Hmm, I feel like people are not been very realistic. Which is ironic, because people here are always complaining about "unrealistic" stories and characters and body parts. Did people really expect a happy ending? That the heir to a rich and powerful family (specially in those times)would live happily ever after with a prostitute? A male one at that? If it had been a woman, he could have at least made her his mistress. Society would gossip about him but would have gone along with it. It was normal back in those days for men of that social station to have mistresses. Actually, in some ways it still is nowadays. They are just not as open about it.
But a male one!? It was actually illegal for a long time. In England in the 1800's, sodomy was punishable by death, until 1861 and then punishable by imprisonment after that. So it was not too far in the past from this story.
Plus let's face it. What exactly was a male prostitute going to do if "set free"? Specially one who grew up in a brothel and received zero education other than how to please clients. So he can't be a tutor or anything like that. He can't do manual labor because he is small and has never worked a day in his life. Who would hire him!?
He would just end up selling himself again. And it might not be to people of his choosing this time. Plus it seems like he genuinely cares about Anton.
It is not a traditional happy ending, but given the circumstances, it IS a good ending in a very realistic way. And considering that he was a MALE prostitute, he could have had a worse ending. IRL, many suffered worse fates and rarely lived to see old age, because of the way they lived, STD's or just flat out murdered by rich monsters and their deaths would be covered up, because who cares about prostitutes?
Food for thought if anyone still wants to read this.
Hmm, I feel like people are not been very realistic. Which is ironic, because people here are always complaining about "unrealistic" stories and characters and body parts. Did people really expect a happy ending? That the heir to a rich and powerful family (specially in those times)would live happily ever after with a prostitute? A male one at that? If it had been a woman, he could have at least made her his mistress. Society would gossip about him but would have gone along with it. It was normal back in those days for men of that social station to have mistresses. Actually, in some ways it still is nowadays. They are just not as open about it.
But a male one!? It was actually illegal for a long time. In England in the 1800's, sodomy was punishable by death, until 1861 and then punishable by imprisonment after that. So it was not too far in the past from this story.
Plus let's face it. What exactly was a male prostitute going to do if "set free"? Specially one who grew up in a brothel and received zero education other than how to please clients. So he can't be a tutor or anything like that. He can't do manual labor because he is small and has never worked a day in his life. Who would hire him!?
He would just end up selling himself again. And it might not be to people of his choosing this time. Plus it seems like he genuinely cares about Anton.
It is not a traditional happy ending, but given the circumstances, it IS a good ending in a very realistic way. And considering that he was a MALE prostitute, he could have had a worse ending. IRL, many suffered worse fates and rarely lived to see old age, because of the way they lived, STD's or just flat out murdered by rich monsters and their deaths would be covered up, because who cares about prostitutes?
Food for thought if anyone still wants to read this.