An Analysis Of Shelton's Unhinging

Courting in those days was not the romantic affair it generally is today. Freewill for women didn’t exist during these times, as they were usually sold to the highest bidder, the way an antique vase might be at an auction. It was not so much about the characteristics of a particular suitor that made him an attractive candidate for a husband, but instead the amount of money he could pay a young lady’s father. Some even less fortunate women were captured during combat and lived their life in what would be considered today, a nonconsensual common law marriage.

Harwood throws the readers the suggestions to acknowledge the most unlikeable elements of marriage and love. The truth that a woman’s self in Harwood’s time would be completely lost with her wedding vows. This becomes equally relevant to date because of questionable equality between the sexes. Harwood is therefore condoning the practices that endorse

Hannah W. Foster’s The Coquette is a young woman’s path navigating the expectations of society while not surrendering her own wants and needs. Marriages, in the eighteenth century, are based on financial security and social rank, not love. Women, especially those who did not have a dowry, married a man of wealth and connections. The sad, tragic tale of Eliza Wharton validates the fact that defying expectations in the eighteenth century caused women to fall from grace.

When examining both Robert Browning’s, My Last Duchess, and Charlotte Mew’s, The Farmers Bride, the reader witnesses the poems positions of marriage in the natural world. Within both works, it is quite evident how each relationship is vastly different from the modern world, yet parallel it at the same time. Whether it be: the interactions between the two people or the conditions of the marriage, it is made more than apparent that both can be applied to modern conceptualizations of marriage.

A marriage proposal is an occasion where one person in a relationship asks for the other's hand in marriage. Overtime, marriage proposals have changed in virtually all cultures. In the 1800s, marriage was more for social gain or monetary gain. However, marriage for love wasn’t unknown. William Collins proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice and Bradley Headstone’s proposal to Lizzie Hexam in Charles Dickens's’ Our Mutual Friend are perfect examples of two different types of marriage proposals that may have been giving during the 1800s. Analyzing Mr. Headstones and Mr. Collins’ techniques and the language used in their proposals reveal the weaknesses and strengths of their proposals.

Curley’s wife is the only lady on the ranch who becomes lonely because she wants to talk to someone but her and her husband dislike each other. He is very controlling and won’t allow her talk to any of the men. However, some of the men such as Lennie are attracted to her, “She’s purty” he says about her, but they don’t talk to her in fear of Curley. On the ranch, she is known as a ‘tart’ because she flirts with the other men to get herself some attention. The reason she is such a flirtatious person is because she knows her beauty is her power and she can use it to flirt with the other men to make her husband jealous. She also believes that she would make it to the movies one day. She says to Lennie "I ain’t meant to live like this…,” she thinks

Spinster Iris Hedley was once the darling of the ton until her father lost his fortune through an illness of the mind. Reduced to living as a penniless guest while her father rots in debtors prison, she’s determined to escape unscrupulous robbers who’ve set her to spy on the ton by the only means possible—by becoming a wealthy mans mistress. Unfortunately for Iris, her proper upbringing never covered intimacy or seduction so she asks the one man she trusts for help with private lessons in the duties of a mistress.

Helen Graham, the heroine in The tenant of Wildfell Hall, is a strong and unique woman. She is in many ways a typical Victorian upper-class lady, but in many ways also a very modern and independent kind of woman. She lives with her aunt and uncle, who want to see her married to a wealthy man, but she refuses any offers of marriage since she does not want to marry a man she does not love. When she is about 18 years old and still quite naivë, she falls in love with Mr Huntingdon, who woos and courts her - and seems very much in love with her too. "I will willingly risk my happiness for the chance of securing his" (p 125), she says when trying to persuade her aunt into

I would like to provide some commentary on my reaction to The Two Offers by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Throughout this short story I noticed a postmodernist approach, if you will, towards women’s need to be married at the time that this short story was written. One example of this would be when, in the story, Laura says, “‘But then if I refuse, there is the risk of being an old maid, and that is not to be thought of.’” Laura’s cousin Janette replies, “‘Well, suppose there is, is that the most dreadful fate that can befall a woman?’” In the time that Frances Ellen Watkins Harper wrote this short story women married because it gave them status and a place in society.

