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Original poster

Little Dorrit - Help

40 replies

carrotsandpeasifyouplease · 11/12/2008 21:06

so after weeks of storyline i seem to have missed the explanation as to where Arthur came from, and i watched the explanation part twice! So Amy is the daughter of arthur's dad's fling with woman in boarding house but where did Arthur come from ???? i thought i had it and that they were brother and sister but obviously not. Am i being really thick tonight or what?

OP posts:

bronze · 11/12/2008 21:08

I crap I missed it. Is it repeated? Its the final one too.

LaVie · 11/12/2008 21:08

I'm being really thick too. I thought Arthur was the son of mr clennam and some other woman, not sure where amy comes into it!

snice · 11/12/2008 21:10

I am watching this thread for an explanation too- went upstairs to settle DD and everything was over when I got back downstairs

Original poster

carrotsandpeasifyouplease · 11/12/2008 21:13

someone heeeellllpppp

OP posts:

artichokes · 11/12/2008 21:17

Amy was not the product of any fling. Her biological parents are the Dorrits as always thought. She was left a legacy as she was born on the same day as Mr Clennan's mistriss died and so Grandfather Clennan left her a legacy as she was a symbol of the poor woman who died (who had written to him and gained his sympathy).

Arthur was the child of MrClennan and his fling (who died).

ScummyMummy · 11/12/2008 21:19

This is it, I think (haven't read book though)

Arthur is son of Mr Clennam and other woman
Mr Clennam was told that child of other woman was dead
Mr Clennam decided to will his dosh to a poor child in his dead child's honour
Poor child selected to get Clennam dosh is Amy
But really dead child is not dead but Arthur spirited away by Mrs Clennam and raised as her own

Did Mr Clennam know that Arthur was his and other woman's though? Or did he think he was Mrs Clennam's? I suppose it's just possible he was fooled as dads weren't generally at the birth in those days...

ScummyMummy · 11/12/2008 21:20

Oh right: it was in the dead woman's honour!

Original poster

carrotsandpeasifyouplease · 11/12/2008 21:20

thank you artichokes, i can go to bed happy now

OP posts:

artichokes · 11/12/2008 21:22

No. It was Arthur's grandfather who left the legacy to Amy. Mr Clennan knew that Arthur was his son by his mistress and raised him accordingly.

artichokes · 11/12/2008 21:23

Glad to help .

We missed the penultimate episode. Did it explain what happened to Pet Meagles and her husband and child? We noticed they were not at the wedding just now.

Original poster

carrotsandpeasifyouplease · 11/12/2008 21:26

no it didn't but i missed the one before the penultimate is it in the book? But the Meagles were there themselves.
Also, what then was the point of the orphan girl and the one who persuaded her to leave the Meagles?
and why did Mrs Clennam pretend to be paralysed?

OP posts:

ScummyMummy · 11/12/2008 21:28

oh right- the grandfather is the key. Thanks, artichokes. That makes much more sense!

artichokes · 11/12/2008 21:28

You are right, I missed the episode before the penultimate episode, that is where I hoped they explained about Pet. Bloody Sky Plus.

Not sure what the point of Tatty was. I bet Dickens went more into her character in the book.

southeastastra · 12/12/2008 08:10

confused what tatty had to do with it too? apart from the box

still enjoyed the show, arthur seemed a little vacant though

iamnotimpressed · 12/12/2008 09:01

Thank goodness someone cleared it up, I was sooo confused last night!!

furrycat · 12/12/2008 09:35

OK, was there one will or two? Was the will which made the Dorritts rich the same one as the one leaving money to Amy? If they were different, why didn't Amy get the money at the end? And if they were the same, how did Mr Panks find out about it when it was such a big secret?

jesuswhatnext · 12/12/2008 12:09

oh, thanks for this, i thought i was the only numpty who could,nt work it all out (still not sure i understand it all now! )

i'm going to read the book now, i hate being left wondering like this.

Breizhette · 12/12/2008 13:08

I was so disappointed by the last episode. I loved the series and was looking forward to it every week, but this last episode's script was rubbish.

bratnav · 12/12/2008 13:13

I have another question, I may have missed something here, but if Amy was left the money by Arthur's grandfather, how come she didn't have any money at the end? I understand that there was no money from her fathers will as it was invested in the bank that went bust, but what happened to the other money?

artichokes · 12/12/2008 14:05

I thought the same BratNav. In think there were quite a few lose ends at the end.

I remember at the beginning of this series they interviewed the director on Front Row. He said that the only problem with adapting Little Dorrit is that Dickens introduced quite a few characters and stories that he never saw through. However, I would be surprised if the book leaves such huge questions as:

Where did Amy's legacy from Arthur's grandfather go?
How did Panks stumble across the orignal Dorrit legacy when it had nothing to do with the house of Clennan (for whom he was investigating)?

What we need is someone who has actually read the book!

lilibet · 12/12/2008 14:06

The previous will was carried out.

If 10 beneficiaries were each left £10,000 in a will and they all spent it, then a later will comes to light were they should all have only had £1,000 and I should have had the rest if the other 10 people are all now dead/bankrupt then it's just tough on me really

artichokes · 12/12/2008 14:29

But they were two seperate wills coming our of two seperate fortunes.

The will Panks found was nothing to do with the house of Clennan. It was a will connected to the name of Dorrit he stumbled across during his investigations. At one point Arthur acknowledged that by saying how silly he had been to assume his and Amy's bsuiness was intertwined.

The will left by Arthur's grandfather was totally seperate.

PortlySackSantaInAdvent · 12/12/2008 14:42

The money left to Amy from the grandad was also put into Mr Merdle's bank - so she lost it all. But they have money from the business he set up with the inventor so they will be okay.

Thank god i could pause and rewind it at times last night .

Disappointed that Pet and wayward idiot hubby weren't seen again after she had the baby abroad.

Also - if Little Dorrit is half Arthur's age - his real mum must have been in prison writing to the grandfather for about 20 yrs!

Hmmmm.

PortlySackSantaInAdvent · 12/12/2008 14:46

Thought he was brilliant in it

JulesJules · 12/12/2008 18:13

I think the last ep was v badly written. My parents have been watching it all the way through, and couldn't understand what happened in the last ep at all. My Mum even rang the BBC to complain, about that and the postponement of an earlier episode in favour of a programme about Karen Matthews...

I googled Little Dorrit synopsis for them. Haven't read the book as can't bear Dickens. Although I did love Bleak House (on tv, not the book!)

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