamie steps up as their leader and claims the tartan to be his knowing that he will be punished for it.
When Ardsmuir prison is closed in September 1756, the Scottish prisoners are sent to the American colonies under a bond of indenture for a term of seven years.35 Jamie escapes this due to the friendship he has built with Lord John Grey and is instead sent to the English estate Helwater for his indentured servitude.36
You have now seen a tiny glimpse into Jamie’s heroic life as presented in Diana Gabaldon’s novels. Jamie evolves from rugged Highlander to Claire’s husband. He is a romanticised hero who always does and says the right thing to make the audience swoon. While Jamie is a Jacobite fighting in the rebellion, Outlander presents history from a perspective favouring the Highlands, making Jamie a literary hero pretty much right away. This reflects other romanticised accounts by, for example, John Prebble. In comparison to that, Robert Clyde’s history writing uses primary sources to explain the slow development from rebel to hero. The Jacobites develop from rebelling against the Government rule to romanticised heroes in literature by the likes of Sir Walter Scott and fearless warriors fighting for the British Empire.
My presentation today was very much focused on giving you an overview of my analysis of Jamie as rebel and hero in the Outlander novels. I am still working on the question whether Diana Gabaldon’s romanticised account is the norm in popular history and how this then can function as public history. Additionally to the question whether Jamie is hero or rebel or indeed both, I am interested to understand Gabaldon’s use of the terms English vs British and Scottish vs Jacobites. She appears to be using them interchangeably which, as most of you probably know, does not represent the rebellion the best. Lastly, I compare Jamie and his hero/rebel attributes to other heroes of novels such as Waverley from Scott’s novel to see whether these hero/rebels are the same as Jamie.
If you are interested in how my research develops, follow me on Twitter. My handle is @alexdold. Thank you for your attention.
1 Robert Clyde, From Rebel to Hero: The Image of the Highlander 1745-1830 (East Linton, East Lothian, 1998). 2 All pictures shown in my PowerPoint presentation are property of STARZ in the United States of America.
3 Linda L. Richards, ‘Diana Gabaldon January Magazine Interview’, January Magazine (2002), https://januarymagazine.com/profiles/gabaldon2002.html [accessed 08/07/2021]. 4 Diana Gabaldon, Outlander (New York, 2016 [1991]), p. 38. 5 Gabaldon, Outlander, p. 37.
6 Gabaldon, Outlander, pp. 37-38. 7 Gabaldon, Outlander, p. 38.
8 Gabaldon, Outlander, p. 40. 9 ibid. 10 Clyde, From Rebel to Hero, p. 108. 11 Clyde, From Rebel to Hero, p. 106. 12 Gabaldon, Outlander, p. 57. 13 Gabaldon, Outlander, p. 58.
14 Gabaldon, Outlander, p. 61. 15 Gabaldon, Outlander, p. 66. 16 Gabaldon, Outlander, p. 62. 17 Gabaldon, Outlander, pp. 152-154; 188-195. Dougal MacKenzie mainly pushes Jamie to get married to Claire minimise Jamie’s claim to the lairdship of clan MacKenzie instead of protecting Claire but this is irrelevant for the purpose of this chapter.
18 Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber (New York, 2016 [1992]), p. 114. 19 Examples for Jamie’s activities can be found, for example, on the following pages: Gabaldon, Drag- onfly in Amber, pp. 109-110, 130, 137, 157, 168-169, 186, 199, 210-220, 224-226, 236. 20 Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, p. 114. 21 Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, p. 461. 22 Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, p. 462. 23 Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, p. 695.
24 Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, p. 117. 25 Gabaldon, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (London, 2005), p. 909. 26 Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, p. 695. 27 This can for example be seen in Claire’s efforts at the makeshift hospital at Prestonpans 501, 511 and her taking care of Jamie’s young protégé Fergus who has killed an English soldier in battle. Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, pp. 501, 507, 511. 28 Gabaldon, Voyager (London, 1994), pp. 11-12. 29 Nicola Martin, ‘The Cultural Paradigms of British Imperialism in the Militarisation of Scotland and North America, c. 1745-1775’, University of Sterling, unpublished PhD thesis, 2018, p. 58; Gabaldon, Voyager, p. 9. 30 Murray Pittock, Great Battles: Culloden (Oxford, 2016), p. 109. In Dragonfly in Amber, Jamie and Claire encounter a young man called John William Grey who has snuck into their camp to gather infor- mation on the Jacobites for the Government army. Instead of killing Grey, Jamie decides to let him live. Lord Melton, the officer responsible for the execution of the Jacobites at Leanach cottage, is Grey’s older brother who feels indebted to Jamie and reluctantly grants him the same courtesy. Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, pp. 482-487 and Voyager, pp. 13-15.
31 Gabaldon, Voyager, pp. 86, 99; A Breath of Snow and Ashes, p. 716. 32 Gabaldon, Voyager, p. 114. This is the same John Grey that has prevented Jamie’s death earlier in the novel thanks to the debt owed. Making Grey the warden of Ardsmuir Prison adds another level of story-telling and the possibility of further privileges for Jamie. 33 Gabaldon, Voyager, pp. 115-116. 34 Gabaldon, Voyager, p. 121. 35 Gabaldon, Voyager, p. 197. 36 Gabaldon, Voyager, pp. 196, 198.
31 Gabaldon, Voyager, pp. 86, 99; A Breath of Snow and Ashes, p. 716. 32 Gabaldon, Voyager, p. 114. This is the same John Grey that has prevented Jamie’s death earlier in the novel thanks to the debt owed. Making Grey the warden of Ardsmuir Prison adds another level of story-telling and the possibility of further privileges for Jamie. 33 Gabaldon, Voyager, pp. 115-116. 34 Gabaldon, Voyager, p. 121. 35 Gabaldon, Voyager, p. 197. 36 Gabaldon, Voyager, pp. 196, 198.
Bibliography
Clyde, Robert, From Rebel to Hero: The Image of the Highlander 1745-1839 (Tuckwell Press: East Linton, 1998).
Gabaldon, Diana. A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Century: London, 2005). ---. Dragonfly in Amber (Bantam Books: New York, 2016 [1992]). ---. Outlander (Bantam Books: New York, 2016 [1991]). ---. Voyager (Arrow Books: London, 1994).
Martin, Nicola, ‘The Cultural Paradigms of British Imperialism in the Militarisation of Scotland and North America, c. 1745-1775’, University of Sterling, unpublished PhD thesis, 2018.
Pittock, Murray, Great Battles: Culloden (University of Oxford Press: Oxford, 2016).
Richards, Linda L. ‘‘Diana Gabaldon January Magazine Interview’, January Magazine (2002), https://januarymagazine.com/profiles/gabaldon2002.html [accessed 08/07/2021].