Canned laughter often played on Muggle television comedy shows would be released even when the plot was not funny, as if telling everyone, "This is funny, laugh already."
When people judged whether an action was right, they acted according to others' opinions. This principle was especially applicable when they were hesitant or doubtful about a particular action.
Valmont had grown up in an environment where men could have multiple mistresses. Though he had attendants, he had no friends, nor any male figure who could tell him what to do, so he could only seek advice from Madame de Merteuil, with whom he had "common interests."
She was a terrible adviser, but Valmont had no better choice. The women he had encountered before had been superficial, and he could easily win them over with equally superficial methods. But Mrs. Dewey was different. She could easily see through Valmont's shallow disguise.
That was also why she lived in the countryside far from Paris. With Mrs. Dewey, Valmont experienced a different kind of charm. Two lonely souls were drawn to each other, rather than their bodies and desires.
In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the third Bennet sister, Mary Bennet, was an unlikeable character. She often performed on the piano, hoping to draw others' attention.
Pomona had no particular pursuit of "high art." Someone as vulgar as her could not play at such elegance. She merely believed that women should not think they could tie a man down with children. Once a man grew tired of her, he could truly abandon anything. Not only illegitimate children—even children born in wedlock and of his own flesh and blood were no exception. Mrs Zabini's "newlywed" husband was precisely such a man.
Why should he necessarily be responsible just because there was a child? Women could