Help me with my story! It's a tough question, beware....?

Question

My story is set in the early Victorian era.
There is a man named Edward. Edward's brother (John) has been ill for a very long time, and Edward has an affair with John's wife. That woman gets pregnant after John dies. Edward's family is very obssessed with retaining their good reputation, so Edward's sister orders John's wife to have her child aborted (is this possible? or is this too exagerated...forcing someone to have an abortion for the sake of retaining a good reputation?)And Edward doesn't do anything to stop it, as he is a self-centered man, who cares about his reputation and the reputation of the family. Anyways, years~~ later, how would this incident affect Edward, Phsycologically?

Would he still be obssessed with his reputation? Or would he have turned into a rake who didn't care for the public's opinion of him, now knowing what harm he had caused for the sake of his good reputation.

Anyways, please think hard! How would this incident have affected him?

Answer 1

First, abortion is OUT, for many reasons that are too touchy and numerous to answer here. So, you need to find an alternative...

pushing her down the stairs to miscarry?
send her off till the baby is born and discarded into an orphanage or is stillborn?

How he'll react in a few years...
Cold-hearted and bitter man, secretly missing his child. Depression caused by loss and pent up grief turns into bitterness over time.

How does he feel about his reputation? He's a cold, emotionless man that is very politically correct, to a "T" with etiquette and mannerisms, but totally disconnected from any loving feelings. He holds no love for anyone, but can never be faulted for doing the "inappropriate" action.

Sounds like a decent plot...keep going...

Blessings

ps...can you share your story when it's done? Message me and I'll give you my email ;)

Answer 2

I don't know if abortions happened back then, but I would think the most likely scenario would be for Edward's family to have John's wife sent away to have the child (either permanently or force her to give up the child before coming back). That seems much more believable in that era.

In that case, years later Edward would begin having regrets and possibly blaming his family for the fact that he has a child somewhere that he doesn't know (or possibly even a woman who he loves if she kept the child and didn't come back). He would probably be an angry, reclusive man later in life, and not allow anyone to be close to him. He would still care about the reputation of the family, but mostly just their financial or social status.

Answer 3

Well sounds like Edward will be fine you say he is self-centered and evidently he doesn't give a care that his brother is dying because he is taking advantage of his wife. He is not even man enough to raise the baby. The family is the type that worries about what will others think. For all they know it may have been John's baby. Edward will be fine...maybe you should ask how John's wife will feel psychologically later ...because I am sure she will have guilt from the abortion and Edward will never stay with her...he will cheat again and again because he sounds like a very selfish and self-satisfying person. Also it doesn't bother him who he hurts in his life long journey!

Answer 4

I dont know much of the victorian era, but I appreciate the art of writing. It is tough and I wish I had the talent! That being said, I might have a few ideas you could use. I do think forcing an abortion is a little extreme-did they do those back then? I was thinking, if the story is mostly about edward, perhaps the pregnant woman would be sent away to have her child, and then be forced to leave the baby behind (killing it in the name of family honor or something) with the help of her sister. But the mama doesnt want to kill her baby after she holds him in her arms...and has her sister go back to her family to tell her that the baby is dead, and that she had died in childbirth, which is a common thing back in the days without proper medical care. So she becomes a peasant in a small faraway town to raise her child by herself, and edward never gave it another thought, until 17 or 18 whatever years later, when the son finds out who he is and who he came from, and wants to meet his dad. so he travels back to the place to see his father, which disrupts edward from his social status and honor and threatens the things he has worked (selfishly) for. So it affects him-by disrupting him, and he has to decide what to do at that point-welcome his son as his posterity, or treat him like his worst enemy......

Just a few thoughts. Hey-can I read your story when you are finished with it? my email is [e-mail]. I would like to read it-whether you use my ideas or not!

Answer 5

The idea of some one being forced to have an abortion to save a family reputation is certainly realistic. Abortion during this era was possible, although I have no idea how it would be performed or how one would approach someone to perform it (perhaps a doctor whose patients were primarily prostitutes).

A more likely (I think) way to deal with the issue at the period in history (or at least in American culture; you may be from somewhere else) would be to send the mother/wife away. She would return a year or two later with the child, claim it was her dead husband's child and lie about when it was born. I've done some genealogy research and found that it wasn't unheard of for men to produce offspring for years after their demise.

As for the person's behavior, if he was a self centered person and believed he did what was right (for him) I think he'd still believe that his choice was the correct one and wouldn't be concerned with it. If perhaps you need a character who is later conflicted over this sort of decision, perhaps someone could convince him to participate against his better judgment.

Good luck with the story.

Answer 6

Well what if John's wife said she aborted the child but she really didn't so the girl is appering everywere and she looks so much like her mother he get's freeked out and obssed with finding ou t who she is cuz John's wife died and he fells like he's being haunted cuz he didn't do anything to stop the abortion so he blirts out he has a daughter in some drunken fest and ends up ruining the family's reputation anyway. or somthing could happen with a romantic twist not sure what it would be though,

Answer 7

edward, having been wracked with guilt for killing his only offspring and heir, so many years ago, and before he knew hed never sire another child, and learning that the abortion, illegal and done in a back alley of some singapore slum, caused his dead brothers wife to contract a horrible infection, and be left for dead in a dumpster somewhere abroad, has taken to drinking heavily as a form of escape from the guilt of that one selfish act so many years ago,and womanizing and all othre forms of debauchery one could affect, in an effort to forget

Answer 8

I would think that he would still be obsessed with his reputation a person like that usually never changes no matter how far they go to protect their reputation. People had certain herbs that they would take back then to cause a miscarriage.