Did they get married?


Anne had a gold dress at the end. Does this imply that they got married? And whats with the floating book?

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The ending is open to interpretation, and in my opinion there is no symbolicism by the colour of the dress. What should be noted in that scene, however, is that she does not wear her wig and in the end her hair hangs naturally. As with the tossing of the book, the ending seems to suggest that she finds the balance between nature/culture, that has been troubling her throughout the story - as we see in her love of wilderness vs. love of poetry, in her disruption of the tidy garden etc. McGregor initially represents tamed nature however, he develops appreciation and understanding of "wild nature" via Thea/Anne. Vice versa she comes to a kind of inner peace and they balance out eachother.
She tosses the book in the end as a symbol of her not needing literature as a crutch to lean on and she can now lean on herself and Ewan (And who wouldn't?!).
I guess the fact that they end up on a beach represents a new beginning for them all - water is a common motif for change.

This story is loaded with symbolism and if you go through the story with the nature vs. culture in mind, you will be overloaded by examples- (To mention a few; The poisoned tobacco, the "unnatural"/mathematical contruction of a garden, the perry wine, unyielding iron in the smithy, the mother as the barren, cultured jewel placed on a pedestal for admiration.

If you like this kind of symbolism, I would advise you to read "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe and "The scarlett letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (do *not* go by the film).

So, put shortly, we don't know if they get married; the newly developed sympathy between the mother and father could suggest they would be open for the possibility - especially since the father recognized that the doctor was of no use. (And that McGregor therefore was right all along).
Secondly, I think the last dress we see her in is in fact the shift and/or petticoat of the red dress she wore earlier (as they ran away).

Yes.
Yes.
I will stop ranting now.



_________________________________________
"Impetuous! Homeric!"

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