Around halfway through the first series of Downton Abbey Mary challenges Cora’s assertion that her father loves her by stating that, “he wouldn’t fight for me”. The heartbreaking thing about this week’s episode was the way it showed that this line — which referred to her father’s refusal to consider the possibility of breaking the entail so that Mary could inherit his estate — has come to encapsulate Mary’s relationships with almost all of the men who claim to love her. There is nobody in Mary’s life who will fight for her. There is nobody in Mary’s life who would make any real sacrifice for her; there is nobody in her life who privileges her material well-being over abstract concepts like honour. What is the value of love when it comes from someone whose reaction to discovering that you’re in an abusive, controlling relationship is to abandon you to it? What is the point of being soft, of being forgiving, of being self-sacrificing when nobody will protect you? When you play at being female in the Edwardian British aristocracy you win or you die.
(via koolaidmoustache)
