[Apologies for the random and OOC ask, but I have to know. I briefly watched the series about a year ago, but found myself completely enraged by the random and (I felt) highly OOC cheating on Theresa, and it basically ruined the whole thing for me to the point that I couldn't watch any more (and let me tell you, I have to be PRETTY DAMN UPSET to pass up young Sean Bean in tight pants). Did that whole thing make any more sense in the book, by chance?]
[ I apologize in advance for the rambling that is about to commence:
Yes, as a matter of fact, it did make much more sense in the book.
First, we do have to say that it isn’t as ooc for Sharpe to sleep around as you might think–in the novels, he did sleep with one woman while married to Teresa, but it was not “Lady Farthingdale”. It was Helena, La Marquesa, who tricked him into coming upstairs with her to her personal chambers and toyed with his emotions.
He did feel immeasurably guilty afterwards and regretted it deeply; for four chapters he tried to ignore Helena’s beauty and think only of his wife, but when Helena’s mouth was all over him, he did give into the baser urges and later beat himself up over it in the two following books (chronologically).
In the novel Sharpe’s Enemy, Lady Farthingdale was Josefina, Sharpe’s love interest from all the way back in Sharpe’s Eagle, but they DID NOT end up in bed together.
Josefina did flirt with him and beg him to come to bed with her, but the only reason he allowed it to happen, after his mistake with La Marquesa, was because he was
b) knew that her interest in him would make Sir Augustus Farthingdale, who he hated, jealous.
Teresa arrived during one of Josefina’s attempts to entice the former’s husband–it put an immediate stop to it. After Teresa’s death (which is 6000x more heart breaking in the novel because of Richard’s reaction) Richard cut all ties with Josefina, told her “husband” the truth about her and exposed her as the courtesan she was–Teresa had done so before out of anger that this woman would try to tempt her husband and he only took it the next step farther.
In the movies, not only did they make it unbelievably confusing by not just recasting, but completely making a new character for Lady Farthingdale, who somehow claimed to know Sharpe. Don’t worry, it really angered me as well.
And yes, it was INCREDIBLY out of character for Sharpe to just abandon his (albeit slightly twisted) morals and forget about his beloved wife at Christmas of all times, just to satisfy a baser urge. I was also very unhappy after reading the novel, that they simplified Richard’s grief at the loss of the woman he loved to just a stream of tears and a choking plea. Sean’s acting was wonderful and heart-wrenching, but in the novel, Sharpe was literally screaming with pain and anguish and it absolutely broke my heart into a thousand pieces.
As upsetting as it was, I do recommend finishing the series–the rest of the films (Sharpe’s Gold excluded) do stick almost straight to the novels and are very satisfying in the long run. ]
