I’ve written before about the disastrous advice that Madam Red gave Lizzie.
This is a major part of what led Lizzie to believe she had to had act weak in order to be a proper fiance, but I’ve always found this advice a bit ironic. The proper lady that Madam Red described really wasn’t anything like Madam Red herself. She was smart and never appeared particularly weak.
What makes it more ironic is how her advice to Lizzie contrasts so greatly with Rachel’s advice to her. When Madam Red had felt insecure about her own look, Rachel had never told her to behave differently or to put on an act. Rachel complimented her sister and told her to have more confidence in herself.
I think this goes a lot to who Rachel and Madam Red were at heart. Madam Red was beautiful, but she had never felt particularly beautiful. It’s possible she didn’t think anyone would love her as she was, which was why her idea of the proper lady was almost precisely her opposite.
Rachel was far more confident. She knew her own weaknesses, such as her health. While she would apologize when her poor health kept her from activities, she didn’t dwell on it. Even Madam Red said that Rachel didn’t put on airs.
Basically, Rachel was more open and honest about her true self because she was confident. Madam Red lacked this confidence, so she tried to present a version of herself she thought people would like better.
It would have been better for Madam Red if she could have been more like her sister but not so much in looks. It would have better if she could have ad a bit more of Rachel’s confidence. That might have been able to keep her from going down the path that she did.
Thoughts?
Inferiority complex is a bitch… :// just saying but Rachel/Ann, our!Ciel/his twin, Ed/Lizzie, all these sibling duos showed the sad truth of one sibling feeling inferior to the other (and I kind of like how Yana tends to use this narrative, since it’s quite realistic so far).
We saw how it ended for Ann, she was so jealous, despite being so close to Rachel back when she was still alive, that when sorrow overwhelmed her she literally became mad.
Our!Ciel’s inferiority complex might or not have been only linked to being mistreated by the cult and having survivor’s guilt, but the result is that he took on his brother’s identity because it’s what he thought he had to do as his spare/extra.
Ed felt very bad about losing to his very skilled little sister initially, but you could say that at least he managed better in the way that he didn’t let himself be overwhelmed by jealousy because he knew Lizzie had done nothing wrong; so he became determined to completely revere her instead (that’s the explanation behind him being a siscon). However, that still doesn’t stop him from seeing himself as a completely plain guy with no talent when everyone else is incredibly talented in his opinion, which means he does have a pretty inferior view of himself in general…
Funnily enough, the only sibling duo that we know of that seemed to manage alright was Vincent and Frances. I doubt that Frances doesn’t feel awful for surviving where her mother and brother didn’t, but so far we didn’t have any hint that one felt inferior to the other, on the contrary they seemed to be have found quite a balance in their respective abilities.
midnight-in-town 