England has always had a rich history of interesting cultural traditions but arguably none as prevalent as marriage. Marriage, the union of two people with emotional ideals and expectations, are brought on by many different factors that include: for love, for money, for climbing social status, escapism, survival, etc. In Jane Austen’s novels, she focuses on the importance of marriage in her world because she wanted to emphasize how marriage is the most important life event of a woman as this would determine her place in society. Persuasion shows readers good and bad examples of marriage: the amiable Crofts and other couples such as Sir Walter & Lady Elliot and the Smiths. Jane Austen uses the Crofts to support the importance of marriage

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen introduces the major thematic concept of marriage and financial wealth. Throughout the novel, Austen depicts various relationships that exhibit the two recurring themes. Set during the regency period, the perception of marriage revolves around a universal truth. Austen claims that a single man “must be in want of a wife.” Hence, the social stature and wealth of men were of principal importance for women. Austen, however, hints that the opposite may prove more exact: a single woman, under the social limitations, is in want of a husband. Through this speculation, Austen acknowledges that the economic pressure of social acceptance serves as a foundation for a proper marriage.

Today marriage is seen as an expression of deep love and respect for another person. In Austen’s time, a ‘good’ marriage was seen to be one where wealth and social status of the man and woman were socially suitable. There was very

In Graham’s Magazine, another anonymous reviewer suggested that Rochester’s character was dangerous and immoral, saying, “No woman who had ever truly loved could have mistaken so completely the Rochester type, or could have made her heroine love a man of proud, selfish, ungovernable appetites, which no sophistry can lift out of lust.” Thus, he intimated that any author who would contrive to have her heroine fall in love with such a total rake would be immoral herself and unknowing of what true love is. He went one step further to say, “We accordingly think that if the innocent young ladies of our land lay a premium on profligacy, by marrying dissolute rakes for the honor of reforming them, à la Jane Eyre, their benevolence will be of questionable utility to the world.” In this, he suggested that the depiction of Jane and Rochester’s relationship would cause young women of the time to emulate Jane’s “romantic wickedness.”

Courtship was a game with rules that demand to be followed. Traditions had to be upheld. The rules of courtship dictated what someone could do with another person. The rules dictated when those things could be done. They established lines that are not to be crossed. It was a game, like any other, with winners and losers. The society and setting we find in Jane Eyre demands that those who hope to win the game of courtship follow the standards of courtship as closely as they can if they desire to ever have the hope of what would be considered a “happy ending”. A “happy ending” is defined as a marriage between two suitable figures that would be full of contentment and last for the rest of their lives. A man with wealth and status would

Jane Austen’s well-known novel, Pride and Prejudice, discussed multiple social themes in the 19th century. Austen mainly criticized marriage during her era, when she says that, “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 3). As she explains that it was valuable to women since it provided them with security and a social title. The author explored the diverse motives behind matrimony in her time period by using a humorous and romantic plot to discuss the social issues. For instance, Charlotte Lucas’s unreasonable marriage to Mr. Collins is a vital example of how women needed to secure a future and attain social status. To conclude, Lydia Bennet’s meaningless marriage to George Wickham shows that entering the marriage estate could have also been for mainly financial purposes. Contrastingly, Jane Bennet, the heroine’s older sister, marries Charles Bingley for love, security, and a social ranking. On the other hand, Elizabeth Bennet marries Fitzwilliam Darcy after months of misunderstandings and romantic drama for none other than true love. Thus, Austen uses her leading characters’ marriages in Pride and Prejudice to exhibit the various attitudes and reasons for marrying in the 19th century. (Lane 2015)