flight in the blue

ragemonstr:

“If it gets around and you’re not already married every door in London will be slapped in your face.”

#this is the most heartbreaking moment of series one to me#bc she’s basically telling her daughter #’things will be better in the future but you weren’t born then so you have to play by the rules of today’ #which is basically the most horrible way of telling someone that they can never be happy #but will get to witness other people be happy as they get to grow in the changing world #this is also mary’s most overtly suffragist moment #she has such naive hope here #almost lying to herself that if she just waits things will be better for her #but the irony is that the longer she waits the only more ‘on the shelf’ she will be #the great tragedy of mary is that if she had only—literally—been born maybe 5-10 yrs later #she could have had it all rolling in the deep #w/e fuck this character #show: downton abbey#ugh mary

to me, the most heartbreaking part of mary’s entire arc is her practical approach to the world she lives in. she’s not an idealist like sybil. she doesn’t dream to be a working woman or have a life that much different from her mother’s. she knows what her place in society is, the expectations placed on her, the pressure to marry for gain and not for love. and she works WITH allllll of this instead of AGAINST it because that is her only option and she knows it. but then there are moments when you glimpse just how desperate she is. like when patrick dies and she’s relieved because it means she won’t have to marry a man she doesn’t love. or when the turkish diplomat shows interest in her and she allows herself to get swept off her feet. or here, talking to her mother about a changing world that she’ll never be a part of. she’s accepted her life and her inevitable future but you can tell that not all hope has been abandoned. and that’s what makes her so easy to root for. 

(Source: dunhamkids)