#mary bonnet

[celluloidbroomcloset]

I like to think that at some point Mary Allamby Bonnet will come across some random pirate-turned-artisanal-bread-maker and they'll hear her name and go:

"Oh, any relation to Stede Bonnet? Yeah, he overthrew my old captain. Made him walk the plank. Then he went on a rampage at the Republic of Pirates and fought the Pirate Queen, but they joined forces with Blackbeard and Bonnet's crew slaughtered, like, half the Royal Navy. Him and Blackbeard got married last month. Great guy, always asks about my mum."

#ofmd #our flag means death #stede bonnet #mary bonnet

[iamadequate1]

"Discomfort in a Married State" What does this mean?

In Discord, I jokingly said I'd do the Webster's Dictionary trope to start a post.

But... was I joking?

Webster's Dictionary defines marriage as "an intimate or close union," or closely, marry as "to unite in close and usually permanent relation." Taking about marriage is not just about a literal spousal union, and it is not just about romance. You have aspects and ideas in your life that you are married to even though you don't put the word to it. "Marriage of flavors", "married to your job", "marry academic disciplines,"... I had a teacher who said "I'm not married to this idea" when writing something in scratch work as a possibility.

The title "Discomfort in a Married State" is pulled from a quote from the real Stede Bonnet at his trial, and it's repurposed in the show, used at the start of Fictional Stede's pirate journey rather than the end. To me, I do not feel like the adjective is used in the episode as actually being about a spousal union. Stede is not a good fit with Mary, no, and the episode opens with both Stede and Mary both being pushed into the marriage by their parents because of societal expectations and goes on to show that their marriage doesn't work. However, Mary's not alone in Stede's horror dream, and it doesn't just feature his failures in their marriage: the "married state" title drop slides directly to his father mocking Stede's aversion to violence (and weakness, in his, the father's, eyes) and Smoke Blackbeard and Alma serving as a callback to his naive pirate dreams becoming more starkly real when he was stabbed. Mary wasn't what Stede left; unfortunate as it is, as a man, he had other less extreme options to make an unhappy marriage more comfortable for him. The "marriage" Stede has is the life that his father and role at birth pushed him into, and initially, Stede planned to take Mary with him in leaving it. Stede pushed out into what he viewed as a more idealized lifestyle, even though he's finding out its not the final destination in his journey.

On Ed's side, his parallel is not his relationship with Izzy. In his first big conversation with Stede (the one in the library), he says plainly what his "discomfort" is:

Ed: You ever feel trapped, like you're just treading water, waiting to drown? Stede: Yes, I very much have felt that way. Ed: Blackbeard always wins, that's the thing. He can't fail. It's not even a challenge anymore. People just see the flag, and they freak out, Blackbeard!, and they basically just give up, they surrender. What's the point? I don't even need to be on the boat. I'm a ghost. There's no chaos, there's no drama, there's no fucking life! Stede: Look, I can't believe I'm saying this, but have you ever considered retirement?

Ed's "marriage" is with the Blackbeard persona and the pirate life. He's not happy, and he is also looking for a way out. He's idly mentioning death as an alternative (e.g., the "I haven't died yet, have I?" outburst with Izzy, and "I'm thinking about packing it all in". It can be a bit of a grind"" to Stede before Stede introduces Ed to retirement). He then pivots to the brief identity theft escape, then the China plan with Stede. There is a parallel of the marriage -> finding escape pipeline. Ed and Stede were both intrinsically bound to lives they do not want, and they had to take dramatic steps to leave them.

Izzy narratively differs from Mary in that Mary isn't an antagonist (bless you, DJenks). This is a storytelling medium without monologuing voice overs or Shakespearean soliloquies, and something needs to be in story to represent that conflict. Izzy is the representation of the external antagonistic force that adds fuel to Ed's internal conflict, analogous to the function that the Badmintons (instead of Mary) have for Stede. This is what we mean when we say Izzy is a plot device for Ed's (and to a lesser extent, Stede's) story: most of his scenes (all in S1?) revolve around keeping Ed in a life he doesn't want while also functionally servicing as a conventional reaction to Stede's brand of captaincy (characters like Lucius or Frenchie have their own independent quirks, so that's why they don't get this same comparison). Izzy is in story as the obstacle that keeps pulling Ed into that life, into that marriage with that persona. The story is not literally saying Ed is married to Izzy or that they were former lovers, but as the representation in story, Izzy is going to act like a jilted spouse. (And Ed's not into him and views him as a father figure, so... not a literal spousal marriage.)

In the end, the "married state" is not literally about Mary or Izzy. Stede would still be unhappy with a different wife or as a bachelor in the same stagnating lifestyle. Ed would still be unhappy with a different first mate but still living as Blackbeard. Ed reacting strongly in 2x7 when he thought there would be a conflict of a possible deal breaking choice of staying with Stede and leaving piracy show that it isn't just about the right person but making sure that the two perfect people who found each other are both in a position to live a life that makes them both happy outside of their relationship. This is also a romcom very pointedly leading toward a climatic wedding of Ed and Stede, and the message is not that Stede and Ed don't like being married at all: they need to work together to reach a "married state" that satisfies all facets of their lives. They're so close!

We're joined to one another. Intertwined. We wrote our names on each other in permanent ink.

