Actions Speak Louder Than Words

What strikes me most about Whatley's excerpts is that they seem to be instructive only in the conduct of the husband and wife, and mention nothing whatsoever about feelings or emotions. True I didn't do any further reading, but I am guessing that if I had, I wouldn't have found much more on this issue of feelings or love. I understand that this was the way of the times, especially for the aristocratic class. However, I still find it difficult to believe that this ever really worked well for anybody. In my eyes, Anne and Frankford are both victims of this awkward societal structure.
I feel that if we must blame one of them for the demise of their marriage, we must also blame the other (based on Whatley's writings, anyways). Frankford seems to have failed in "the keeping of his authority" (Whatley), which Whatley actually names as a responsibility before "the using of his authority" (Whatley). By taking leave of his house and telling Wendoll that he was to act as master of the estate, he gave up some of that precious authority, which enabled this downward spiral to begin. As far as the woman's role according to Whatley goes, Anne doesn't seem to have done too well either. Whatley warns not to do a lot of things, especially not to be "passionate", which Anne obviously disobeyed in the play. She let her passions get in the way of her duties as a wife and mother.

In short I guess I think that everybody is to blame, and nobody is to blame. True, both Frankford and Anne faltered gravely. However, it is difficult to find fault in their actions as they are both products of a society that values appearances over true feelings.