#will ladislaw

[my-little-random-world]

RUFUS SEWELL 𝒂𝒔 WILL LADISLAW | Middlemarch (1994)

[princeturveydrop]

Would I Be the Asshole if I asked my wife to promise not to do something after I die without telling her what it is?

My (45M) wife (19F) and I have been married for several months. To be quite honest, I haven’t enjoyed being married as much as I expected I would. My wife is very affectionate and always wants to help me with my work (I’m in academia), which I find more annoying than helpful. However, the main issue is that my wife seems to have developed an obsession with my second cousin (25M).

Due to some unfortunate family history that I felt it my duty to set right, I was until recently financing my cousin’s education. Shortly after meeting my wife, my cousin told me he would no longer like to have my financial support and would instead make his own way. I was in favor of this decision, until it became clear that his idea of “making his own way” was to move in with my wife’s uncle (who lives in the same small town as my wife and I) and take up an occupation that’s now causing embarrassing associations for me.

This all happened while I was recuperating from a heart attack and had expressly asked my wife to tell my cousin not to visit us at that time. Of course, I can’t ask her directly, but I’m convinced my wife went behind my back and asked her uncle to invite my cousin to visit him. There have been a lot of other fishy circumstances, such as my wife asking me to rewrite my will and leave everything to my cousin instead of her because “she has more than enough money already, and it stresses her out.”

I’ve just had another consultation with the doctor, who says there’s a possibility I could have another heart attack at any time, so I really want to set my affairs in order and make sure that if I die soon, my cousin won’t marry my wife for the money. I trust my wife and don’t believe she’s having an affair with my cousin, but I don’t trust my cousin as far as I could throw him, not that that would be very far, as I’ve always been more inclined to mental than physical exertion.

This brings me to my question: WIBTA if I extracted a (potential) deathbed promise from my wife not to do anything I wouldn’t want her to do? As a backup, I will be including a codicil in my will stating that she will lose all of my money if she marries my cousin. However, I think the promise will hold more weight with her; as I said, she’s very fond of me (a bit too much so, but that’s another issue).

Edit: No, it doesn’t matter what my wife’s uncle’s business is. It’s not illegal, just embarrassing.

Second edit: Several people seem to think there’s a loophole, namely that my wife could marry my cousin anyways and forfeit the money. My cousin is both lazy and and avaricious, and I’m convinced he’s only interested in my wife because of the money.

[autumnrose11]

Inspired by @bethanydelleman's post on the sexual abilities of Austen Men, here's one I made for the Middlemarch guys :P

Will Ladislaw: EXCELLENT. Fireworks. Look at his complete and utter devotion to Dorothea. "I never had a preference for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing. No other woman exists by the side of her. I would rather touch her hand if it were dead, than I would touch any other woman's living." GOODNESS ME. The passion is OFF. THE. CHARTS. (You cannot tell me that man doesn't eat her out on a regular basis).

Lydgate: Very Good. Quite a few of the novel's steamiest moments occur between Lydgate and Rosamond. He kisses her ears and neck while they're engaged 🤭 and again when they're married. Very specific locations, no? He definitely knows what he's doing. And he's a doctor, so his knowledge of anatomy likely comes in handy ;) I think Rosamond's pretty selfish in bed though, but that's a separate problem.

Fred Vincy: Good, but Needs Instruction. He genuinely adores Mary and he'd do anything to please her. And Mary would not be shy about telling him exactly what she likes, what to do and how to do it. He's down bad, so he'll willingly oblige :D

Casaubon: Needless to say - AWFUL. Poor, poor Dorothea. She was probably counting the cracks on the ceiling and thinking of cottage renovations to distract herself :(

Love to know what you guys think! :P

[dreamqueenmab]

just finished middlemarch and how on EARTH is will ladislaw not a tumblr icon? that man is the biggest, most obsessed loverboy that has ever loverboyed. he goes and lies on the floor of his rich vain besties house while he vents about life. people judge him for lying on the floor but he does it anyways. he studies art in rome. he makes vague cries of protest when the woman he loves kind of ices him out, then never addresses them. he's ideal. if tumblr discovered him will/dorothea would be the number one ship in two weeks.

[bethanydelleman]

very excited about your middlemarch commentary, it’s one of my favorite books. I was wondering about your thoughts/reactions on older critic’s assertion that will doesn’t “deserve” Dorothea? when I learned about that being a common reaction I was pretty surprised, since I feel like the point of will and Dorothea is that they actually balance eachother/ultimately push eachother to be better versions of themselves. Curious to hear what you thought of their arch!

What? That is totally ridiculous to me. I love Will Ladislaw. I have this defence of him saved in my drafts because I went through the Middlemarch tag today, but I was curious about it because I didn't think he needed defending. He's great!

To me, Will actually provides what Dorothea wants at the beginning - to know how to do the right thing - just in a different way than she imagined. Dorothea wanted this patriarchal ideal man who would teach her exactly what to do, I joked that she viewed marriage as something between a martyrdom and enrolling in university when reading the first few chapters, but what she gets from Will is someone who is willing to debate with her and draw out her own ideas. And her premise was flawed to begin with, no one knows exactly how to do the most good, we can only work with what we have and know. Will Ladislaw is both able and willing to do good with Dorothea's help, so he's the perfect match.

I do think Dorothea and Lydgate could have been the ultimate power couple, if he hadn't married Rosamond, but the thing is, he did marry Rosamond. The most perfect match in the world can't happen without consenting partners (It's like how the best match for Mr. Rushworth would be Charlotte Lucas, but he'd never pick her because he's shallow so it doesn't matter)

Dorothea provides Will with an anchor and purpose in life and he does the same for her! She wants encouragement and the ability to do good, either through someone else or on her own. She gets that. How is this disappointing at all! Also, he loves her to death and I love that for her.

Will Ladislaw is a more redeemable version of Henry Crawford

[foggycatgarden]

Rufus Sewell as Will Ladislaw in the BBC's 1994 adaptation of 'Middlemarch'

[sherbertilluminated]

Everyone needs to read about Will Ladislaw floor time NOW

Really everyone ought to experience Will Ladislaw floor time but I fear that's too much to ask

[sunshineonashelf]

will ladislaw major "man written by a woman" moment