Claire transformed considerably in the 20 years she was separated from Jamie on Outlander. On this #TransformationTuesday, it’s time to look at that to see why her feelings for him adapted slightly.
Things weren’t quite the same between Claire and Jamie when she returned to the past in Outlander Season 3. While there were many fans against this relationship development, I enjoyed the realities of it. Claire had transformed considerably over the 20 years she was apart from Jamie and so did he! It wasn’t surprising that their thoughts and feelings adapted.
Sure, it didn’t happen the same in the books, but then the show isn’t the books. I’m looking at Outlander Season 3 as just the show, the way I saw it the first time.
For this #TransformationTuesday, it’s time to put a spotlight on that 20-year separation and how Claire changed. I’ll do this for Jamie, too, at some point to see how his personality adapted and what that meant for their relationship. But for now, it’s all about Claire.
She was in an unhappy marriage
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I don’t want to say Claire and Frank’s marriage was loveless, as I don’t believe it really was. They both cared deeply for each other. In fact, I suspect Frank did still love Claire–the Claire that left him in 1946. He wanted that Claire back.
Their marriage may not have been loveless, but it wasn’t a happy one. They stayed together for Brianna and for the love that once burned brightly for each other. Claire didn’t have a choice to divorce Frank at the time, so the only option was for Frank to divorce Claire if he wanted. Frank was never going to let that happen.
The unhappiness would have eaten away at Claire’s soul, especially when her love for Jamie continued to grow despite the fact that they had been separated for 20 years. Her mental health would have taken a knock, as she continued to force the smile and pretend like everything was a-ok.
Claire had a lot of strength when Sandy accused Claire of holding onto Frank. She (and we) knew that it wasn’t the case, but she stood by and let Sandy have her rant. Was this a sign of how much her unhappy marriage had worn her down?
She was a mother now
By the time Claire went through the stones, Claire had put someone else first for 19 years. The step through the stones was her chance to put herself first. Consistently putting someone else first as a mother changes who you are as a person. She had a daughter in the future who possibly needed her and certainly one she missed with all her heart.
It’s not surprising that when things didn’t seem suitable in the past that she looked for the first chance to escape. Her relationship wasn’t going to be what she may have expected or remembered. If she and Jamie couldn’t be happy, was there any point in staying? There was someone in the future who would be happy to see her.
I can’t even imagine the idea of leaving my daughters behind to go to the past. Granted, they are only 5 and 2, but they’re my girls. If this was possible, I think I’d have a knee-jerk reaction to return to my own time if things didn’t look like they were going to work out at first.
This was a knee-jerk reaction, though. Claire needed time to figure out why she was there and who this new Jamie was. She also needed to figure out who she was after spending 19 years as a mother with a daughter who needed her.
She had an independent life
When Claire was in her present timeline, she was independent. Sure, 1950s and 1960s America weren’t the most equal time, but it was far more equal compared to the 1760s. Claire had spent the last 20 years finding a place in the world and learning to live completely independently from her husband.
After becoming a doctor, she didn’t need Frank to support her. She was able to juggle being a mother and a surgeon, something that was unheard of at the time for most women. Mixed with the strong-headedness, it wasn’t surprising that she struggled to fit back into the 1760s way of life with a husband from the 18th century to boot.
Suddenly, she was thrown back into a world where a woman needed a man. If she didn’t have Jamie, she wasn’t going to stay and risk being with a man she didn’t love when she could possibly get back to the future and return to being a surgeon. That independence was difficult to get over and she still likely isn’t, which would explain the (admittedly terrible) Creme de Menthe episode and her (ridiculous) argument with the ship’s captain on the way to Jamaica. After 20 years of being independent and about a decade of being a respected surgeon, she wasn’t going to go back to the 18th century Claire she became in Seasons 1 and 2 within the space of a few weeks!
Next: Ranking the Outlander Season 3 episodes
How do you think Claire’s transformation affected her relationship with Jamie? Did everything that happened in the 20-year separation lead to who she viewed herself as in the 1760s? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Follow Claire and Jamie on Twitter for more looks at the transformations of the characters over the years.