Limehouse Nell! This might be my favorite of my Harlots portraits so far; her whole character design is so fun.
harlots really did a good job of highlighting the futility of classist principles– even, to a certain extent, for those of a high class, whom classism ultimately benefits the most– with fallon’s death.
because clearly fallon thinks it is a ‘crime against nature’ to ‘kill above your class’ (he says so, in s1); despite what he may have told lucy to gain her trust. it’s clear that he thought to die, surrounded by those of his own class, would be a far more dignified way to go than killed by those not of the elite (which nearly happened).
and it’s so funny, because?? no, it’s not?? dead is dead, bonch. george howard had stab wounds on his dead body, same as you. you’ll both rot the same way.
Tbh, I think it makes a lot of sense to read Emily Lacey as a lesbian, her combative relationships and competitiveness with other women could easily be read as her being uncomfortable with her own attractions (plus her fears about her future, which I’m not denying, but two things can be true at once) and attempting to hold herself away from that. And while I do think she cared for Charles Quigley in her way, I don’t necessarily think she was ever that attracted to him and that their relationship such as it was was built much more on gratitude and feeling like nobody had treated her with tenderness before. I do think you could also potentially read her as bi (the whole thing about Holland’s “firm flesh” could just be her hustling, but it reads possibly genuine) but I think it’s way easier to read Emily’s romantic/sexual interactions with men as comp het than with, say, Charlotte, who has always seemed solidly bi to me.
Anyway, Emily Lacey is a lesbian, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
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