Marriage for All the Wrong Reasons: The Victorian Novel
Cristina
4 December 2013 Marriage for All the Wrong Reasons: The Victorian Novel
It is of the last importance to their happiness in life that they should early acquire a submissive temper and a forbearing spirit. They must even endure to be thought wrong sometimes, when they cannot but feel they are right. And while they should be anxiously aspiring to do well, they must not expect always to obtain the praise of having done so (Austen, 404-5).
In 1799, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, by Hannah More, was one of a handful guidelines for women in the Victorian era. One must note the expectations of women in order to fully grasp the concept of marriage in this time. This era was a time in which women were expected to subdue their passions, but this was not only a societal expectation. This passivity was expected to exist in marriage. The laws in marriage of the time did not grant women an equal partnership. The unfortunate fallback in this scenario is the unwholesome reality that women had to marry for survival.
In 1857, The Matrimonial Causes Act stated a man could divorce a woman on the grounds of adultery. On the contrary, a woman could only divorce if she had proof of adultery, combined with incest, bigamy, or cruelty. It was not impossible for a woman to get a divorce; however, it was extremely difficult. In this time, divorce would not be granted simply on the grounds of irreconcilable differences or incompatibility. Therefore, many who married were trapped and obligated to uphold this binding contract. Although women had the disadvantage, men just as easily found themselves in unfit marriages.
Many Victorian novels have managed to give a realistic view of the effects of such laws and expectations on the individual, both men and women. It is not enough to look back at the laws and statistics, in order to grasp the concept of marriage. Middlemarch, by George Eliot, paints a realistic, almost disheartening, portrait of marriage.
4 December 2013 Marriage for All the Wrong Reasons: The Victorian Novel
It is of the last importance to their happiness in life that they should early acquire a submissive temper and a forbearing spirit. They must even endure to be thought wrong sometimes, when they cannot but feel they are right. And while they should be anxiously aspiring to do well, they must not expect always to obtain the praise of having done so (Austen, 404-5).
In 1799, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, by Hannah More, was one of a handful guidelines for women in the Victorian era. One must note the expectations of women in order to fully grasp the concept of marriage in this time. This era was a time in which women were expected to subdue their passions, but this was not only a societal expectation. This passivity was expected to exist in marriage. The laws in marriage of the time did not grant women an equal partnership. The unfortunate fallback in this scenario is the unwholesome reality that women had to marry for survival.
In 1857, The Matrimonial Causes Act stated a man could divorce a woman on the grounds of adultery. On the contrary, a woman could only divorce if she had proof of adultery, combined with incest, bigamy, or cruelty. It was not impossible for a woman to get a divorce; however, it was extremely difficult. In this time, divorce would not be granted simply on the grounds of irreconcilable differences or incompatibility. Therefore, many who married were trapped and obligated to uphold this binding contract. Although women had the disadvantage, men just as easily found themselves in unfit marriages.
Many Victorian novels have managed to give a realistic view of the effects of such laws and expectations on the individual, both men and women. It is not enough to look back at the laws and statistics, in order to grasp the concept of marriage. Middlemarch, by George Eliot, paints a realistic, almost disheartening, portrait of marriage.
Cited: Austen, Jane, and Claudia L. Johnson. Mansfield Park. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Print. Eliot, George, and Bert G. Hornback. Middlemarch. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. Print. Kent, Julia. "Thackeray 's "Marriage Country": The Englishness of Domestic Sentiment in Vanity Fair." Nineteenth-Century Contexts 30.2 (2008): 127-45. Web. Rosengarten, Herbert. ""From the Social Side" Two Studies of Ninteenth-Century Fiction." Modern Language Quarterly 38.4 (1977): 381-89. Web. Schaffer, Talia. "Refamiliarizing Victorian Marriage." Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies 15.2 (2010): 1-14. Web. Thackeray, W. M., and Peter Shillingsburg. Vanity Fair. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. Print.