In Anthony Trollope’s novel Can You Forgive Her?, Alice leaves the kind, stable and honorable man she loves to throw herself at a manipulative degenerate for whom she feels no passion. She believes that she’s made for greater things than staid and quiet family life, and hopes that the degenerate will let her make a mark in politics since he’s running for Parliament. Sacrificing even a deep feeling of love for another man on this altar seems like a good idea to her.
Alice’s cousin Glencora got exactly what Alice dreams of. She married the future Chancellor of the Exchequer and can dedicate herself to assisting his political career. Instead, Glencora is eager to throw herself at a loser degenerate of her own and be content with making no mark on anything.
The paucity of life paths that constrain Alice and Glencora is a thing of the past. Women no longer have to attach themselves to this or that husband in order to have a career in politics or anything else. But the topic of female fascination with bad boys is evergreen. Alice and Glencora have a supporting cast of aunts, cousins, grandpas, and other relatives who work together to prevent them from bestowing themselves on the first passing loser who winks at them. These days, on the other hand, we don’t brook any outside input into our personal lives. The cat of individual choice was let out of the bag and there’s no bringing it back in. It would be mistaken, however, to believe that today’s Alices and Glencoras don’t pay a price for their fascination with bad boys.
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