Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
[...] With many of the potential matings, it seemed a case of a rock and a hard place. While Helen would have benefited from heeding her aunt's warnings, the suitors her aunt was pushing on her were also poor choices. [...]
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What went through my head when I was reading about the men the aunt was putting forward was a line from
Pride and Prejudice (the TV mini-series with Firth and Ehle, I cannot find it in the book). They (I think it was Jane and Lizzy) are discussing Charlotte's match with Mr Collins, and it is said that Mr Collins is "not vicious".
It seems to me that the choices for most women of those times were between a rock and a hard place, and the possibility of landing a husband who would turn out to be vicious would have been all too real.
So I tend to think of the aunt's choices as conservative and protective: here are men that will not hurt you. And after you've lived through the damage of what can happen, I should think those conservative options would begin to take on a much more attractive appearance.