After all, Thorn Bird is a female novel, and love is an inevitable theme. Like almost all female novels, the male protagonists are tall and handsome (is it said that there are male protagonists who are ugly female writers?) They are mature and wise, and they are perfect. Ralph's external character is basically perfect.
I'm sure, though, that Ralph is at the top of the list of "most hated famous male protagonists". If the girls had to choose between Father Ralph, Captain Butler from Gone with the Wind, Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, or even Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, I believe Father Ralph would be wiped out. The one with the most lights.
why? In addition to the identity of Father Ralph, this character is actually not in line with the "core love values of urban girls in the new century". In modern society, what we appreciate are individuals who are independent, strong, dare to love and hate, and have clear boundaries, whether male or female. In a relationship, you can be cold and arrogant, but you should avoid looking ahead, being sloppy, and ambiguous. Therefore, the male protagonist who looks cold and awkward or cynical is actually very good (the so-called contrast is cute - how firm their hearts are for the heroine!) And Ralph's outward appearance is warm, but his inner tangled The "warm man" is almost synonymous with "scumbag". (There are indeed many comments that if girls encounter such a man, they must keep their eyes open, leave early and get out early)
In fact, it is not surprising that the girls think so. Falling in love with such a person basically takes a lifetime. Entangled in a lifetime of love, in the end, people usually ask "is it worth it?"
Back to the most fundamental topic: Does Ralph love Maggie at all? Or more precisely, does Ralph love Maggie with the same degree of love that Maggie loves him?
In response to this question, Richard Chamberlain, the actor of the film, gave a positive answer: Yes!
I agree with his statement.
However, I feel that the reader/viewer's belief experience has a great influence on understanding Ralph's love.
Ralph's view of love, in fact, coexists and perishes with his view of belief, and is in a process of constant change. Before Maitlock Island, he was largely in a state of not knowing what to do with the love between himself and Maggie. Because LOVE in English has too many meanings, Ralph himself (especially in the period before the fire) may not fully understand whether it is LOVE HER or I AM IN LOVE WITH HER. As OLIVE wrote Yes, being a priest, the love for Maggie, or Maggie's love for him, first triggers his self-doubt. I believe that Ralph was sincere when he swore the oath before. If there was no Maggie, he should have kept his chastity for the rest of his life without any doubt. But maggie came into his life and began to challenge the cornerstones on which he settled down.
Going back to two very charming, but controversial episodes in the TV series. The first is when Ralph and Maggie say goodbye for the first time after the death of old Mary.
Having said that, I will add a digression. Although I greatly appreciate the TV series and Chamberlain in general, I still have reservations about the handling of certain lines and performances in this paragraph. In a word, in the TV series, the relationship between two people develops faster than in the book. There are two things I think are wrong with the TV series. The first is that Ralph said he didn't want to see Maggie become someone he couldn't have (i.e. get married) - this sentence is clearly beyond Ralph's love stage at the time, and it doesn't look like it when compared to the previous and subsequent plots. Very abrupt. Second, when Maggie took the initiative to kiss him, Ralph in the play responded too enthusiastically, and he let go after a hot kiss (in fact, Ralph avoided his lips when he touched his lips, if he stayed on the countdown The second picture is fine). Maybe the director and the screenwriter are too eager to turn their relationship into romantic love, but instead the characters seem a little frivolous (you've already kissed passionately, and what do you mean by saying I can't?)
If these two abrupt clips are removed, Ralph's front and rear performances can be strung together-at the dance, he found that Maggie was no longer a child, and he had a strange feeling for her, and then quickly realized that such feelings were not allowed to exist, and would cause them (not only himself, but also his Maggie) huge trouble; I believe he told Maggie that he would only be an old friend in her past life, is sincere. He said I love you but I can't be your husband, very sincere. This LOVE, not only romantic love, but also his protection and love for her all along. In Ralph's opinion at the time, if Maggie was allowed to continue her fantasies about him, even if she didn't marry for his life, it would cause her more harm. He really believed at that time that as time passed, her love for him would fade away, and she would have a happy life of her own. It's just that he underestimated Maggie's feelings for him, and even more underestimated his feelings for Maggie.
In the second episode, the MAGGIE family caught fire, and Ralph came to see her.
This section of the picture did not continue to cut down, because it is too HOT. (If you watch the video, Chamberlain's voice, movements, and eyes are all high-voltage electricity, and he sighs that the 50-year-old Chamberlain is really ecstatic). But this part of Ralph was even more controversial. After talking with Maggie, he pushed her away suddenly and asked "what have you done to me, maggie" - I really want to make people scold as a hypocrite LOL
But just think about the development of the two at that time: Ralph left Maggie, but the two have always been deeply in love with each other. After the fire, Maggie lost his father and brother, and fell into his arms vulnerable and helpless. Ralph first kissed his forehead comfortingly. Seeing his sweetheart's appearance like a pear blossom and rain, he couldn't help kissing his lips, which was not abrupt. More importantly, this situation is still within the range that he can hold. But further down, the situation is a bit out of control (well, Maggie wants to untie his clothes to see his wounds, as shown in the picture above) I don't know if you have experienced personnel: being undressed by your sweetheart will bite your chest and bite Neck.....I don't need to say more about which step to develop next. Ralph is also a normal person, and there will naturally be an involuntary reaction later. But this development will directly break through his bottom line. So after a short period of indulgence, he suddenly "woke up and pulled back from the precipice" and was angry that this was happening (not just to Maggie, but to himself). He was definitely not ready to get to that point. In fact, if Matlock hadn't been an uninhabited island, that last step they took would hardly have happened.
