Christopher Tietjens’ life with his wife Sylvia is no picnic. There are ample instances of Sylvia’s inconstancy in his Parade’s End, but this picnic episode is not one of them. That’s why it seems likely that Susanna White and screenwriter Tom Stoppard added a picnic to their screenplay of Ford’s novel. It is designed to hammer the fact that Sylvia is predatory and Christopher is a mixture of idealism and realism.
The picnic is a ritual activity during an aristocrat’s country-weekend. Here it’s on the moor above the North Sea in Yorkshire. It’s a dining-room-luncheon moved outdoors, which Stoppard writes demands “considerable administration: hampers, panniers, crockery, glasses, and a feast of fowls, delicacies in aspic, jellies in moulds, etc., like a picture from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. It’s all set piece, picnic-table-fodder-for-the eye.
The picnic is held during the summer, just before the UK and Germany went to war on August 4th. It’s an unsettled time, and as the picnic unfolds, there is talk of the looming war with the Germans. Jokingly, Gen. At the table, there is chatter. Campion pretends to shoot at a bird, says, “It won’t be long now.”:
At the table, Lady Claudine says, “What war, Glorvina? It’s not going to be our war.” Christopher thinks otherwise. Leaving the table with Sylvia, they walk to the cliff edge where they stand side-by-side, but not touching. She’s aware that the picnickers are anxious, but can’t get the gist of the oncoming war. What’s frightening then?” she asks. “They’re all in a panic,” Christopher replies.
Rather than discuss it, Christopher diverts her attention to a fish-eagle hunting. He correctly identifies the name of the bird, but Sylvia identifies with its predatory nature. Deep in her own thoughts, she says (aloud to herself), “That’s what I’d like to come back as. The fish-eagle.” Christopher registers the symbolism of her predatory nature, remains mute (as he often does), and abruptly walks away. He knows Sylvia doesn’t care about anything but herself. And he knows that the UK will be at war very shortly and that he will volunteer to be in it.
See: Susanna White. Parade’s End (2012). Screenplay by Tom Stoppard based on Ford Madox Ford’s series of novels; Ford Madox Ford. A Man Could Stand Up... (1926); Tom Stoppard. Parade’s End. New York: Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 2013.