They were just awful parents and they probably cared more about themselves than they did for their own daughter. That was especially true of the father, who saw his daughter going to Oxford as a means to move up the social ladder but was unwilling to help her by paying for special tuition to improve her Latin. So when David seemed to be interested in Jenny, they saw it as an easier way to have the family well-provided for and they dropped the idea of Oxford totally. Once they had their mind fixed, they ignored all the clear warning signs. Only Miss Stubbs the teacher rightly suspected everything.
To be specific, how likely would it be for a man to remain single when he approaches forty if he is not gay or exceedingly shy? It is more than likely that he would have a history with many other women. But the parents and even Jenny herself looked only at the expensive gifts he showered on them and ignored everything else. Apparently they only saw $$$$$, all other considerations including his age, religion and ethnicity were thrown aside. Most other people would have suspected that there must be something wrong with this smooth-talking version of “Mr. Rochester” – who incidentally also had a wife that Jane Eyre didn’t know about. I wonder why David’s long-suffering wife was not driven to insanity too.
I read that the film was based on a true story, but I find it difficult to believe that people like Jenny and her parents could be so stupid in real life. Perhaps they just insisted on deluding themselves. Did the parents really think that nothing would happen when they allowed their daughter to travel with David alone and stay overnight and even go to a foreign country? Did they really believe David, who never attended university himself, knew professors there so well that he could help Jenny gain some advantage in her application for admission? I can’t believe Jenny and her parents could be so dense.
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pelscc2000
11 years ago
The parents, especially the father, were very disturbing. I would NEVER allow my daughter to date a man of that age, under ANY circumstances.
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annlevtex
11 years ago
But things really were completely different then. That age gap was not at all unusual, nor was it unusual for girls to marry very young. And he was a charmer. They thought he was cultured and well-to-do and would make a good husband. It might seem wrong to us, but it would not have been then. Note that her friends were envious.
I thought the parents were naive, but they clearly loved her.
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timlin-4
11 years ago
Normal to give your daughter to a man with no job, home, or references? Unless we are to assume the guy erected a more elaborate con, it's just not plausible. Another movie made for young ladies.
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thestrangebeauty
11 years ago
I assumed they believed he was wealthy, based on the fact that he could afford expensive things - like the trip to Paris, etc. He probably convinced them that his work was bigger than it really was, and even though it would've been obvious that he was lying or exaggerating or hiding something, they were too charmed by him to notice.
Kind of like where Jenny's father heard someone say CS Lewis was at Cambridge, not Oxford. He assumed that was false, because he was charmed by David.
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