#he IS a kind person Lord Grantham did NOT lie | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bitletsanddrabbles · 6 years

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Robert's obviously flawed, and in my opinion he consistently looks worse than he is by being born into in a 'job' that requires financial and business savvy when that's not where his talents or even interests seem to lie :) Anyway, I was wondering what you see as some of Robert's best traits? What do you like about him? I'm pro-Robert despite his flaws and am trying to articulate why :)

Okay, I’ve covered a lot of this in my previous “Robert or Carson” post, so for this response I’m going to shift focus a little bit and concentrate on those best, most likeable traits, and build out a bit on each of them.

Hands down Robert’s best trait, as far as I’m concerned is his loyalty. Yes, there are places - one in particular - where it slips, but the fact that slip is so noticeable is because it is so far out of the norm. Robert is loyal to his country, his community, his family, and his staff, and we get multiple examples of this: his continual good treatment of Mrs. Patmore, his willingness to defend Mr. Bates, his willingness to lend Mr. Drewe a not-inconsiderable sum to keep the family farm (I’d have to rewatch, but if I remember correctly it was 50 pounds, which, according to the conversion charts, is a couple grand in today’s money?). His staff and the surrounding community are not just numbers and percentages to him, they really are people. Given that I don’t think Daisy really damaged Mr. Mason’s chances of staying in his old farm, no matter how much fuss Mr. Taking Over made, that is saying a whole heck of a lot.

This translates into his determination to do his part when things need doing. Now, it may not seem to us like wanting to go off to war with the rest of the boys or wanting to lead a committee on a war memorial is doing a lot, but for someone who was raised to show up and cut ribbons, to invest money, to manage people, etc., but Robert considers it part of his job and he doesn’t back away from him. You never hear him complaining about how tedious it is to hold charity events or speak at public functions and while, yes, part of this is that he has no part of the planning, but part of it is that he genuinely enjoys and values his function there.

This leads, in turn, to another good trait that’s hard to label, but is very strong. While Robert is not terribly observant and not a fast learner (see his aversion to change), what he does learn he learns very well and part of what he learns is his people. He trusted Mr. Drewe and knew he could trust him. It was ultimately quite ironic that the war memorial committee wanted Mr. Carson rather than Lord Grantham, because Lord Grantham was the one who knew the community well enough to know what sort of memorial would actually benefit them. Nobody would have been happy if Mr. Carson had managed to destroy the cricket pitch.

He is good, over all, at keeping morale up. Most of the places were we see discontent in the show are the places where other people have a more direct influence. And he recognizes how important good morale is. Really, a lot of modern employers could take a lesson or five from him.

His last trait, and something that is surprisingly rare and that I value very much in a person, is the ability to tell the spirit of the law from the letter of the law. Laws exist to keep people safe and keep society working. They are general. However, there are exceptions to every rule and there are times where laws backfire. The most obvious point of this in Downton, of course, has nothing to do with Robert, but instead the gross indecency laws that let a quack doctor prey off of innocent men without fear of repercussion, because if anyone went of the law they’d be the ones in trouble. But there are others. Faced with the knowledge that the Royal Family was going to be compromised (probably blackmailed) which would have hurt the morale of the country as a whole, he worked at breaking into the blackmailer’s house to get the sensitive information back. When Bates admitted to a crime he’d already been acquitted of and left Robert his contact information, yes, Robert consulted Cora, but he did not turn the information over to the police as he legally should have. There are people who would have despite their friendship and despite the fact this was the second time Bates had admitted to a crime his wife was accused of (different wife, admittedly, but still). And, of course, on the subject of Thomas, he not only didn’t call the police about the theft in season one (although he was kind of an idiot for not telling his wife), he also looked at Alfred calling them in season three, rolled his eyes and went “Over a kiss? That really is over kill right there” and put a stop to it.

And I think that about sums up his best traits and why he is, over all, a good, likeable man.

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