Decisions

Synopsis

The short summary: Jo and Helene see Bosinney meeting an unknown but beautiful woman in the Botanic Gardens. They return from the gardens to have tea with Old Jolyon. Soames appears, and is offensive and angry in an attempt to get Old Jolyon to speak to Bosinney about his financial misbehavior. He storms off. June leaves in distress, saying she never sees Phil any more. Young Jo confirms the affair to his father, and his father responds with the identity of the woman: Soames's wife.

Soames, oddly, decides to continue to employ Bosinney in finishing the decoration of the house. (An attempt to please Irene?) James lectures Soames, saying that Irene is spoiled. Soames defends her sharply-- he won't have anything said against her. James says there's too much talk. When asked what about, he advises Soames not to listen to it. Two weeks later, James drives Irene down to the now-completed house. He lectures her about being more of a wife to Soames, who is very fond of her. Bosinney gives him a mocking tour of the house, then arranges an assignation with Irene. Soames interrupts the conversation in a cold fury: Bosinney has exceeded the budget once again (and is having an affair with his wife). At home that evening, Soames tells Irene he's going to ruin Bosinney. Irene asks Soames to honor his vow, sworn before their marriage, to set her free if the marriage is not a success. Soames, distressed (and therefore angered), refuses. Irene responds with the news that she loathes Soames, has loathed him for years. There follows a long sequence in which we watch Soames sitting in his armchair, absorbing the blow, turning down the lights, locking the front door for the night, and sadly making his way upstairs. He knocks on their bedroom door before entering-- but she's locked it. And she's locked the door that connects his dressing room with their bedroom. He tries to break them in, but fails. He realizes she means it to be permanent.

Young Jo visits Bosinney on an errand from Old Jolyon, in an attempt to find out his intentions toward June and to warn him about the consequences of taking property from Forsytes. Bosinney is polite, but declines the advice. As Jolyon leaves, he passes Irene on her way in. Irene has come to consummate her relationship with Bosinney.

Old Jolyon visits James. He yells at Soames for suing Bosinney, yells at James, and takes all his business out of James's hands. He breaks with the Forsyte family. Jolyon attempt to give advice to June, who refuses to give up on Bosinney. He then reports on his visit with Bosinney. Old Jolyon doesn't know where it's going to end.

One kind of end happens in the next scene, which is the famous rape. The volcano at last bursts, and Soames assaults his wife.

You can watch the final scene as a QuickTime movie. [3.6MB]

Bosinney and Irene tryst in the Botanic Gardens.	Young Jo and his once-illicit love are there to see. They don't yet know who the woman is.	Young Jo encounters his daughter for the first time in years.	Soames appears to ask his uncle to warn Bosinney to behave. He makes himself offensive-- jealousy begins to affect his behavior.
Soames and Bosinney correspond. Soames gives his wife's lover "a free hand in the terms of this correspondence" to finish the house.	Soames tells James he won't have a word said against Irene.	James advises Soames not to listen to gossip.	James drives down to Robin Hill with Irene. He lectures her about being a better wife to Soames.
Bosinney shows James around, mocking him the while.	Soames, infuriated by Bosinney's final explosion of the budget, breaks up an intimate conversation. His expressed anger is entirely about the money, but he must have seen them.	Told that Soames has decided to sue Bosinney, Irene tells him that she loathes him. Has loathed him for years.	It hurts.
He broods.	She's locked her door against him. He can't sit still.	She won't answer, even after he's stopped threatening and started pleading. She means it.	Young Jolyon gives advice to Bosinney, warning him about having affairs with wives of Forsytes. The advice is not taken.
As Jo leaves, Irene enters. She is finally sure that she loves Bosinney enough to have sex with him, sex having been her sticking point with Soames.	Old Jolyon upbraids James, then breaks with him.	Young Jo gives fatherly advice to June: give up.	Soames sits, waiting for Irene to come home. She's late.
Very pretty! His voice isn't steady.	"I don't like that blouse. It's a soft, shapeless thing."	"In heaven! Out of this house!" She runs. He follows.	He bursts through the door.
"I'd rather you killed me!" she says.	"Any man can have you."	"Well I can too."	"You're my wife! My wife!"
She weeps, heartbroken.

Novels

The events of the middle section of The man of property, much rearranged:

Part II
4: James goes to see for himself
5: Soames and Bosinney correspond
6: Old Jolyon at the zoo
7: Afternoon at Timothy's
8: Dance at Roger's
9: Evening at Richmond
10: Diagnosis of a Forsyte
11: Bosinney on parole
12: June pays some calls
13: Perfection of the house
14: Soames sits on the stairs
Part III
1: Mrs. MacAnder's evidence
2: Night in the park
3: Meeting at the Botanical
4: Voyage into the inferno

Much of the novel material is omitted entirely: the Zoo, Jolyon's angry visit to Timothy's, the dance, the dinner at Richmond with Winifred and Dartie.

Commentary

This is the episode that shocked the television viewership of the UK. We see Soames at his darkest, allowing sexual jealousy to spill over into business decisions (suing Bosinney despite the certainty that he'll lose the money and the costs, because Bosinney will go bankrupt), and into an act of violence that will reverberate through the rest of his life. And yet we feel a little sorry for him, because he clearly cares for Irene, though he has no way to express that caring.

The rape is not depicted directly in the novel, but is instead described indirectly by a nervous Galsworthy. The hints are that it was much less violent than the shocking act Eric Porter gives us. The television depiction of the rape has its genesis in a scene from the novel, in which Soames watches Irene come home, give a donation to an organ grinder, and enter the house. He complains about her blouse and demands to know where she's been. The novel scene ends with Soames wondering why he doesn't follow Irene up the stairs, and being prevented by his awareness that she'd just come from Bosinney. The television script takes off from that point, getting energy from the barely controlled sexual violence of Porter's earlier portrayals of Soames.

We get a hint of the psychology with his shouted dialog: "Any man can have you, can't they? Well, I can too! You're my wife!" He has previously explained away her aversion to him as frigidity. Faced with the knowledge that she is not frigid, and has given herself willingly to another man, Soames concludes that she is in fact promiscuous, and is denying him out of malice. The attraction of his rival Bosinney is minimized in this view. Or something like that.

The camera catches a bloodstain on Irene's blouse in the assault. The blood is actually Eric Porter's. While ripping off Irene's blouse, he gashed his hand on her brooch. Nyree Dawn Porter later said, "I didn't have any difficulty putting on a horrified expression. When I looked down and saw blood, I thought: 'What has he done to me?'"