The voyagers include a widow (Judi Dench), who is lost without her partner; a much divorced flirt (Celia Imrie); a sourpuss in need of a hip operation (Maggie Smith); a grizzled Don Juan (Ronald Pickup); a distinguished, gay former jurist (Tom Wilkinson); and a long - married couple, who have settled into fixed roles as aggressor (Penelope Wilton) and exasperated victim (Bill Nighy). (newyorker.com)
Having explicated and defended the concept of fitting work, Muirhead must then defend it against a taint that might seem to cling to it: its connection to fixed roles within a hierarchical, aristocratic society. (firstthings.com)
It is not merely that he has no «fixed role» and no «calling»; he refuses to recognize the «fixed fate» of others, and attempts to seduce them from their vocations. (firstthings.com)