Count me among the non-fans of Thomas Hardy. Tess of the d'Urbervilles [1891] is a case in point - decidedly twee, contrived as only a man's book from a woman's point of view can be, wooden in its action and so on and so on.However, it did blaze a trail at the time and it's generally agreed to have been a lavish portrait of the times and the countryside of a Wessex Eve. Plus it did raise certain issues.
One issue I'd like to zero in on stems from the dialogue after a man who had an affair himself and thought his fiancee pure is told by her that in fact she's not:
'Forgive me as you are forgiven. I forgive you, Angel.'
'You - yes you do.'
'But you do not forgive me?'
'Oh Tess, it's not a question of forgiveness. You were one person, now you're another.'
Is she a different woman once the truth is out?
Another scenario I've discussed with many people is one based on Agatha Christie's The Companion [1928]:
A woman with nine children quarrels with her rich cousin overseas and the eldest daughter, realizing that the three youngest need expensive medical treatment, goes into service as lady's companion, murders her employer in such a way that the money comes to her and returns home.
She then becomes the benefactor of the family, the mother hen and general philanthropist until she is found out but she dies of an incurable disease anyway.
To those about her, she was a good woman. She was a good woman to them. It's just her past which was the problem. If she's found out, does she cease to be a good woman to them?
Does 'being found out' alter the person? Does subsequent good behaviour mitigate a crime?
If a blogger blogs as a 32 year old Scot and is accepted as such but in fact is a 52 year old English curmudgeon, can he still be the Scot after he's found out? Does one's past alter the plot?
It's really two questions isn't it? The first puts me in mind of the ring of Gyges as told by Plato. What would you do if you knew you would not be found out?
ReplyDeletethe second question is does your past change you or can you change and not be the victim of your past? I say yes to both, but not always to the second part because of the opinions of others.
On the other hand who wouldn't want to be a 33 year old Scot?
Most societies have always had one rule for a woman who has an affair and another for a man who does so. I don't know.. sometimes we don't choose who we fall in love with - it just happens and we are in a mess before we know it. I think you are altered if you are found out, yes, because you are not the person the one who loved you thought you were. When we are in love we all idealise the object of that love and we are all more than a little in love with love. If we go on loving whatever a person's faults, where can that lead? - To the wives who stood by while their husbands committed atrocities in Nazi concentration camps, for instance. There has to be a line at which your tolerance stops and your decency and morality comes into it - or we are all lost.
ReplyDeleteWelshcakes has taken the words out of my mouth, very poignant words and very true.
ReplyDeleteThank you, ladies. I really wanted to see and read what your ideas were on this. Pity the men didn't leave their thoughts too. Perhaps it's because so many of us are living double lives.
ReplyDeleteHey give us a chance.
ReplyDeleteAs usual I'm in two minds over this. It's all to do with motivation and morals. Sometime things need done but your morals stop you others walk right past the boundaries. We all draw the line somewhere different. I don't believe in theft but support taxation. How can you balance that out?
I do believe you change both personally and via others eyes when you are found out about something you are hiding. It doesn't even need to be illegal. We all doit. The nice chap next to you is viewed differently when you discover he is a member of the Labour party. (For example)
Yes, I was a bit quick off the mark there. Good points, Bag.
ReplyDelete