I'm having another problem, this time with one of the characters of my story. Myrtle is a princess, who ended up marrying an abusing man. Myrtle is actually a queen now but so badly under the king's foot that she really cannot do much. Anyhow, one day she escapes from the castle, and I cannot figure out what after so many years of abuse made her escape? Why not earlier? A friend of mine threw out an idea, that maybe she thought that abuse was normal, but even that wouldn't explain how she got to know it, because her contacts with other people than the king are very much limited. I thought that maybe Myrtle had tried to escape before, but had been unsuccessful, but then again she escapes rather easily, so maybe that won't work either, any ideas?
Probably as simple as she likes her position of being Queen - it carries comfort and status even with abuse.
It is not uncommon for abused women to stay in the abusive situation for many years, even though they have opportunities to get out of the situation. The abused person typically leaves the situation 7 or 8 times before being free of it entirely (i.e. they don't go back). I think if you do some research on the psychology of abuse it won't be at all difficult to see that she might have stayed all those years. I suppose you could provide some sort of event as a catalyst for the final escape, but it doesn't always happen that way.
It is. I used to volunteer at a shelter for abused women and their kids, and it was an eye-opener (not only hearing about the sorts of things these women had been through, but the length of time it took them to get out (and number of times left and returned) despite horrendous treatment). One guy not only beat his wife regularly, he had the locks on the their outside doors reversed so her could lock her in when he left for work, and she stayed in that situation for quite a few years even though she had family in the area and could have left out a window any day and went to them. Which is what she eventually did, I think, but it took her a long time to get there.
sounds to me like she needs a new reason for leaving, not just constantly being abused. Some event that broke the camel's back. Maybe her only child or some person who anchors her there dies, or she finds out the king is planning on having her killed so he can remarry. Some new thing that makes it so she a) needs to leave or b) no longer has a reason to stay
