What was the age gap between Jack and Rose?

In Titanic, Jack Dawson (Leonardo Dicaprio) and Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) fall in love on the RMS Titanic. The movie was released in 1997, meaning super fans of the movie have probably watched it dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

To this day, fans still wonder whether Jack truly could have fit on the wooden panel and survived like Rose. Another thing Titanic fans debate about is whether or not Rose is a virgin before she sleeps with Jack in the film.

‘Titanic’ takes place in 1912

While Jack and Rose are fictional characters, their love story takes place during the real-life voyage and sinking of the RMS Titanic. The ship left the port city Southhampton on April 10, 1912.

It was originally supposed to travel across the Atlantic Ocean and dock in New York City. However, the ship sunk on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg.

In Titanic, Rose is 17 years old and is a first-class passenger along with her mother Ruth (Frances Fisher) and her fiancé Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). Jack is an artist and a third-class passenger who won a ticket to board the ship in a poker match.

Throughout the movie, it is repeatedly shown that Rose does not love Cal and feels trapped in the marriage. She befriends Jack, and the two later begin an affair. After they sleep together, Rose decides that when the ship docks in New York City she will leave Cal and her family behind for Jack.

The two never get the chance after the ship strikes the iceberg on April 14, 1912. Jack and Rose remain on the ship until it sinks, and while Rose survives and takes on the new identity of Rose Dawson, Jack freezes to death while waiting to be rescued.

There are signs Rose was not a virgin in ‘Titanic’

Throughout the decades, the concept of virginity has changed and is now viewed as a social construct. However, there were more societal expectations attached to virginity in 1912.

One of the first hints that Rose may not have been a virgin takes place during a breakfast scene between Rose and Cal. At this point, Cal knows that Rose spent the night attending a party in third class with Jack instead of spending time with him.

“I had hoped you would come to me last night,” Cal tells Rose.

“I was tired,” Rose answers.

This interaction alludes to the idea that Cal and Rose spending the night together as an engaged couple was something normal or expected. Later in the scene, Cal yells at Rose for spending time with Jack and tells her that by being engaged, she is expected to act as his wife.

Cal tells Rose that she is his “wife in practice if not yet by law, so you will honor me. You will honor me the way a wife is required to honor a husband.”

Based on this, Cal insinuates he and Rose are already living as husband and wife without being officially married. Later on, when Jack and Rose have sex, Jack comes across as nervous while Rose is portrayed as the more confident one in the situation.

Deleted scenes show more of Cal and Rose’s relationship

Titanic has a run time of over three hours, and there are several minutes of deleted scenes that did not make it into the movie. A majority of the deleted scenes give more insight into the relationships of the characters, particularly Cal and Rose and Jack’s friends in third class.

In one deleted scene, Rose’s maid comments that because the sheets on the ship are brand new, they will be the first people to ever use them.

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Cal enters the room and says, “At night when I crawl between the sheets, I’ll still be the first,” to Rose.

He adds, “The first and only. Forever.”

While Cal implies that he has already been Rose’s first sexual partner, Rose appears rather uncomfortable at the thought of spending her life with Cal. Based on this, one can assume that even if Cal and Rose have a physical relationship, she is emotionally withdrawn from him.