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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38607
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38607
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The values of the Middle Ages existed for more reasons than church dogma. For example, sleeping with a girl before marrying her meant a fair chance of her getting pregnant. Which was also why men wanted their bride to be a virgin - when resources are scarce, nobody wants to raise another man's child. Woman's modern position in society too is connected to modern ability to choose when to get pregnant, as well as to a higher measure of safety from rape. **Your Catherine could confront the other protagonist with the expected consequences of such actions, and then struggle to re-evaluate things in light of different consequences.**

Regarding profanity and atheism, be very careful about doing your research. If you read Shakespeare, for example, he uses more profanity than would be considered reasonable for theatre nowadays. It's just different profane words, so we don't perceive them as all that dirty. And while people did not actually say they did not believe in God back then (there was no alternative explanation for natural phenomena), actual religious observance was meh - there's ample record of churches being empty except for holidays, and of the Church being angry at people sinning right and left. Tolerance towards homosexuality is also older than we think. A homosexual couple appears as background characters in Alexandre Dumas' _Le Comte de Monte Cristo_, for example.

Instead, how would Catherine respond to the Protestant heresy? **Heresy is not a word we use nowadays, but it is a word she would be quite familiar with.** Worldview is reflected in the words we use. BY using outdates concepts, you can invoke a worldview that is different from our modern one, and within which certain beliefs are understandable.

Original score: 12