Despite the appearance of wealth, Lord Greshamsbury (Francis) and Prince Julius zu Liechtenburg are both facing financial ruin. What protections do their respective nobility and royalty bestow? In some ways, do their titles become more of a burden than a benefit?
Even though Francis and Prince Julius have fancy titles, they’re still struggling with money. Their titles might impress people, but they don’t fix their problems. In some ways, the titles are more of a burden because they’re expected to look rich and marry well, even if they’re broke.
Rufus sees his title as an impediment to advancing his art career. He wants to earn his own way and be recognized for his own talent.
They both can still play the “role” of being rich due to their titles. Their titles protect them somewhat with perceptions and expectations. (They have always been rich. They inherited land and prestige.) Their titles are both a burden and a benefit. A burden in that they are constantly working on creating more monetary opportunities as well as creating lots of debt to keep up their lifestyles. The benefit is that their nobility/royalty allows them to still be respected and honored by others. Reputation is everything!
It seems this is an old story of what has happened to a lot of gentry. They have the name, but have gone broke keeping up these old homes and family titles. I think for Francis having this thrust upon him was devastating and nearly broke him personally, but for Rufus, he’s like whatever and walks away. As a middle class American, it’s hard for me to understand the idea of living tied to that kind of history and trying to live my life at such crazy access when i have no money.
I think the titles for these characters served to protect them from the harsher realities of poverty. Yes, they were both in debt, but their titles and family histories meant they were extended a lot of lines of credit and given way more opportunities to turn over money in investments, etc. in order to pay back those credit lines. This kind of sway is not available to average people. It’s definitely not even remotely possible for those living in poverty.
However, there is the flip side of the titles in that they are all forced to (or convinced they must, at least) live up to certain lifestyle expectations. There is a degree of pressure inherent in upper class living that seems almost unavoidable, thus forcing Francis and Julius to live beyond their means. There is also the pressure of keeping up their lands, businesses, etc. since the livelihoods of others depend on the continued success of the titled.
tale as old as time…sometimes what we see is not what is really happening. So many times people “appear” to have wealth that are secretly, or not so secretly, really struggling with finances. And with nobility, it brings an extra burden because so many are in the limelight and expected to live a certain way. It makes it hard if you have aspirations of a different life, for example wanting to pursue the life of an art career, such as Rufus.