Divorce (The Woodlanders)

Poor Giles and Grace, having their hopes raised and then dashed because Grace could not get a divorce after all. Still, it seems a little strange to me that Giles and Grace are the only ones who are expected to behave entirely morally. Suke Dawson has sex outside marriage, first with her boyfriend and then with Fitzpiers. Mrs Charmond and Dr Fitzpiers are having an adulterous affair together. Why can't Giles and Grace? Mr Melbury wouldn't let them for a start, but they are both too moral anyway. I suppose it is partly because Fitzpiers and Mrs Charmond can just decamp when society's gossip gets too much, but Giles and Grace have to stay where they are. All the same, although Grace cannot divorce Fitzpiers because he has not been cruel enough to her, if news got back to Dr Fitzpiers that his wife was having affair with someone, mightn't he divorce her? There would be a lot of shame I suppose on all sides. I believe at the time, divorce required an act of parliament, so it was expensive. Also, the adulterous parties would be named, which would be quite shameful. For Fitzpiers, I suppose it would be even more shameful because he had married beneath him, and he would have to admit to being cuckolded by a humble yeoman; notwithstanding his own bad behaviour. Another stumbling block is that the church did not approve of divorcees re-marrying. Giles and Grace could not have married in church, although I suppose they could be married in a registry office.