The real world countries are set up in such a way that they protect the people who have power. That definitely is not fair. To call the people who fight against this system by using available resources (like Jake) or who disagree with the unfairness (like Madelyn) stupid isn't clever either.
The world was never and will never be fair. Even socialism which preaches fairness and equality was one of the most discriminatory and inhumane regimes when used by itself without democracy. I know that first hand.
And preciselly due to the country I was born and raised in, I find it stupid to sacrifice yourself for people who already sacrificed you. Because those same people would never appreciate you and will take you for granted. In my country we have a saying 'Do good to eat shit.' and Madelyn is currently the epitome of it.
And what do you mean by available resources for Jake? To make her send a telegram when he was almost recovered and could have done it himself? To leave his gun and incriminate her? Or to give her name to the police? Is that his resource? Is pushing her under the bus moral, just or fair?
He could have sent the telegram himself when he left the manor. He could have taken the gun with him. You know why he didn't? Because he knew the police were up his ass so why not shift their attention to a civilian?
He could have stayed quiet when he got caught, he could have kept her name out of this or said someone else's. He didn't. He didn't because the consequences of sacrificing her are non-existent in terms of his well-being or the well-being of the organization.
He fights for equality yet treated Madelyn as a means to an end. She was never equal to him.
Socialism (with very high taxes on wealth) + democracy = pretty good state model :) So never give up.
To sacrifice for the others is the person's own choice. I think, I'll sacrifice my life for my kid if there is no other choice.
Manga doesn't give all necessary info about Jake's reasons, motivation and actions to judge him fairly (for example, it does not say anywhere that it was him, who reported her, etc). Plus I don't believe there are people in this world who won't break under torture.
But ultimately the root cause of social evil is the use of power and huge state resources for own benefits (like in this case scenario for the protection of one king hundreds / thousands/sometimes millions of unhappy people can be tortured, sent to prison etc and we have no sympathy for these people. That's beyond my comprehension.
I AGREEE
What Madelyn did WAS stupid. She stood for people who easily betrayed her.
One lesson I learned the hard way is that your morality should be given to people who deserve it—Jake and Isabel are not among them.
Isabel willingly threw Madelyn, a close friend and the very person who saved her life, under the bus. She led Madelyn into this mess by showing her the secret passages and making her care for Jake, fully aware of the risks.
And Jake, he proudly boasted that he would rather die than betray his comrades, which is true. He didn't betray them, instead he betrayed her. Without hesitation, he made Madelyn, the person who nursed him back to health, his accomplice, by making her send a telegram and leaving her the gun. And now we learn that instead of staying quiet or handing the names of real revolutionaries, he decided to use her, a civillian nurse, to save himself from the torture.
And to everyone saying he was tortured, let’s not forget Jake and Elizabeth are revolutionaries who are against the crown. If you decide to embark on this path, you must accept the consequences. You must know that the government will be after you, and that prison, torture, or death is a real possibility. Jake and Isabel knew this. Madelyn did not. She’s a civilian, who was completely unaware of the gravity of the situation. She doesn’t even seem to fully grasp their ideology and may not even completely agree to it if she did—yet she’s the one suffering the full consequences now.
Jake and Isabel, who supposedly fight for the common poeple, willingly exploited a civilian. And not just any civilian, but someone they knew is kind and compassionate, someone who wouldn’t refuse them. They used her.
So no, they don’t deserve empathy for this.