When it comes to the love between the two, the heroine Maggie is an inescapable theme. What kind of person is maggie? I believe that when the author created this character, she must have endowed her with various beautiful qualities in her mind, such as beauty, strength, kindness, bravery, affection and so on. But in fact, in my personal opinion, the image positioning of Maggie in the TV series, especially the adult Maggie, is a bit vague. (Probably because the temperament of the adult actress Rachel Ward is not quite the same as that of the little Maggie actor, there is always a sense of separation when watching it) Maggie has the quality, almost all heroines of love-themed novels are more or less the same. have. What's so special about Maggie?
I found that the part that many audience readers like the most is the first and second episodes of the TV series, (the first and second chapters of the book), which is the part where Maggie is still a little girl. Actually I do too. I found that "soul mate love" said by Richard Chamberlain, the leading actor in this film, is more appropriate to describe Maggie and Ralph in the little girl stage, especially in TV series. Although little Maggie is still just a child, some minds are close to an adult, and she can have a spiritual dialogue with Ralph (although the form may be a little naive). And at that time, the two seemed to be more harmonious at a deeper level, that is, belief. Be Ralph's soul mate lover, it's impossible to bypass his beliefs. Little Maggie will always use her most appropriate way to appease Ralph's heart. Especially in the last part of the first episode, after being molested by old Mary, Ralph kneeled in pain in front of the Jesus statue and tortured his heart. Little Maggie came over barefoot and stared at him, but Ralph did not avoid himself in front of her. pain of. Then little maggie reached out and stroked Ralph's cheek and said "(God's homework) is as hard as Agatha's ruler" Ralph hugged her gratefully and picked her up - compared to adulthood Later, every time this topic is discussed, Maggie's words have been "your god, your greedy god"...
I have no intention of accusing Maggie too much, life is cruel enough to her after all. But the maggie in the back part of the book, especially the part of Rachel Ward in the TV show, makes me think Ralph loves her even more (I know there will be a bunch of girls jumping up against me, I'm just expressing my opinion, Look lightly). Just as I feel that the author Ms. McCullough's religious views are often self-contradictory, I feel that this pair of heroic and heroines who are in love with each other are actually opposites in their core world view-religion. I don't know if it was a special arrangement of the novel that made Maggie's life go through one huge tragedy after another, and Maggie was indeed a little resentful at the end, either to God or to Ralph. The language she used in front of Ralph many times was actually very cruel and acerbic. In the case of knowing his lifelong beliefs, he has repeatedly said "hypocritical, cruel, greedy God" to her face, and Ralph said the most serious thing to her, which is "Maggie, stop" (in wearing When Eun decides to be a priest)
Especially the part that exposes the mystery of Dane's life experience, the book is relatively easy to understand, because she wants to get back her son's body, and Ralph refuses without knowing it, she can't help being stimulated like this. told the truth. But in the TV series, Dane's body has been recovered, (this time he was also very sad, although he didn't know it was his biological son, but Dane was already very important to him) - Ralph just replied Maggie's sentence: Now I have nothing to lose - as a priest, his answer (your soul) is not too abrupt, but Maggie stabbed such a cruel fact into his heart like a sharp knife , as if in revenge for the hypocrisy of his answer (perhaps he was a little hypocritical, but not so much). Considering that Ralph was old and frail before this, I don't know how much Maggie still loves him at this time.
Maybe it's also because of some arrangement (or regret) of the TV series, I always believed that Ralph loved Maggie all his life, and as time went on, this love became more and more bone, almost to the point of "no matter what she becomes, is my rose". At the end of the novel, when Ralph was dying, he "forgot Maggie"". Contacting the original text, he always felt that it was not as simple as "forgetting", but that his love for Maggie continued until the moment he died. The ending is even more touching. Maybe it was because when Ralph was dying, the background music that he told little Maggie about the thorn bird when he was young played again, echoing back and forth, very tear-jerking, the dying Ralph looked at Fu Maggie, who is over 50 years old on his lap, should remember when she was in his arms and on his back when she was a child, listening to him tell stories, and being carried across the pond by him. In the play, I think he was carrying Maggie looks like heaven.
Many people say that Maggie is the thorn bird and Ralph is the thorn. I think at least they're each other's thorns, or even further, I'm more inclined towards Ralph being the bird and Maggie the thorn. She was his thorn, his rose, she was in his heart, she was open in his heart, she humbled him, made him whole, brought him closer to God.
Although I think there are some contradictions between the lovers, and despite the regrets of the book and the TV series, this is undoubtedly a heart-warming story. If I were maggie, if there was a lover like Ralph in my life, I would also be willing to follow her for the rest of her life.
May their souls meet in heaven. In fact, God's original intention should not be to make His followers so tangled and painful...
2018.3.8
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