I would say yes she is a ****e because if you aren't sleeping with them because you are fundamentally attracted then what is the point? Except for some gain or benefit. So....if Lily wasn't a hooker what was she? A shrewd women willing to use her wiles to get what she wanted? Again, what is the difference?
How is it different except for using the tools available to them? Lily ****ed Durant for power. She ****ed Durant to move up from her current position. Noticeably, she ****ed him after not being able to make her own camp and survive on her own after turning him down many times. How is she different then the hookers? The plays she made were for power and comfort. Again, not that different than the ****es. Their total life ambitions represent nothing more then what they thought they could achieve in life. Lily was raised with better morals and standards and subscribed to more, but she was willing to **** a man she didn't like or wasn't attracted to for the profit of her goals. Call that what you want, but it is what it is. Durant's words were on point. She ****ed herself.
Again, she could have gone back to England.
I actually think the story of HoW is about a lot of people, poor and rich, hinging their life to the completion of the RR. That completion was not guaranteed. Many people saw it as a job, but that job consumed their lives. Much like it did Lily.
So why isn't she a ****e?
Cullen would be easy to fall for. Anson is handsome...
Though, that doesn't excuse Lily for sleeping with Durant. There is a scene in the earlier episodes where Lily is reading what appears to be book, but she covers it when someone enters. Again, she knew what she was doing and waited for the opportune time to do so. She just needed the Swede to determine what stuff was out of order.
Before Durant was shot she had an inkling he was being shady with the finances, but it wasn't until she was pushed out that she pulled out the guns and tried to screw him. Again, still a hooker...just smarter than the rest.
Lily liked Cullen, but she was more interested in the RR then anything else...or him.
Cullen came to the RR because of vengeace, but I'd love to see what would happen if he was actually emotinally invested.
I was not interested in Lily and Cullen, or their romance. In fact, I found her character to be deplorable. I had more respect for Ruth and her passive-aggressiveness then Lily and her hooker ways.