Plot
Set in the late 18th century, the story follows the life of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. While her beauty and fashion made her famous, extravagance and gambling made her infamous. She was married to the cold and much older William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. Despite the Duke's blatant infidelities, Georgiana thrived to become a fashion icon, a doting mother, a shrewd political operator, and darling of the common people. In befriending Lady Bess Foster, who becomes her best friend, Georgiana realizes she has made a big mistake when Bess and The Duke begin an affair. Despite Georgiana's anger, the Duke wants Bess to remain living with them. Bess later explains to Georgiana that the reason she had sexual intercourse with the Duke was so that she could get her children back. The Duke only wanted a male heir, which the Duchess had not yet provided. But the implication is that Bess could, already having three sons, which the Duke became very close to, and thought of them as his own.
In response to the betrayal she experienced at home, Georgiana allows herself to develop feelings for Charles Grey. However, when she asks the Duke permission to have him as a lover, the Duke is enraged and rapes Georgiana. The rape leads to a pregnancy and a male heir, William Cavendish, is born. After producing a male heir, Georgiana (with the help of Bess) begins a physical love affair with Charles Grey, which leads to another pregnancy. The Duke threatens to not only end Charles' political career but also to forbid Georgiana from seeing her children again if she does not end the affair. For the sake of her children, Georgiana reluctantly ends the affair. She is sent to the countryside where she secretly gives birth to her and Charles' daughter, Eliza Courtney. She is forced to give her over to the fathers family, the Greys.
For most of her married life, Georgiana, the Duke, and Bess lived together. However, after the birth of Eliza, Lady Georgiana no longer seems to be bothered by the arrangement and she once again finds comfort in Bess' friendship. Towards the end of her life, the Duchess gave her blessing to the marriage of her husband and her best friend who got married after Georgiana's death.
Georgiana frequently visited her daughter Eliza in secret, who was raised by the parents of Charles Grey. Eliza named her own daughter Georgiana. In the end, Charles became Prime Minister.
At the end of the movie it is strongly suggested that in consistently choosing the lesser of two evils in a situation she could not escape, Georgiana was able to rise above her circumstances to do the right thing for a higher cause. Case in point, her children grew up with a mother, even the daughter she abandoned knew that she loved her. Charles also became Prime Minister, leading the country in the direction that Georgiana believed in.
Read more about this topic: The Duchess (film)
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“James’s great gift, of course, was his ability to tell a plot in shimmering detail with such delicacy of treatment and such fine aloofness—that is, reluctance to engage in any direct grappling with what, in the play or story, had actually “taken place”Mthat his listeners often did not, in the end, know what had, to put it in another way, “gone on.””
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