I kind of feel bad about not liking her, because on its face, it seems terribly anti-feminist. Don cheated on her and lied to her for their entire marriage, so she's completely justified in wanting a divorce, but... I don't know. The way she's handled it, she seems like a completely cold, self-centered, spoiled brat.
If she'd asked for a divorce back in season 2, when she kicked him out, I'd have respected that. Or even if she'd made a sincere attempt at making the marriage work when she took him back. But instead, she decided to be vindictive, experimenting with her own affairs and just biding her time until a better prospect came along.
It feels like she's been using Don, pretending the marriage is okay because she doesn't want to give up the security of being taken care of. It may be the 1960s, but it's not like divorce was an unfathomable option - Helen Bishop is a prime example of that. But Betty would never deign to be a single mother - she couldn't stand to work at an unglamorous job to make a living, couldn't put up with the gossip or the social ramifications. And that makes it seem like it's not a matter of Betty staying with Don because she doesn't have other options (if that were the case, I'd feel bad for her). It's that she's too stuck-up to consider her options, until Henry Francis comes along and promises her the world.
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carisma_sensei
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Date: Nov. 11th, 2009 09:49 pm (UTC)If she'd asked for a divorce back in season 2, when she kicked him out, I'd have respected that. Or even if she'd made a sincere attempt at making the marriage work when she took him back. But instead, she decided to be vindictive, experimenting with her own affairs and just biding her time until a better prospect came along.
It feels like she's been using Don, pretending the marriage is okay because she doesn't want to give up the security of being taken care of. It may be the 1960s, but it's not like divorce was an unfathomable option - Helen Bishop is a prime example of that. But Betty would never deign to be a single mother - she couldn't stand to work at an unglamorous job to make a living, couldn't put up with the gossip or the social ramifications. And that makes it seem like it's not a matter of Betty staying with Don because she doesn't have other options (if that were the case, I'd feel bad for her). It's that she's too stuck-up to consider her options, until Henry Francis comes along and promises her the world.