Jeyne's noble birth
Mar. 19th, 2022 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alley_skywalkerIt probably shouldn’t bother me this much, but it does irritate me when people say that Jeyne (Poole) isn’t highborn. Because she is! She’s of a noble house. She’s a lady. Yea, it’s a very small, poor (relatively) and politically insignificant noble house, very likely without lands at this point, but in the feudal class hierarchy, that still puts her theoretically miles above anyone from the smallfolk in ways of respect of consideration. At least, it’s supposed to…
And that’s actually the other thing - I think Jeyne’s fate and treatment in Dance (and before with LIttlefinger, but that was less public, at least) is particularly interesting because she’s not a commoner. By the theoretical laws of this society, as romanticized in all the chivalrous songs she and Sansa had idealized and loved as young girls, her treatment should be unacceptable just by virtue of her being a highborn lady. Common serving girls may be molested by young lords without much reproach because lol they don’t have any honor to begin with, right? (/sarcasm, obv.) But a noble maiden? That’s rather inappropriate and possibly imposes obligations of marriage on him, which he could be looked at negatively for forgoing.
But of course, no one really cares. The nobility have their own hierarchy, that was always obvious too, but in the end, it’s not even just about which Houses can afford more luxury or which Houses can get others to swear oaths to them. It’s even more cynical than that. No one will help even a noble girl out if she doesn’t have the money to buy their support or have enough political connections to compel it (which usually means that even if she doesn’t have money on her, someone out there who cares enough about helping her for whatever reason does - whether in the form of literal gold/coin or swords or whatever). Chivalry is a pipe dream, a delusion Sansa must rid herself of as well (even though some people in this world still aspire to it) - money and power are far more important in the end than the nobility of your blood.
Jeyne is of noble birth. And it really doesn’t help her at all.
And that’s actually the other thing - I think Jeyne’s fate and treatment in Dance (and before with LIttlefinger, but that was less public, at least) is particularly interesting because she’s not a commoner. By the theoretical laws of this society, as romanticized in all the chivalrous songs she and Sansa had idealized and loved as young girls, her treatment should be unacceptable just by virtue of her being a highborn lady. Common serving girls may be molested by young lords without much reproach because lol they don’t have any honor to begin with, right? (/sarcasm, obv.) But a noble maiden? That’s rather inappropriate and possibly imposes obligations of marriage on him, which he could be looked at negatively for forgoing.
But of course, no one really cares. The nobility have their own hierarchy, that was always obvious too, but in the end, it’s not even just about which Houses can afford more luxury or which Houses can get others to swear oaths to them. It’s even more cynical than that. No one will help even a noble girl out if she doesn’t have the money to buy their support or have enough political connections to compel it (which usually means that even if she doesn’t have money on her, someone out there who cares enough about helping her for whatever reason does - whether in the form of literal gold/coin or swords or whatever). Chivalry is a pipe dream, a delusion Sansa must rid herself of as well (even though some people in this world still aspire to it) - money and power are far more important in the end than the nobility of your blood.
Jeyne is of noble birth. And it really doesn’t help her at all.
