Betty Draper
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| Betty Draper Francis | |||||||||||||||||
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| Mad Men character | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | January Jones | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Smoke gets in your Eyes (1.01) | ||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Matthew Weiner | ||||||||||||||||
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Elizabeth "Betty" Francis (née Hofstadt,[1] formerly Draper) is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men, portrayed by January Jones. The character's appearance is often compared to Grace Kelly.[2][3][4]
Biography
Betty was born Elizabeth Hofstadt in 1932[1]. She grew up in one of the tony suburbs of Philadelphia's "Main Line." She has mentioned having a German grandmother. Her first kiss was with a Jewish boy named David Rosenberg. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College with an Anthropology degree, and briefly modeled in Italy before moving to Manhattan. It was during this time that she met Don Draper, who was writing ad copy for a fur company she modeled at - he began courting her by buying her the fur coat she wore at a shoot. Betty and Don were married in May of 1953. Betty's mother died early in 1960, three months before the events of the episode "Ladies Room." Her father, Gene (Ryan Cutrona), had a girlfriend named Gloria, whom Betty doesn't like and whom her father marries sometime in the 18 months between seasons 1 and 2; Gloria left Gene when he began showing signs of mental deterioration in Season 3.
Her confidantes have included her neighbor Francine Hanson, and Glen Bishop, the young son of divorcee Helen Bishop. Her father lived in a Philadelphia suburb (Bryn Mawr) and had a summer home in Cape May, New Jersey. He moved in with the Drapers during season 3, and later died in that season, set in 1963. She has a brother, William, who is married and has daughters whom Don and Betty consider "rowdy."
Throughout the series, Betty and Don live in Ossining, New York, with their two children Sally (played by Kiernan Shipka) and Bobby. In the second episode, set in the spring of 1960, Betty started to see a psychiatrist because of repeated spells of numbness in her hands. In combination with psychosocial stressors and the exclusion of a neurological cause, it seems likely that Betty was experiencing Conversion Disorder.[5] It was during these meetings that, after having discovered that the psychiatrist was giving reports of her sessions to Don, she either admitted, or to "test the waters," threw out the suspicion that she knew of her husband's infidelities. Sometime between the end of the first season and the start of the second, in February 1962, the consultations were stopped.
During the second season episode "A Night to Remember", Betty and Don seem to have reached an agreement, but after a dinner party where Betty is embarrassed to be considered a 'demographic' by Don and his associates, she confronts her husband for the first time about his adultery, specifically with Bobbie Barrett. Don, however, denies having an affair. The next day, with a glass of wine in hand, Betty searches through Don's belongings for any proof of his indiscretions, but does not find it. Betty awakens Don - who is sleeping on the couch - that night and explains that she doesn't want things to "be like this." He repeats that he did not do anything and when she asks if he hates her, he insists that he loves her and doesn't want to "lose this." When preparing dinner the next day, an Utz commercial featuring Jimmy Barrett airs on the television. After seeing this, she calls Don at work and tells him she doesn't want him to come home.
Betty does turn to Don when she learns that her father Gene has suffered a stroke. She and Don leave the children with a neighbor and drive to visit her father; Betty is visibly impatient with both her father's wife Gloria and her brother William. She and Don are careful to present a united front. At the end of a stressful day, Betty makes Don sleep on the floor of the guestroom, but later joins him on the floor where they make love. The next morning, Betty's father mistakes Betty for her mother Ruth, suggesting that they "go upstairs." Betty is severely shocked and frightened, but tries to pretend that everything is all right. When she and Don return to New York, Betty asks Don to leave again.
In the Season 2 finale, Betty discovers she is pregnant. Although she brings up the subject of abortion with her doctor, and also has sex with a random man at a bar, at the end of the episode she asks Don to return home and tells him that she is pregnant. Season 3 begins with Betty in her third trimester, seemingly reconciled with Don.
In Episode 305, she gives birth to Eugene Scott Draper, whom she names after her recently deceased father. After giving birth, Betty comes to the quick realization that her dream of everything being perfect will never happen. During episode 302, Betty and Don attend a garden party hosted by Roger Sterling and his new wife, Jane Siegel Sterling, where she meets Henry Francis, who is later revealed to be an advisor to then-New York governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. He is infatuated with her, and though she seems reluctant to return his feelings at first, as the season progresses, their affair intensifies, though Betty eventually ends it, feeling guilty.
In Episode 311, Don is cornered by Betty, who has managed to unearth evidence of Don's past life via pictures and documents from a locked drawer in his desk. He tells her about his life as Dick Whitman, how he came to exchange dog tags with Lieutenant Don Draper, and his brother Adam's suicide. While apparently somewhat sympathetic to his feelings of guilt about the latter, Betty is highly conflicted about the fact that Don has hidden this aspect of his life from her for the duration of their relationship and marriage.
After President Kennedy's death and Margaret Sterling's wedding, Betty meets with Henry Francis, who confesses to her that he wishes to eventually marry her. They passionately kiss, and after the encounter, Betty returns home to tell Don she no longer loves him, leaving him stunned. This culminates in her seeing a divorce lawyer during the season 3 finale. During the same episode, Roger, whose daughter is friends with Francis' daughter, unintentionally reveals to him that Betty and Francis are involved. An incensed Don confronts Betty. After calling her a whore, he assures her that she "won't get a nickel" in the ensuing divorce and that he intends to seek sole custody of the children.
The next morning, he and Betty tell the children of the new arrangement, who both react badly. After moving into Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce's new office, Don calls Betty and tells her that he will not fight her, and wishes her the best. The season ends with Betty taking a plane to Reno with Gene and Henry.
Season 4 opens with Betty still living in the Draper house while having recently remarried to Henry Francis.
References
- ^ a b http://www.lippsisters.com/bible/characters/betty-draper/
- ^ Cosgrave, Bronwyn (March 31, 2010). "Grace Kelly's style". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-7-8.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Grace Kelly's lasting legacy". The Age. October 26, 2009. Retrieved 2010-7-8.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Stanley, Alessandra (July 25, 2008). "Back to the Office, Vices in Tow". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-7-8.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/conversiondis.htm
