Emma Swan Character Analysis

[evilqueen]

@Schmacky wrote:

I truly, truly hate the comparison that Emma giving Henry up for adoption is the same thing as Emma’s situation as a child. Talking about Emma’s perspective that she’s had for 28 years… being left abandoned on the side of a freeway… is nowhere near the same thing as giving your child up for adoption.

of course, damping someone on the side of the road is not as bad as an adoption but what I’m going on about is that Emma is not forgiving her parents for what they did, BEFORE OR AFTER she learnt the truth. She’s just assumed being dumped and that’s it, assuming the worst and not allowing any other possible explanations. What she did to Henry was exactly the same – she shut him off, it wasn’t just an adoption, it was a closed one too, meaning she stripped Henry of ever finding out about her, of ever knowing the real reasons of why she gave him up, allowing to think she hated the child and wanted to have nothing to do with it. Only Henry dealt with it the opposite way to her. I do hope we find out the exact circumstances of why and how she did this but so far an excuse of ‘wanting him to have a better life’ doesn’t convince me at all. Out of many people, she should know best that ‘a better life’ is meaningless without people who truly love you and she took this away from him, even though she was once this abandoned child. And then she argues with Snow and Charming that if they didn’t give her away, even though they would be under the curse, they would’ve been TOGETHER and she didn’t hide she would’ve really wanted that! Double standards? After all she did and went through, and all she learnt, THIS is what she has to say to her parents? It’s not like they did what they did with BAD intentions, they had hardly much choice and she KNEW that. After all the guesses for the possible reasons why she was ‘dumped’, she ends up with this, which is hardly a bad reason at all, definitely a lot better one than she had for leaving Henry. So excuse me if I call it hypocritical but to me it is just that.
That is also what I meant, when I said she keeps finding excuses and keeps digging, Shmacky: she might not be Regina, but she doesn’t deal well with emotions either and keeps finding excuses not to directly tackle them. So she ‘wants to give Henry better life’ and doesn’t have to deal with her love for him, doesn’t want to disappoint him. She doesn’t trust men ‘because of Neal’ (I admit, this is not a direct fact but it has been suggested). She doesn’t allow the Charmings in because ‘she’s been alone for all these years’. It is not as if she wasn’t looking for them all her life! And yet, she still shies away.

[Grimmsister]

I think what shows that she loves Henry is that she lets him go, she realizes she can’t love him by keeping him captive.
That’s ultimatly what makes her kill her father, because he couldn’t let her go. The last thing he says to her is something like “We can be happy together” and that’s what makes her choose to kill him.

😮 good thing we don’t all choose this option when our parants becomes a bit possessive. 😀

[gypsy]

Elle-
I didn’t say I thought Regina would kill Henry! 🙂
And I definitely don’t think she would.

I just meant, that her father was the thing she loved most, and she was still able to just kill him.

Now that the DC was enacted, and Regina has a ‘void that she can never fill’ is she capable of real love?

[Grimmsister]

When is love real love ?

But interesting question you ask, Gypsy. I keep thinking of this hole that can never be filled like a black hole in the universe, sucking everyone and everything in and crushing it. She is sort of like a star that blow up, when she enacted the curse. Think back at the scene in the babyroom. The ceiling was painted like a nightskye with moon and stars and when the curse came it sucked out a hole in the roof and ceiling, pretty much proves my point I think 😎

So in a way I think love is the most powerfull magic, because it can both crush you if you’r held captive by it and it can set you free, if you give it away willingly without asking it back. Like when a star shines and gives ist light to the world witout getting any of it back.

So again. Yes ! Reginas choice in letting Henry go home with David, was an act of real love.

[schmacky]

Emma is not forgiving her parents for what they did, BEFORE OR AFTER she learnt the truth. She’s just assumed being dumped and that’s it, assuming the worst and not allowing any other possible explanations.

From what I saw on the show, that is not correct at all. Even before she knew her parents were Snow White and Prince Charming, she wanted to find her parents.. probably to know why she was abandoned. After she knew the truth, she wasn’t even angry at them. I’ve heard some fans say she is but I’m not sure where they are getting this anger from. She lets them know that no matter the circumstance, she was still alone her entire life. But that doesn’t mean anger.

She admits her anger at her mother in Lady of the Lake but I think that was a general “angry at parents for leaving me on the side of a road” than an anger specific to Snow and their situation. But within that same scene, Emma comes to an understanding and acceptance of why her parents did what they did. Effectively forgiving them for what they had to do.

Only Henry dealt with it the opposite way to her.

Actually, they dealt with it the exact same way. Finding their parents. They both sought out their birth parents.

Out of many people, she should know best that ‘a better life’ is meaningless without people who truly love you and she took this away from him, even though she was once this abandoned child.

If someone goes through the trouble of adopting (which is no easy feat) then one would assume that the person that adopting that child will love them. She was an 18 year old teenager still in prison when she gave him up for adoption. Once she got out of jail she probably had a lot of trouble just caring for herself, let alone a baby. How is giving him up for adoption a bad thing?

After all she did and went through, and all she learnt, THIS is what she has to say to her parents? It’s not like they did what they did with BAD intentions, they had hardly much choice and she KNEW that…..So excuse me if I call it hypocritical but to me it is just that.

That was her first conversation with her parents after finding out the truth just an hour ago that blew her previous 28 years of belief system out of the water. It ultimately doesn’t matter what she said there because like I already said.. she already came to an understanding and acceptance with her conversation with Snow (when she had time to actually think about it).

And yet, she still shies away.

Yes, she has trust issues and not good with emotions. I still don’t see how that’s “digging” or “excusing” anything.

[Grimmsister]

Don’t punk our Queen Schmacky, or I’ll schmack you ! 👿

[schmacky]

Huh? lol

[Grimmsister]

I just thought your answers did get a bit punky.
Kidding about the smacking.. it suited your name, so I saw a little opportunity to tease. But a bit hard to smack from behind the computer 😀

Is Schmacky a dwarfs name by the way ?

[schmacky]

I have no idea. Schmack is a weird word I used a lot in high school. “have a schmack dabbin day!” I don’t know. I was stupid. Some friends actually called me Schmacky on random and rare occasions. So, alas, it is an online handle now.

I have no intention of being punky. Just conversing.

[elle]

@Gypsy

Sorry, I probably misunderstood. 😳 I tend to do that at times.

@Schmacky

I agree with much of what you have written. Emma has forgiven her parents. The episode, The Lady of the Lake showed how she was angry at her parents for a long time–I think she always believed that they abandoned her because they simply did not want her, so that when she saw them again, she could not help but autoatically still feel that old resentment bubble a bit. She needed time to accept that what she thought she knew was farthest from the truth.

And when she sees her room, how beautiful it once was, how there was care to haw all her toys and crib were arranged, it touched her. She saw how loved and wanted she was.

And Emma will probably always have issues–pain never fully goes away. You can forgive and accept, but it is hard to forget. Emma suffered for years just as much as all the other characters on the show–we may not see much of it, and she may not talk about it often, but the pain is there. The few times she lets her walls down prove it.

[Author]

Posts