Relationship Deep Dive: Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley

Type: Romantic
Show: Prime Video’s My Lady Jane
Featured Characters: Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley

Writer’s Note: Please be advised that this deep dive is strictly about the characters in the show and has nothing to do with the historical figures.

When it comes to romance, My Lady Jane gets everything right. Heated exchanges, fiery banter, sharp jabs, shared joy, tender beats of vulnerability, and a love that we know, with utmost certainty, will overcome anything. It’s not just close to perfect, but I’d even go far enough to say it is perfect. 

The arranged marriage trope accomplishes a great deal by adding a layer of forced proximity to the pair’s entanglement, making their eventual real relationship one that’s fortified with trust. They have ample opportunities to get to know one another, which results in unintentionally sharing secrets and working together. In our feature about the show’s use of the arranged marriage trope, we said: “In the beginning, Guildford and Jane’s animosity fuels the chemistry between Emily Bader and Edward Bluemel so exquisitely that it adds an intricate thread to the marriage in its early stages. They don’t like each other, but at the same time, the agreement they have allows them to build trust in a more organic form. He knows she wants a divorce. She knows he wants to break the curse. Their mutual accord puts them on the same trajectory, fusing them together in a way that’s tethered to an end goal. Equals, once again.” 

Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley Are Equals

So much of the reason each of their scenes ignite like embers is because they’re equals. They both have desires outside of each other and burdens that synchronize, allowing them to feel safer with one another. There’s a balance between his underlying softness and her edges. Right from the start, he could read her better than most. She thinks she can keep things hidden from him, but once she stops trying to conceal as much, she starts to see him as he is—soft, tenderhearted, a little (read: very) stubborn. Once she lets herself loosen up a bit, she gives him the platform to feel safe and vulnerable, which, in turn, gives him everything he needs to love her wholeheartedly. 

As equals in mind and heart, even their bickering is laced with an inherent need to protect each other. A Dudley’s heart is in the right place, even if they do dumb stuff. For this reason, as they push and pull and fight against everything, both Jane and Guildford prove that they are too stubborn not to love one another. With this, another reason their relationship works so beautifully as equals is because of the show’s pacing and the arranged marriage. The alone time torches every flame inside of them. 

It’s quiet moments where she runs to the stables right before she learns his secret because it’s safer with him than with anyone else, even while they’re still not fully comfortable with each other. They start to build upon the language they’re fortifying without realizing it because they’re both giving each other proper agency to stay in their lanes and feel a little safer in the marriage. They want something selfishly disconnected from their relationship, but they initially don’t realize how that brings them together.

In the words of Miss Swift, “Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar / Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire / Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons / One single thread of gold tied me to you.” Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley are meant for each other, destined by fate, fighting together by choice. And the fact that they’re equals makes this choice so much more effortless in every sense of the word. Jane isn’t someone who is comfortable displaying vulnerability because she’s had to put up walls in front of her family and friends and anyone who’s doubted her. She’s had to force herself to bite back because otherwise, everyone would take advantage of her being a woman at a time when they simply aren’t respected.

In the same vein, Guildford has had to hide much of who he is because the world isn’t ready to know that he’s an Ethian. He’s also doing everything in his power to run from the grief that ceaselessly haunts him. He’s not ready to embrace his true self because we know that up until the very last minute, he firmly believes that he’s responsible for his mother’s death because of his transformation. (He might not have confirmation, but we do, and yet his reaction is still everything we need to know.) He feels indebted to protect his father and brother, yet he’s still morally screwed up a bit until he meets Jane. He can’t transform like other Ethians because he views it as a curse as opposed to a part of him. And so, he hides behind his stoicism, the drinking, the gambling, the f–king, until he sees that Jane is hiding some of the same fears. He realizes then that she’s worth every probable risk.

The Choice to Give In and the Choice to Fight

Once Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley give in to each other, we start to see the padlocks around their hearts break. One after another. It starts with their initial first kiss after they’re attacked, but every clasp doesn’t fully loosen until she goes to the barn in Episode 5, and he asks if she’s okay. There, every latch falls to the ground. At that moment, we see a tremendous chunk of Guildford’s heart because Edward Bluemel does a brilliant job of showing us every little fear Guildford harbored upon realizing that Mary tried to kill Jane. He also knows her well enough at this point to see that there’s something she isn’t telling him, to which she responds, “later” because what matters now is voicing that she doesn’t want a divorce.

She wants him instead. All of him. Additionally, even while she doesn’t say it aloud to her mother, she does love Guildford, and she’ll fight for him no matter who argues against their marriage. Human or Ethian, curse or no curse, Guildford is her one true safe space. Here is where Emily Bader’s exceptional performances come in because when she voices that “she doesn’t know what to do,” it’s the first time we see Jane at her most vulnerable.

It becomes apparent how vital this beat is because Jane is someone who seldom feels safe enough not to be the smartest person in the room. It’s not a means to be better than others, but rather a decision she makes to protect herself, and Guildford is the only person with whom she doesn’t have to wear any of her armor. Bared, in more ways than one, it makes their first time together that much more breathtaking because here—it’s their choice. 

Here, the undressing is as symbolic as it is physical. They’re taking off each other’s armor and giving one another the very thing that no one else deserves—love. It’s everything they share in this moment, and when he gifts her his mother’s earrings, that we see how profoundly they’ve etched themselves into each other’s hearts. It’s when we get Guildford’s confession in Episode 7 that we understand he’d give the world for her. No exaggeration.

In our scene breakdown, we said: “We see as much when Guildford apologizes for leaving, and we get proof that he means it when he metaphorically unclasps his armor for her. He’s never leaving her again. He’ll choose her through everything. She’ll love him no matter what. We undermine conversations a lot on TV, but they’re what we desperately need to understand why the characters care about each other. It’s not just the physical urges that matter, but the emotional bonds they build with quiet confessions, and this scene is a perfect example of it.”

Finally, the ultimate choice comes as a sacrifice for both of them in life or death. No matter what the cost, they’re it for each other. She’ll run to him in a blazing fire, and he’ll transform in front of people to save her. It’s further proof that she’s his anchor—his motivation, his entire world wrapped up in one person. Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley are so many things all at once, but more importantly, they’re dedicated partners. They’d do anything for each other, and they’d both sacrifice what’s necessary to protect the other. At the same time, they could have fun together, and in a crazy wild world, they could trust each other. Their physical chemistry and emotional ties make them a thoroughly enriching pair of antagonists to lovers because what we see through their growth is a perfect paradigm of kindred spirits. Two complete halves bound by an unwavering, beautifully unbreakable love.

First Featured Image Credit: ©Prime Video
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