zeglyths

book

what i said above only applies to the show. there cannot be any other interpretation for the book other than what it is: rape.

let's add the setting for the book: daphne and simon were just going to sleep when she suddenly wonders why he tries to keep her as far as possible from his release. she asks him why can't he have kids and it that was his seed. the fight about the vow unfolds and so far daphne is in the right.

simon knows that, but is hate for his father is too strong, understandably so. two days later, he gets so drunk he cannot even stand or think properly. daphne allows him to sleep in her bed.

and somehow, that twisted bitch thinks that "she can have anything she wants." LINE TAKEN FROM THE BOOK.

she unbuttons his breeches and strokes him, while he is DRUNK AND SLEEPING. he is horny and drunk, not in the right sense of mind. he never even gave her explicit consent, even when 'encouraging' her. (he later blames himself for this)

she seduces and rides him, and she forces in to come inside of her even though she knew about his vow and was sure of what his seed would do. (this is very different from how the show portrayed it and i'll explain that later)

the way it unfolds after is heartbreaking. simon feels betrayed and hurt, not comfortable with her touching him anymore, so much that he genuinely begins to stutter again. he leaves the estate, and she cries because she did not actually think that he would leave her, and even openly admits that she is not ashamed and thought she was in the right, she takes residence in hastings house in london for the next 2 months that they are apart, and never mentions why they separated to her concerned family, which caused them to grow some kind of hatred towards him. anthony was in charge of delivering the letter that informed him that she missed her courses (which was a false alarm) and threatens simon. simon blames himself for encouraging her seduction (he was drunk) and goes to london because of the child. there, they reconcile and the first thing daphne does after telling him that she is not pregnant is ask if he left her because she forced herself on him. he says no, and says he left because she made him so vulnerable he began stuttering again. which is literally the same thing: she violated him, and he was so hurt he began to stutter.

after a comedic relief scene with the bridgertons, when they have sex again, daphne says that she doesn't want children if he doesn't (after all that) and would like some time for themselves, but he still says that he does and all in all, they get a happily ever after.

i'd also like to mention that simon wasn't exactly the ideal man either. he constantly viewed daphne as an object and projected all his sexual desires (unhealthily) on her. he was verbally abusive up with her up to the point of #that scene (yes, he was also abusive when he was drunk)

this was utterly disgusting for me to read. i could barely get through the pages. these are situations that real-life people go through, that should not be painted in a good light or be promoted as romance.

show

the show's scene is different. simon and daphne have their fight about the vow after she forced herself. she did not know what his 'seed' would do.

yes, she did ask her maid that night, but take it this way: her mother did not give her the slightest of information on how to make child. she told her that simon would know, and daphne fully trusted both simon and her mother as well. she was exploring her sexual side when she noticed him not releasing inside of her. she did not know what that meant. he did. he took advantage of her naïveté.

when she asked her maid, it was difficult for her to believe that he would lie to her. she trusted him the most with her body. he was the only man that had touched her that far. she did not want for him to have lied to her. she could not even think of the slightest reason why he would not want to have children. if she confronted him directly, he would have made up another lie to cover for it.

it was a simple situation: she would force him to come inside of her, and if he was upset then he had lied. yes, he told her to wait, yes, she did not stop, and yes, that bordered sexual assault.

"oh but you wouldn't say that if a man did that to a woman." actually, the situation cannot happen with gender reversed.

this takes place in 1813. society tried their utter best to keep women as innocent as a child, and fresh for her husband. the man, however, was free to do whatever he wanted. simon especially, was a whore.

he knew explicitly how to make children, while daphne only had the idea of some kind of marital act they had to perform that would eventually end up in child.