Taken for Granted?

I watched the movie The Duchess this weekend, and it really made me appreciate being a woman in today's society.  Women back then, especially the king's wives, duchesses, etc, really had a sad life.  They had very little choices or say in any decision.  In the movie, the Duchess, played by Keira Knightley, made a comment that the only way women could express themselves was through their clothes and hats, and that the men had many ways of expressing themselves.  When the Duke married the Duchess, she thought that he was marrying her because he loved her, but later on in the movie, the Duke told her that her purpose as a wife was to be loyal and to give him a male heir.  Her response to this was, "Just like your dogs."  Throughout the movie, the Duke hardly ever talked to the Duchess, and he had many mistresses.  One of them was the Duchess's best friend who even lived in their house with them.  The Duchess knew all about his mistresses, but could not do anything about it.  She ended up falling in love with another guy, but when the Duke found out about their affair, he threatened to kill the guy and take the Duchess's children away from her.  It was ok for the Duke to have affairs, and it was even expected of him, but if the Duchess even attempted to have one, there would be extreme consequences.  Sometimes women were even beheaded for this act.  There was such a double standard at this time.  I got angry watching how she was being treated.  The Duke basically walked all over her, and she could do nothing about it.   I wanted her to slap the Duke or get a divorce or something!  I wouldn't put up with any of that.  However, during that time she couldn't get a divorce, and it was her duty to put up with it all.  Nobody really cared about her happiness or her feelings at all.  The movie didn't end like I had hoped it would, and I was disappointed.  However, it was based on a true story, and, sadly, this was how their lives really were. 

Watching this movie and seeing the Duchess's emotions and the turmoil she was going through really made me appreciate being a woman today.  Women have really come a long way since those days.  We can vote, make our own decisions, decide who we want to marry, and if it doesn't work out, get a divorce.  It is not expected or accepted for our husbands to have affairs.   We have the freedom be whomever we want and to do whatever we want, and we don't have to put up with being treated horribly by others.  I think sometimes we take our freedom and our ability to choose for granted because we can't imaging it any other way.  The reality is, though, that we didn't always have this freedom, and that women's lives back in the 1700s were far different from our lives today.  We all have been blessed to live in this century and to have the lives that we do, and we need to be thankful for that each and every day.