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Thoughts on the Plot of "The Remarried Empress"

I didn't read the entire series of Remarried Empress, but this is what I felt after while reading the early progression.

  1. It describes women's psychology well. Content that appeals to women - what, my husband is cheating? But the woman is innocent? Am I the only villain?

  2. It's a slightly twisted version of Cinderella story. It's a story about an empress who asks for divorce and remarriage without being obsessed with her current husband.

  3. Artwork with excellent illustrations. By drawing characters as if they are visible, it not only enhances the reader's engagement, but is also so beautiful that you must own it.

  4. Setting the scene as a western fantasy, it cleverly avoided various complex situations. The artist is able to justify the story at will because it doesn't have to be excatly realistic. With illustrated western characters, it feels like a historical boy-meets-girl manhwa.



Analysis of the basic plot

It seems the author builds up the foundation with the most essential elements of a romance novel.

It does not deviate from the typical romance's theme of: "The heroine who suffers from bad (sad) love meets an ideal new partner and finds true love."

The heroine suffers from the emperor flirting with another woman. She copes with it by meeting a man completely different from the husband. Episodes 1 through 10 portray such woman so tortured and agitated. Here, the author did well to present the story as not just frustrating, but also evoking empathy. At the same time, our heroine is not a passive woman who simply longs for her love to be reciprocated. However, her situation keeps getting out of her control, falling into a complicated, painstaking pit.



The real male protagonist appears briefly in Episode 1, and then gradually emerges from history. But it is through this man that complicated situations start to straighten out and clear up. If the reader feels so, how much more would the empress? Besides, he has heavenly looks, so you quickly get attached to him.

In a word, the author builds up empathy gradually and meticulously.

While the novel consists of the typical components of romance (encounter of a good-looking couple, fantastical settings, and passionate love), it has its own share of interesting attempts.

For instance, the heroine moves independently to file a divorce. In addition, a simple-minded, innocent, protagonist-like lady is in fact a supporting role. In a sense, the setting comes across as a modified "Candy" manga. In Candy, we see a heroine who overcomes her obstacles and grows up little by little with help of her loved ones. She was not particularly pretty or wealthy. A woman may feel unhappy sitting in a room decorated with gold.

Rather than evoking sympathy through the typical heroine's material poverty, Remarried Empress takes a different approach, by revealing an empress's psychological deficit. It is one of the charms that differentiate the novel.


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