Downton Abbey is a classic British drama in the setting of the two Industrial Revolutions and the World War Ⅰ. It presents to the audience a portrait of aristocratic families and servants living under a rigid hierarchy in the last century. The characters in the drama are numerous and distinctive, and the dialogues between different roles are full of unconscious humor. The equality between men and women has drawn more and more attention, and gender differences have become one of the hot issues today, including differences in language. By analyzing the differences, we can better understand the plot and characters. This paper will analyze the dialogue of characters in the first season of Downton Abbey from the perspective of the cooperative principle, so as to conclude the gender difference in language and explore the reasons.
Key words: gender differences; the Cooperative Principle; Downton Abbey.