Downton Abbey Character Analysis

Since Downton Abbey mostly focuses on the lives of the aristocracy, the job opportunities that became available to women were not heavily emphasized since women of the peerage were not particularly expected to work. Despite this, there were still significant changes brought to the estate. For one, Lady Edith, like multiple other women, decided to develop new skills like driving. As the war went on, Lady Edith used her newly found driving skills to work on local farm driving tractors, which was useful especially because of the shortage of labor caused by men being sent to the front lines. Another figure in the estate who contributed to the war effort would be Lady Sybil, who volunteered to be a nurse after hearing distressing news of the death of men who she was well-acquainted with. Not wanting to feel useless, Lady Sybil finished her nurse training and joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Shortly afterwards, upon hearing of the suicide of Edward Courtenay, a patient blinded by the war, both Sybil and Isobel suggested to convert Downton into a convalescent home where the wounded could recover. This move would allow other characters like Cora to take more responsibility as seen in her management of Downton as a recovery center. While the middle and working classes were not very focused on, it should be noted that Downton Abbey still shows the

Ultimately, the series follows a slow but steady progression of the roles that women played in British society. While their pre-war lives were marked with domesticity, women eventually found opportunities that allowed them to pursue other means of employment and fulfillment in the years after the