Stoo said:
Just noticed this bit:
Anna Jones: "I am married."
Giacomo Puccini: "Yes, I am, too."
So the show did, indeed, address the fact that he was married at the time.
Mr. Puccini was a sleaze!
He was indeed. He did not love Anna, as he proclaimed--he simply wanted her, lusted for her. I believe Ms. Seymour says pretty much the same, though not as bluntly. Puccini would probably be passionate toward Anna for a while, and she'd probably have awakened her own dormant passions with him, if she'd left with him--But after a while, he'd have grown bored with her, and moved on to some other lonely woman and manipulated her, pushing Anna out of his life--Which would've ruined hers.
She'd have been left with nothing; She'd have left her country, her husband, and her little son, for what she thought was love, only to be used for sex, and left for another woman--Her life utterly ruined.Anna probably felt starved for attention and affection, and probably had been deprived of anything resembling passion, and as such probably felt unwanted, vulnerable, insecure...And Puccini, like a predator, recognized this, inflated her self esteem and showed her passion and what seemed to be affection--knowing what he was doing all along.
As I said above, Henry Sr. was not a perfect husband. He was neglectful and too into his research to realize what he had in Anna (a selfless, loving, romantic woman). He was too obsessed with his Quest for the Grail to the point that he nearly lost his wife and lost his son for nearly 20 years. It wasn't that Henry was some heartless man; He was just a Victorian man, a stiff researcher, the professor the students hope they don't get. It's clear that he loved Anna and Indy deeply; he, as a product of his time, just didn't know how to show it often. But it is clear he valued and appreciated and loved Anna.
He saw her as a person and did appreciate her for that; Puccini only saw her as a muse, a source of inspiration; There was no true, long lasting or deep love on Puccini's end--Just desire. She was in his eyes just a thing, to be exploited, to inspire him and give him passion to create his operas. Sort of an emotional vampire, Puccini.