'No sympathy for Irene.'
I notice a lot of you people claim to have "no symapthy" for Irene because she didn't marry Soames for love. Get real! Not many people did back then. God knows Annette didn't. Except Annette was willing to whore herself until she conceived and then flaunt her lover in a way that even Irene wouldn't have. So Irene stopped sleeping with him - so what? Things could've gone on fine from there. No one says a wife is OBLIGATED to sleep with her husband. But my DVD of the movie may have had a scene yours didn't - or maybe you skipped it -
namely the part where Soames BEATS and RAPES her.
Not many of you even bother to bring this up in your condemnation of Irene. I understand that you were all captivated by Damian Lewis' BRILLIANT performance (as I was) which actually lends some symapathy for Soames' case. There were many times I felt a small tear weling up at his predicament, but he crossed the line and even by the end of series two he has to admit it to himself. He could have really won me over if he hadn't crossed that line. But I suppose by whatever means necessary.
No, she didn't marry for love. He knew that. He thought he could win her. Buy her. And he promised that if "it" (meaning his attempts to conquer her) failed he would release her. All in all it seems he didn't marry for love either but for posession or even a challenge. The diffeence is that beore theytook those wedding vows he had already made another promise that he wasn't willing to keep. Soames goes on and on about the institute of marriage being a sacred vow as if he were a man of his word and Irene wasn't. Isn't the first promise more important than the second?
So go ahead. Keep feeling sympathetic for the creepy Grinch-looking stalker/rapist. Ironically, it seems the majority of you who feel "no symapthy" for Irene are women. Imagine if your husband/boyfriend came home drunk one night when you weren't "in the mood" and decided to take you by force anyway. I guarantee even if you did love him you'd be packing your bags that night. It's a bit disingenuous not to feel some sympathy for these two poor souls traped in a web of their own bad decisions.
___________________________________________________
A tip: [*URL][/URL](remove the asterisk) for all your linking needs. spread the word Use this sig!