Our lives are so greatly impacted by our health. We directly relate it to the choice between living a life that is unrestricted by poor health and making a concession. The world consistently fails people with physical disabilities by refusing to accept them as members of society. A straightforward illustration would be the dearth of wheelchair-accessible locations nearby. Movie theaters, shopping centers, and even supermarkets are frequented by people for social gatherings, but a sizeable portion of the populace cannot enter them because of a simple additional ramp’s absence. This is only one example of the lack of empathy our culture has for people with disabilities. How would we ever learn to meet the diverse demands of mental health if we could so flagrantly dismiss something so obvious? Despite all the conversation going on around us, most people still don’t understand the fundamentals of mental health.
The fact that we lack the fair social and economic systems required to care for mental health in the community cannot be disregarded either. Everything revolves on a race—the race to advance in your career, get hitched, and have kids—who are then forced into their own race. These are referred to as successes rather than merely being general indicators of what a person may or may not want from life. A career is an accomplishment rather than a reliable source of income. Marriage is an accomplishment, a means to gauge how far along in life you are rather than just being a partner. Make sense of it.
In the midst of it all, we overlook the essential component: joy. Even though we are living, where are we finding the time to enjoy it? Mental health conditions like despair and anxiety are evidence that humans were not created to live this way.The situation in Georgeof Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is comparable. He was never just George from the moment of his birth, despite how badly he longed to be. He ruled as King. He was unable to make errors. He was not allowed to have any interests except from those that a king must have. The fact that he was content was irrelevant. He only needed to be strong in order to get away from his violent grandfather and create a secure future for his mother and himself. The portrayal of mental health in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story involves quite a few artistic licenses. What it means to love someone who has a mental illness, though, is the one thing it gets right. Shonda Rhimes gave this project her all.
Being in a relationship with someone who has a mental illness carries a stigma now just as it did in the Regency era, which is a fact. They are individuals with high emotional needs, and even when they take care of themselves through treatment, medication, and a routine created for their maximum mental health, they may frequently require their spouse to perform more emotional labor than is reasonable. They might also find themselves unable to support their partners when they need them. Charlotte and George both go through comparable experiences. As they grew older, we could see it in their love story. They were deeply in love with one another, and according to Lady Danbury‘s remark to Violet Bridgerton, their garden is perpetually in flower.
However, Charlotte is unable to visit George on a daily basis to tell him about her day, to get his opinion on matters that trouble her, to share the most recent season gossip with him, or even to share a joke—at least not a fresh one—since George struggles with memory. But every time George sees her, he is relieved that she did not, like Charlotte, jump over the wall. They are two decent people who respect and care about one another in addition to loving each other. But for a relationship to last a lifetime, much more is required. As the queen and her husband’s guardian, Charlotte has had a lonely existence, shouldering duties for the family and occasionally the state. The issue is that she is working by herself despite being a strong woman who is more than capable of handling the task. Even Brimsley notes that she would have finally moved on had the King died. She is currently, however, engaged in a relationship that has left her alone while she is in love. Observing the person you love descend into the depths of mental illness is likewise not an easy thing to do. Perhaps for this reason, instead of inquiring as to the King’s condition, Charlotte frantically asked whether he was dead.
We learn more about George’s viewpoint when he was younger. The best course of action would have been for him to let Charlotte to scale the wall. Another bride would have been chosen for him, one with whom George would not have fallen in love and who would have been perfect for his responsibilities, and there would have been scandal. But love is blind and limited by its own desires. Though he was aware that he would have to spend the most of their marriage concealing from Charlotte, George desired Charlotte and did not want to let her go. It is true that having a mental condition causes people to doubt their own worthiness for love because they are unable to give their best to anything. That is exactly what Charlotte had to fight against and what George fought against. She had to convince herself that she could love him in addition to persuading him to accept her love. Both of them took their time getting to know one another, and it paid off in the end. The question of whether Charlotte should have jumped over the wall remains unanswered, though. Perhaps someone who did not love George would not have shown him the same kindness, but even kindness and love could not keep the two lovers from feeling alone. While discussing the Venusian transit under the bed, as George and Charlotte frequently do, some questions are better left unanswered so that the concerned parties can enjoy them.
