¶ … Inequality in Marriage in English Literature
Although existing from the dawn of history itself, marriage as an institution has greatly changed its scope and purpose in time. Thus, before the modern period, marriage was an arrangement between two parts, functioning almost as a social contract and meant to serve particular proposes. Marriage used to be one of the most important institutions in society, as it was the only acceptable way to have and raise children and thus perpetuate the human race. It was almost a social indecency to shrink from marrying and to lead an independent life. Moreover, once a marriage was contracted, a divorce would have been unacceptable. For some men, marriage was a source of dowry or a means of getting a better social position. For women though, for the longest time, marriage had been the only means of survival, something that their very existence depended on. In the patriarch society that dominated the Western world for the most part of the human history, the women were entirely dependent on the masculine figures in their lives, first their fathers and then their husbands. Interestingly enough, the husband also became a father figure soon after the engagement was over and the marriage began, having unquestionable authority over the wife. Thus, as much of the literature of the early modern world indicates, for women marriage was perhaps one of the most important moments in their lives and certainly one that marked their entire existence afterwards. In the modern world, the situation has changed to a certain extent, as marriage has shifted its purpose from a mere social contract to a contract of love. The society no longer interferes so much in the life of the individual and thus marriage is contracted according to the desires and expectancy of those involved.
For a long time, it was thought that marriage should never be based on such an intemperate, uncertain and whimsical feeling as love. It is well-known that love is perhaps one of most of the indefinable and the most unpredictable of the human feelings. The earlier societies believed that love was not a serious enough feeling to justify marriage. Thus, there were many other considerations that had precedence over love when a marriage was decided about. In her famous and interesting book Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage, Stephanie Coontz argues that marriage has evolved progressively from the early modern era to the twentieth century, from "obedience to intimacy." According to Coontz however, the marriage contracted for love reasons is not an invention of the twentieth century but actually of the eighteenth century. Even in the eighteenth century, the people had a certain freedom in choosing their respective husbands or wives. Nevertheless, love was certainly not the primary consideration that people took into account when deciding to get married. The decision had to do more with common sense and the rules imposed by society than with the private feelings of a certain person. The women especially had less liberty in choosing their life-partner. First of all, they were not allowed to have any initiative of their own in finding a male partner, and had to wait to be courted by the men who were interested. After the marriage the woman had to submit herself to the will of her husband and to make sure she fulfilled his wishes. As Susan Cruea noticed, in the patriarchal society of the eighteenth and nineteenth century women were the victims of social and economic discrimination, being drastically limited in their social roles to motherhood or spinsterhood: "The setting of these goals resulted from women's rising awareness of the precariousness of their situation in the patriarchal society of the 1800s. At this time, women were the continual victims of social and economic discrimination. Upper- and middle-class women's choices were limited to marriage and motherhood, or spinsterhood. Both choices resulted in domestic dependency."(Cruea, 25) While they could choose to remain unmarried or to work to support themselves, such situations were considered extremely unnatural. Society was thus a harsh judge of the women and of their actions.
The bottom line was that women were not naturally independent. The world of action belonged to the males in society and the women were only allowed as wives and mothers that stayed at home and cared for the household. The English literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries portrays the situation of women in the patriarchal society. Thus,...
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