We are all sinners. I’m a wretch like the rest of us.
But to say “I am sorry, truly, for the pain you are in.” That implies that Regretful’s pain is worthy of sorrow.
Not all pain is equal...the pain a mother feels in a miscarriage and the pain a parent experiences when burying a child is one level of pain. Those are pains borne out of innocence, through no fault of the experience owner.
If Jane had cut the tacit blaming of society for Regretful’s actions in the first few paragraphs, and started at “The thing is, Regretful, marriage very quickly loses the romance...” it’d be better.
That said, I agree....Jane gave good advice.
I would say that pain due to drastic, volitional mistakes is far more worthy of our sorrow.
Someone who is entirely innocent bears no guilt, and has recompense in that knowledge. But someone who has made their own hell adds personal guilt to their suffering, and suffers even more.
I don’t rejoice in seeing anyone suffer.