This week we read Ford Madow Ford's The Good Soldier which told the sad tale of two wealthy, established couples and the betrayals and scandals they hid from one another. It was a twisted tale of deceit and infidelity, yet it made me question the true nature of infidelity.
The central character, Edward Ashburnham, is "the good soldier" who is your typical nice guy. He is a great soldier, kind landlord, friendly, and noble... a real man's (and apparently ladies) man. Outwardly, he is totally devoted to his wife. However, hidden behind his noble demeanor lies years of secret affairs, almost bankruptcy, and children that have had to been "taken care of." His wife is well aware of his philandering yet she doesn't leave him due to her faith and her love of him. Even his best friends whose wife he sleeps with for nine years, still adores him even after the fact is revealed.
If he is such a great guy and so noble then why can't he control his passions? Why drag your poor wife through all that misery and heartbreak if you are so "devoted" to her? What made Edward do it time and time again?
In the end, I think the true nature of infidelity lies in an unattainable passion for something that does not exist. Sure Edward loved Leonora and respected her but he needed someone that couldn't see his flaws, that he was merely human. He needed someone who saw him as a hero, someone like Nancy who was much younger than him and didn't know better. Someone like Florence who was looking for English nobility. Someone like Maisie and the servant girl on the tracks, and the countless numbers of women he just had to have to fulfill his selfish needs.
The true nature of infidelity is selfishness. Sure back then they may of had an excuse with the arranged marriages and all that, but what is our excuse now? Just do your significant other a favor and let them go before you decide to move on to that next person. Stop being so selfish and consider others unlike Edward who merely thought of himself like the "good soldier" he was.
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