Please don't take this response as me telling you you're wrong...I'm just responding to your post with my own thoughts. :)
While I would not have stood by and let my daughter die, Frances Grey did what many people would do in that situation, both then AND now: keep quiet for fear of suffering the same fate. And Frances was not oblivious to her daughter's death...but what was she to do? Had she acted she would have met the same bloody end.
"Take parental whippings, take rape, take childbirth pain, take burning alive in some cases, take having your head cut off."
Many of these actions still happen today. The only thing that changed are the people and environments. I do not believe they were savages at all. While Jane's whipping was painful, she was, in her mother's mind, an obstinate child going against her parents' wishes and her duty to her family. Parents still disclipine their children, some in the same way, for disobeying them. Childbirth pain still exists. Women still die in childbirth all around the world. And while we don't burn people alive or cut their heads off much, we still electrocute and poison them. Our motives for doing so are just different.
"What intrigues me is, Lady Jane so tightly clutched the very religion that subjugated females. While not entirely to blame, the bible and christianity went hand in hand with 16th century barbarism to subjugate women, children, and eventually African slaves and native peoples. "
Different time. Different mindset. Women, for the most part, understood their place in life was different than that of men. The idea of being a 'good christian woman' was to adhere to the principals laid out in the Bible and to honor AND obey her lord and master (her husband). While I don't personally believe I am anyone's servant, I understand that ideas and self-image change with time.
"Lady Jane did not love Guilford Dudley, nor was she ready physically or emotionally for marriage at 15. That was entirely a celluloid fantasy world to entertain audiences. Who knows if the marriage were consummated? Dudley's father ordered him to do it. Must have been odious, painful rape when a girl really doesn't want to copulate."
She may have just layed there while it happened. It goes back to that whole different mindset. While she may not have wanted it, you were expected to comply with your husband's want of sex. Which is also why alot of the women had that 'pregnant' look. Due to the fact that pregnancy had alot more complications than they do now (due to modern medication) husbands would many times avoid having sex with a pregnant wife so not to upset the pregnancy. This would allow you to have a few moments of respit from your husband (if you didn't want to be with him....and many women actually did learn to love their husbands). The nobility and merchant class rarely married for love. It was all about social status. You may have been a knight's daughter....but if you play your cards right you can marry a baron and then your children would be the children of a baron. The peasantry really had more of the 'luxury' to marry 'where their hearts lie'. The marriages of the nobility were more about acquiring new land and forming treaties than love. Many times noble husbands and wives only had sex to create children. And then they would spend their time in separate beds, even separate homes. Sometimes not even in the same country.
And Frances' distance from her daughter was probably the result of her station. Jane, like most upper class children, had a nanny to watch over her. Most of the time, children weren't even breast-fed by their own mothers, but instead by a wet nurse. When a prince or princess was born, for example, they were setup with their own castle with their own household to attend to their needs. Imagine, a baby with their -own- servants. Prinesses Mary and Elizabeth had this kindof upbringing. So, in Jane's case, her mother was able to disclipine her in such a cold way because she didn't really raise her daughter thru the first several years of her life, and therefore had no tender maternal feelings toward her. If you remember in the movie, the nurse/nanny was fighting back tears thru the whole ordeal because -she- had raise Jane and probably loved her like a daughter. But because she was a servant, it was not her place to argue with Frances. And anyway, some women make better mothers than others, even in today's society.
I did enjoy the movie, despite some historical inaccuracies. But I think they did a great job portraying the people and attitudes of the time.
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