Just heard John Humphries interview some guy about letters coming to light revealing that Dickens, in his determination to get rid of his wife so he could be with his mistress, tried to get his wife incarcerated in a mental asylum (despite there being no evidence of her having any mental illness). HIs wife in the letters said that ( i paraphrase as cannot remember it all) 'the law, bad as it is, he could not quite contrive to achieve his purpose.'
Humphries said, it doesn't make him a bad person though, does it?
Interviewee, 'Oh no, and he did great work after this episode for Great Ormand Street hospital.'
Humphries, 'maybe he needed some help for his mental health himself'
WTF?
Actually, yes, trying to deprive your wife of her liberty and have your sane wife imprisoned in a mental asylum so you can shack up with your mistress does make you a bad person actually. It also makes you an extraordinary hypocrite to publicly proclaim your great morality and harangue others, whilst committing great evil (imprisoning innocents for you own benefit is evil) in your personal life. As Ani Difranco said, ' You can talk of great philosophy, but if you can't be kind to people every single day it doesn't mean that much to me.'
Normally I am quite sympathetic to people who behave badly in a period of great distress. But, seriously, I do not count wanting to shack up with your mistress an incident of great distress. Its not exactly Helen Archer cracking after years of emotional abuse and control is it?
I am just bloody fuming that the appalling complete and utter disregard of any human rights for his wife is just brushed aside as an inconvenience to be ignored to maintain the reputation of this Great Man.
Women are just dispensable it seems.