Keeping Up Appearances: Difference between revisions

Hyacinth has another sister Violet who, in contrast to Daisy and Rose, is very wealthy. Hyacinth even boasts about her to guests when she is on the telephone with her ("It's my sister Violet! She's the one with the Mercedes, sauna, and room for a pony!") Despite this, Hyacinth tries to keep at bay the cross-dressing antics of Violet's turf accountant (i.e., bookmaker) husband Bruce. At first [[The Ghost|an unseen character]] for most of the show, Violet physically appears a number of times in the last series.

 

* [[Added Alliterative Appeal]]: Hyacinth pulls off a couple sentences with them.

{{quote| '''Hyacinth:''' Beautiful day, Elizabeth!<br />

* [[Gold Digger]]: Hyacinth ''encourages'' this behavior in others, pointing out the advantages of Violet's husband Bruce's new Mercedes (and the large house with the swimming pool and room for a pony) when Violet muses splitting off from Bruce. She also tries to help Rose land a rich husband, although very few of her beaus are ever wealthy - it's just Hyacinth's social climbing-colored glasses getting in the way.

* [[Grande Dame]]: What Hyacinth aspires to be.

* [[Henpecked Husband]]: Poor Richard.

* [[He Who Must Not Be Seen]]: Hyacinth's son, Sheridan, although he does eventually put in a brief and wordless appearance dressed in full motorcycle kit including face-concealing helmet.

* [[Irony]]: All of Hyacinth's upper-class "friends" much prefer her poorer relatives to her.

* [[Irony As She Is Cast]]: Patricia Routledge has been in many musicals, and can sing. Hyacinth is terrible at singing.

* [[Jerkass]]: Hyacinth.

** She does veer into [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]] terriotory, albeit very rarely. The 1991 [[Christmas Episode]] is a good example, in which she invites all her friends and family around for a party, regardless of their social status.

* [[Just Eat Gilligan]]: For some reason, it's never an option to just refuse to do whatever Hyacinth says. When Hyacinth ignores a "No", the characters appear resigned to obey her.

** It gets turned into a running gag when Emmet tries to coach Liz into refusing coffee. She's ''just. that. SCARY.''

* [[Stuff Blowing Up]]: A church blows up, and in another scene, the aftermath of a long-ago car repair session is treated as the aftermath of a recent silent explosion.

* [[Theme Naming]]: Hyacinth and her sisters are all named for flowers. Is that why she [[Fridge Brilliance|insists on pronouncing it "Bouquet"?]]

* [[The Unpronounceable]]: Rose's Polish fiance.

** Whom Rose, Daisy, and Onslow had to call him "Mr. Whatsit."

* [[The Vicar]]: Michael the vicar, who is terrified of both Hyacinth and Rose.

** "It's the Bucket woman!"

** In Richard's case, one gets the impression that they fell in love and married before she began her social climbing in earnest.

*** It's also suggested (and the actor has said in interviews) that Richard is quite lazy, and appreciates having decisions made for him.