Hello! This is Part 2 of my thoughts on whether episode 5 of Violet Evergarden is an endorsement of child marriage. Make sure to read Part 1 first here!
Charlotte’s Agency
“It was my dream to marry Prince Damian.”
Despite the problematic child marriage issue, I’d like to point out that Charlotte as a female character is portrayed in a favorable light. Charlotte actually has a considerable amount of agency in the events leading up to her marriage. She is not depicted as a mere object to be owned by a husband.
Charlotte tells us that after the war, she immediately received a marriage offer. Now, to me there is some ambiguity about this offer. It is not clear whether the offer came from Flugel or whether it was some sort of reminder by Charlotte’s own kingdom that it’s time to get married. This ambiguity stems from three things: (1) Charlotte does not say who sent the marriage offer. (2) Charlotte tells us that in the end, "Drossel chose Flugel". If the supposed marriage offer was sent by Flugel, wouldn’t it sound more natural to say something like “Drossel accepted Flugel’s offer”? (By the way, the original Japanese also says “chose” [eranda - 選んだ]). The word “chose” makes it feel like Drossel was considering multiple suitors. (3) The original Japanese word for “marriage offer” is “endan” (縁談), and online sources say that it can mean “marriage invitation” or “marriage talks”. Marriage talks can be a discussion between, say, you and your parents about when you are going to get married. But anyway, don’t worry. The ambiguity doesn’t affect much of what I’m going to say except for the degree of agency Charlotte has. (And maybe this confusion is simply because I don’t know much about how kingdoms work!)
Charlotte’s agency is apparent through her actions after the arrival of the marriage offer. If the “marriage offer” was not a direct invitation sent by Flugel, then Charlotte determined the person she wants to marry and suggested him to the parliament on her own. If the offer was a direct invitation sent by Flugel, I think her agency is diminished a little. Charlotte did not have to suggest a suitor “from scratch”, so to speak. She can skip the suggestion stage and immediately convince the kingdom to let her marry the prince of the Flugel kingdom, who was already extending a marriage offer. But whatever the case, Charlotte is not passive. She has a hand in her own marriage. Remember that Charlotte is also the one who convinces Damian to go through with the marriage through the hand-written letters!
Though Charlotte does have agency in determining who she wants to marry, she doesn’t appear to have that much agency to overthrow the child marriage institution. You can read this as legitimizing child marriage. However, considering the discussion about agency, what I see here is that Charlotte is trying to make the best out of the not-ideal situation she is thrust into. She might not have the power to prevent her marriage at the early age of fourteen, but she can make things better by doing what is in her power: choosing the best person she can marry. But this does not mean that child marriage is okay!
Child or Adult?
“Oh? But I’m a mature adult now, too. Fufu!”
Another interesting element to consider is the portrayal of both Charlotte’s childish and mature sides. Charlotte’s mature qualities are clear: We see her convincing the king, the parliament, and Prince Damian. But we also get to see Charlotte’s childish side. Like what Alberta says, Charlotte has a tendency to lose control when she gets too emotional. Charlotte even admits that she is a crybaby. And we do see her crying multiple times in the episode.
Then, Charlotte is frequently seen with her pug doll. We even have a shot highlighting the doll. To me, the doll is an indicator of Charlotte’s childishness since dolls are mainly associated with children. Charlotte’s bed also appears to suggest childishness, since it appears to be a place in which Charlotte seeks refuge when she loses control. In the beginning of the episode, Violet stays in bed because she doesn’t want to meet Violet. Then we also see Charlotte burying herself in bed after finding Prince Damian’s first letter reply disappointing. These portrayals seem to remind us that Charlotte is indeed still a child not ready for marriage.
However, something different happens at the end of the episode. In a similar fashion to what happened at the beginning of the episode, Alberta arrives at Charlotte’s room to wake her up. The pre-Violet Charlotte is found still in bed and refuses to get up. However, at the end of the episode, Charlotte has got up and is hiding behind the curtains. Charlotte then says that she, too, is an adult already.
I honestly don’t have a clear idea as to what the point of that end sequence is, but I just want to warn against the classic “you need a man to be happy” message. If the episode wants to show that Charlotte has become more adult-like, I feel like that would be better conveyed by making Charlotte act mature in a difficult situation that she doesn’t like. Consider when this scene happens. It appears to happen in the morning of Charlotte’s wedding. This might send a message that Charlotte only acts mature when her wish is fulfilled, or when she is pursuing something she wants. More specifically, it can create the message that Charlotte matures because her marriage is secure: Damian reciprocates her feelings and they are set on their happily ever after. Now, I’m not saying that marriage isn’t supposed to make someone more mature. I just think this runs the risk of producing the “you need a man to be happy” message.
External Considerations
Phew! That was a long analysis! But before we conclude, I’d like to consider two things outside the episode. Child marriage and large age-gap marriage issues are also discussed in relation to Violet and Gilbert. In the novels and the second Violet Evergarden movie, Gilbert is revealed to be alive. The movie does not make it very explicit, but the novel tells us that Gilberts ends up marrying Violet. So here we have support toward child marriage from the novel’s original author. This makes the idea of “episode 5 supports child marriage” more plausible. It’s also important to remember that Japan struggles with pedophilia and the sexualization of children. Until 2014, child porn was legal in Japan. In such a setting, a work like episode 5 of Violet Evergarden would very likely be interpreted as support toward child marriage. If episode 5 is not meant to support child marriage, then I think it would be better to make that very clear in the episode.
Conclusion
This was a very, very long post. A very big thank you to those of you who stuck around! To conclude, I personally find episode 5 of Violet Evergarden to lean more toward normalizing problematic marriages (child marriages and marriages with big age gaps). The episode seems to be trying to mask a child marriage as an age-gap marriage – which may be more acceptable to some people. Moreover, the fact that the marriage does happen happily at the end of the episode might send the message that child marriages can be happy ones.
Nonetheless, it’s equally crucial to note that Charlotte is not presented as a mere object. She has agency and uses it to make the best out of the less-than-ideal situation she is in. The episode also shows us that Charlotte is indeed still a child, though I’m unsure about what the episode means by the end scene where she claims to have become an adult. But I find these “counterarguments” too subtle compared to the elements that appear to support child marriages. A surface reading of the episode will most probably result in the conclusion that child marriage is okay. In addition to in-story elements, viewers might be more inclined to read the episode as a support toward child marriages due to two external factors. Therefore, although valid, I find the “it’s just depicting something that was common” argument not enough to defend the episode. Once again, thank you very much for reading! Hopefully it was something worth reading!
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