What did the Count actually do?

[Nathalia]

Maybe I missed that information, but what sort of misdeeds did the Count Olenski actually do? I remember life with him being called "hell" and "cage", so it must have been pretty bad. My thoughts ranged from his being violent towards Ellen to his having sexual perversions.

[Tam]

I kept asking myself the same thing until it dawned on me (although I can't recite the passage)that it was more of a character flaw not an act of brutality. The undercurrent is that the Count and Ellen had misaligned relationship goals - he refused to leave Europe, she wanted an adventure - thus the cage. Her relationship w/ the Count was the same situation as Newland and May - both met the social dynamic of their closed circles but neither met their needs and they couldn't figure out how to adjust. Hence, the age of innocence - they couldn't possibly be expected to have chosen differently.

[Daphne]

Tam wrote: "I kept asking myself the same thing until it dawned on me (although I can't recite the passage)that it was more of a character flaw not an act of brutality. The undercurrent is that the Count and ..."

I've never thought of it that way, but that could make sense. I always thought he was sort of mean and neglective to Ellen.

[Kim Reese]

The Count cheated on Ellen but I believe that Count Olenski had expectations of Ellen, as his wife, to act and think like May. May's wants and interests never ventured beyond her gilded cage. In fact, May never saw her cage.

May and Ellen's grandmother, Mrs. Mingott, commented that it was a shame that Newland had not met Ellen before she married the count because they were more alike.

Newland was suffocating in New York while Ellen suffocated in Europe.

[Carolina]

Tam wrote: "I kept asking myself the same thing until it dawned on me (although I can't recite the passage)that it was more of a character flaw not an act of brutality. The undercurrent is that the Count and ..."

Thank you, that was enlightening. I could never get the title until now.