Who else was rooting for her to run away with Gray?
I know she had her kids and all, plus Gray's career would have presumably been destroyed, but, a huge part of me wanted her to pull a "Medea" (Greek play; look it up...). I doubt that the Duke was such a powerful man that he really could have prevented Gray from his career ambitions. Divorce was almost unheard of back in those days but I don't really see how he could have kept another man's wife (Bess) as his mistress without her divorcing her husband? And Georgiana could have become Gray's mistress and just not married him, if divorce was too "scandalous" (I think it's more scandalous to have your mistress in your home like some concubine and openly father illegitimate children, but that's just me). The Duke had his illegitimate children living in the home whilst Eliza was raised elsewhere. I'm sorry, the movie was a total downer and in my honest opinion, G had nothing good going for her in the end. I just think she should've ran off with Gray and told society and the Duke to kiss her ass! It's funny, too, because I was half expecting a feminist/"girl power" sort of movie that would show a woman unafraid of scandal, but, it seems her hand was forced when it came to brushing her own "scandal" (which was only falling in love with one man whom she couldn't have) under the rug and thereby doing what society demanded. Kind of a bummer. And the rape scene was very traumatic to watch, I became ill. I couldn't imagine ever living under the same roof as my rapist personally, even if it did mean not seeing my kids. I believe that the Duchess died prematurely (she was only in her forties) as a result of marital stress. She literally gambled, partied, and drank herself to an early death due to her husband's constant philandering and cruel behavior. I just found the movie extremely upsetting and thank my lucky stars women don't have to tolerate that kind of behavior anymore! Off to watch something happy now...
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