Guy and Isabella thoughts

[jedi_of_urth]

I’m not sure I feel like doing a full write up on Robin Hood 3x08, at least not yet. I really liked the episode, but there’s something I feel like doing a whole post about. Obviously, Guy and Isabella, because they rule the show.

I think their conversation this week where Isabella wanted her apology and Guy wouldn’t has layers and layers of characterization and worked really well with my own reading of their history so it worked even better for me.

Thing is, they’re not talking about the same thing in that scene. Isabella is talking about how crappy her marriage was and she just wants Guy to admit that he’s in part responsible for her miserable life these last 17 years. I’m sure Guy understands (now) that Isabella was unhappy, but he doesn’t believe he did anything “wrong” in the original deal.

First off, I’m not sure how the writers expect us to take Isabella’s history. Because yes it is sympathetic that she was sold into marriage so young, but it is also a nod to historical accuracy. Why Thornton would have wanted to marry a 13 year old from an impoverished French low-mobility family I don’t know, but there could be more story there too. Women were married young and for money in those days, it was accepted practice to use marriageable girls to form alliances or deals for position, and will for centuries to come, and it’s what happened here. Does it suck for her? Yes. Does it mean that Guy’s actions were wrong? Not really.

Now back onto a character level, again I wish we had more canon stuff on the Gisborne past, because what they do give us is so good. I have my suspicious that part of Gizzy and Izzy’s differences on this issue comes from the difference in their ages and their roles before she was married. I see it as quite possible that the impoverished state of the family affected Guy more than Isabella before her marriage. Both because, as the man of the family, Guy probably dealt with it more, and because in her unhappy marriage I can see Isabella idolizing her childhood no matter their circumstances.

What also stands out to me, is the realization that Guy has asked no more of Isabella than he has of himself in that belief that they need to have position before the idea of happiness enters into it. Guy doesn’t like serving Vasey, or Prince John, or doing the things he’s asked to do to maintain his position with them but he stays. He makes the most of it as he might say. But even this season when Guy *despised* Vasey, he kept serving him, partly out of lingering bits of loyalty, but also because Guy does feel without position there’s nothing.

Yes, it was his own choice and beliefs that brought him to this point where Isabella didn’t have a say as a 13 year old girl in whether she would follow him on that choice in life and she was stuck in it horribly. But in Guy’s mind he gave her the option to make something of a life with position, the same option he gave himself. The fact that it’s brought them both plenty of misery is a whole different issue.

Not that this is to let Guy off the hook, because while in *his* mind he can justify it any way he wants, there’s also the issue that he’s also crap at admitting responsibility. Even Marian’s death, where there should be a lot fewer avenues to blame on someone else given he’s the one who stabbed her we haven’t seen him admit to yet. Do I think he *feels* it? Oh yes, but he can’t actually admit it even to himself, so he blames Robin and Vasey and probably others too, if he needs to in order to shove the blame off.

Another facet of their different perspectives comes from the consideration of alternatives. Guy suffers from a distinct lack of imagination on that front while Isabella doesn’t. Although given how long Isabella lived with her unhappy situation implies that this might be a newer development that Guy hasn’t gotten yet (actually discussing that sounds like it could be another long subject to consider).

Isabella has reached a point where she can imagine that things could be, or could have been, different. And she’s reached a point where she believes it can’t be, or have been, any worse So the apology she’s looking for is an acknowledgement of that fact. That her life sucks and the alternative couldn’t have been worse; so Guy is responsible for putting her in that situation. I would say the worst she is accusing him of is being unfeeling, not actually cruel himself; that even an admission that he was young and stupid and would do things differently now would be something in her mind. It’s not an unreasonable desire to have that acknowledged by the brother who played such a large role in bringing about her unhappiness.

Guy on the other hand is Guy about it. He’s also seriously depressed and crazy this season (more so than before) so the idea that things could have been better is not in his world view. It could have been worse in his mind, and he believes probably would have been, so better the hell you know. Add to that that for him to consider himself at fault for places where things could have been better would lead him to things with a lot less grey area than his treatment of Isabella. And if he did that he might have to change, and then it could be worse, and you see the problem there?

I know I’m probably just crazy-Guy-fangirling about it, but it actually makes me kind of sad. Even though he was nicer about it here than he had been, overall he has to be a jerk to her about it because apologizing would be admitting he’s made mistakes (the only thing I’m able to remember him ever admitting he did wrong was burning Marian’s house down; which in admitting he did wrong there did less to shake the foundations of his world than admitting him mistakes with Isabella would) and that there even was another option than the one he’s chosen.

He’s also an all or nothing personality, so apologizing for any facet of her unhappiness so of course he feels like she wants him to take responsibility for all of it, and he feels there’s enough grey area, or blame to spread, that he’s not going to take responsibility for all of it, no sir-y.

Yeah, way too long for I’m not sure how well it made the point, but I guess I needed to get it out there.

Also, in case I don’t do a post with thoughts about more than one scene of the episode, next week’s ep looks awesome for the Giz siblings. Bringing in Thornton should provide lots of opportunity for their characters to be awesome.

Comments

[jedi_of_urth]

A lack of imagination, a pessimistic attitude, and an aversion to personal responsibility is a dangerous combination.

Glad you liked it (and selfishly, glad you agreed with it).