They're working together on their relationship ("the inn" at the end of 2x8 isn't literally about the inn), and they're finding the path to go on that takes them both to a place to where they want to be.

Also, "Comfort in a Married State", calling it as an episode title after WBD collapses and OFMD gets a pick up 🥰

#our flag means death #ofmd #stede bonnet #ed teach #mary bonnet #izzy hands #discomfort in a married state #i can't wait for wbd to collapse #don't stream on max #Youtube

[milkovichy]

hold on now

#if there is one thing about Stede bonnet is he will appear out of nowhere to spite his ex #edward teach #stede bonnet #mary bonnet #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd season 2 #ofmd spoilers

[thebootstrap-paradox]

If there is one thing about Stede Bonnet is he'll appear in the background to spite his ex lovers

#ofmd #our flag means death #our flag means death 2 #ofmd2 #ofmd 2 #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #stede bonnet #edward teach #blackbeard #blackbonnet #blackbeard x stede #stede x ed #edward x stede #ed teach #mary bonnet

[acianoh]

Ed and Mary drinking buddies

#our flag means death #ofmd #edward teach #mary bonnet #ofmd blackbeard #I just know they would get along well #gentlebeard #i guess #2023

[whim-prone-pirate]

"i'm worried his life is better without me" because mary's was. she was better off and she was happy when he left the second time. why wouldn't ed be the same.

#because ed actually loved him but that's a different post #ofmd #ofmd s2 #our flag means death #mary bonnet #stede bonnet #blackbeard #ed teach #blackbonnet #gentlebeard

[soapbubbles511]

And now free

#they needed to let their past lives go #including the person that they had been trapped there with #and now free #ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers #our flag means death #edward teach #stede bonnet #ed/stede #izzy hands #mary bonnet

[sweet-little-goldfish-stede]

I need Mary and Doug to show up at the inn so we can have an exchange that goes like:

Mary: Stede?!

Stede: Mary?!

Ed: Mary?

Stede: *remembering dinner at Anne and Mary Read's house* Ed...

Mary: *doing the math* Ed?

Stede: *affirmatively* Ed!

Ed: *confused, pointing at himself* Ed.

Doug: *also confused* ....I'll go wait in the carriage.

#like that scene from shrek #and doug is donkey #ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd s3 #ofmd s3 speculation #stede bonnet #ed teach #our flag means death #gentlebeard #mary bonnet #doug ofmd

[alasforher]

‘cause you left your wife twice

#and the audacity of this bitch #tell me this wasnt the scene #WHERE DID ED THINK HE WENT #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #stede bonnet #blackbeard #ed teach #taika waititi #rhys darby #mary bonnet #ofmdaily #ofmdedit #userelio #useraurore

[hgedits]

I'd call those things love.

#ofmdedit #i forgot i made this #our flag means death #mary bonnet #stede bonnet #ed teach #doug nolastname

[our-flag-means-love]

ofmd as text posts | part 15

source

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd meme #ofmd memes #our flag memes death #lucius spriggs #stede bonnet #izzy hands #mary bonnet #mary allamby bonnet #edward teach #ed teach #ofmd as text posts

[coffinwoodx]

this flopped so hard on tiktok so here. my favorite OFMD BTS pictures ! (1/3)

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #our flag means death #ofmd bts #behind the scenes #izzy hands #ofmd izzy #ofmd oluwande #black pete #stede bonnet #mary bonnet #lucius spriggs #ofmd roach #roach ofmd #wee john feeney #ofmd wee john #wee john ofmd #ivan ofmd #ofmd ivan

[transjudas]

It's amazing what accepting that you're gay and running away to the sea to find and fall in love with a notorious pirate can do for a man.

#ofmd #ofmdedit #ofmdaily #our flag means death #ofmdblog #ofmdsource #userkristi #usereena #userklou #userlauren #alivedean #blackbonnet #ed teach #stede bonnet #mary bonnet #gentlebeard

[slgoodwinauthor]

At what point is Mary going to be casually leaving a merry widow brunch and see a wanted poster with a fairly decent sketch of Stede on it, wanted in conjunction with Blackbeard, aka Edward Teach???

Just Mary standing there like...Blackbeard, Edward...Ed.

Casually realising that your husband isn't just 'dating some guy named Ed' but that he's somehow gone from 'hobby pirate' to 'hopelessly in love with the real world incarnation of Satan' and then wondering if this means Blackbeard ISN'T terrible and having to just sort of agree when people talk about being scared shitless of this fucking ocean terrorist whilst knowing he's probably out there somewhere putting up with Stede's snoring and addiction to orange cake.

#jesus christ stede #shine on you crazy diamond #literally soft eying the devil #does this make me sister wives with the most notorious pirate to ever live? #How can I use this in my next art show??? #ofmd season 2 #mary bonnet #our flag means death

[miistermee]

I love her, my god

#mary allamby bonnet #my art #our flag means death #ofmd #digital art #doodle day #digital painting #procreate #illustration #mary bonnet

[bougiebutchbinch]

latest member of the jilted spouse club

(stizzy suggestive text in the comic under the cut!)

I had to immortalise The Hot Potato. Please go read this fic by the stupendous @carrymelikeimcute (and all the tags on their post!)

#izzy hands #stede bonnet #stizzy #our flag means death #ofmd fanart #mary bonnet #ofmd #my art #bbb creates #israel hands #dizzy izzy #gentlehands #steddyhands