|
Post by cmwilso3 on Oct 12, 2007 23:22:33 GMT -5
I still believe that they disappeared. I posted on another thread a quote from the GameScript about why I think this.
|
|
|
Post by PrincessJennifer on Oct 13, 2007 1:11:53 GMT -5
...That doesn't really help if you don't post it HERE.
|
|
|
Post by cmwilso3 on Oct 14, 2007 15:55:04 GMT -5
I was reading the GameScript for the final chapter. Jennifer says,"One day, Mr. Hoffman suddenly disappeared. Clara and Miss martha soon followed, leaving me and the other orphans alone…" If Hoffman disappeared (and it is implied here that whatever happened to Hoffman also happened to Clara and Martha), then they must have disappeared too. Not necessarily left. I think that Jennifer probably would have said, "Mr. Hoffman left suddenly" instead if that had been the case.
|
|
|
Post by PrincessJennifer on Oct 14, 2007 16:16:45 GMT -5
Why would she say it like that? To her, he did "disappear suddenly". It was only upon the discovery of his diary that she learned the truth.
|
|
|
Post by cmwilso3 on Jan 20, 2008 16:06:31 GMT -5
However, just because Hoffman had planned upon leaving does not rule out that something could have happened before he left. The orphans could have found out that he was planning upon leaving and felt that it was necessary to hurry up what ever sinister plan they had for him.
|
|
|
Post by PrincessJennifer on Jan 20, 2008 23:33:34 GMT -5
This thread is meant to focus on Clara-we should really try to get back to that subject, as there are threads already for Hoffman and what happened to him.
But it seems pretty clear he just left. Jennifer went into detail about the reasons why he did so, so that seems to be what happened.
|
|
|
Post by cmwilso3 on Jan 21, 2008 0:10:17 GMT -5
Okay. Well, if Hoffman left, why didn't he take Clara with him? If he wasn't molesting her, then she was definitely looked upon almost as a daughter or little sister.
|
|
|
Post by PrincessJennifer on Jan 21, 2008 0:47:27 GMT -5
Because he wasn't leaving, so much as running away. He was ashamed. It's like a father who runs out on his wife and children-would he try to convince his favorite child to run away with him and abandon the others?
|
|
|
Post by cmwilso3 on Jan 21, 2008 14:48:59 GMT -5
But it seems as though Clara is the only one he truly connected with and liked. He didn't view the other children as daughters and sons but as pests.
|
|
|
Post by PrincessJennifer on Jan 23, 2008 23:59:31 GMT -5
They kind of were though. And even so, that was probably why. He liked and respected Clara. How could he stand there and tell her he was running away from it all and abandoning the children and orphanage. He couldn't really take her with him anyway, as that would probably be viewed as kidnapping. A grown man flees an orphanage with a sixteen-year-old girl?>_>;
|
|
|
Post by cmwilso3 on Feb 7, 2008 16:47:54 GMT -5
The legal age of consent in England is 16 with the permission of a parent or legal guardian. I checked into the history and this has been the case since the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885. Perhaps they ran off to get married, considering that being the head of the orphanage probably granted Hoffman the status of being Clara's legal guardian.
|
|
|
Post by PrincessJennifer on Feb 10, 2008 23:49:27 GMT -5
It still would have been frowned upon. And Jennifer's dialogue implies that Mr. Hoffman left alone, while Martha and Clara disappeared afterwards.
|
|
|
Post by cmwilso3 on Feb 12, 2008 9:30:04 GMT -5
While I doubt that it would have been frowned upon because marriage to a 16 year old girl was commonplace, you do make a good point about the sequence. Jennifer does say that Clara left after Hoffman. Maybe this is just one of those things that will never be settled or have a concrete answer.
|
|
|
Post by PrincessJennifer on Feb 17, 2008 22:01:55 GMT -5
The circumstances would have. A very old man leaves an orphanage without a word to anyone, abandoning the kids there and running off with a sixteen-year-old? Who wouldn't frown? Especially considering this led to their deaths.
|
|