Essay on Marriage in the 19th century

In the early 1800s, women were second-class citizens. Women were expected to restrict their area of interest to the home and the family. Women were not encouraged to have a real education or pursue a professional career. Also, women were considered unequal to their husbands and all males legally and socially. The day-to day lives of men and women were quite clearly divided during the late 1800s. Woman in the late 1800s were treated inhumane because of society, class, and their rights.

Marriage was put into rolls in the 1950s. Men would work and supply the money. Women would stay home, clean the house, and tend to the children. Now, in the twenty-first century, we no longer have rolls in marriage. Both parties work and supply money. Marriage has changed in many ways throughout the years.

During the 18th century, women were treated like slaves. They had little authority regarding anything. Women didn’t have the right to vote or the right to own property. Only a spinster or widow woman could own and manage property until they married. Women were owned by the husband just as he owned material possessions. Many women were trapped in loveless marriages and those without families were seen as outcasts. The husband was legally entitled to beat his wife for disobedience. Divorces were rarely granted and women usually ran away from bad marriages. As you read, I will talk about

The traditional gender roles displayed by men and women during the Victorian era created the issues that the movements in the start of the twentieth century wanted to resolve. Women in Britain throughout the nineteenth century had no legal rights. Once a women became married, her entire legal existence was handed over to her husband. Caroline Norton was a women who campaigned for women’s rights in the nineteenth century. She wrote many articles about the social struggle and even wrote a letter to Queen Victoria that explained her complaints on how women were treated in the law. In her letter Caroline first started the current British laws regarding the legal rights of women, “A married woman in England has no legal existence: her being is absorbed in that of her husband. Years of separation of desertion cannot alter this position. Unless divorced by special enactment in the House of Lords, the legal fiction holds her to be ‘one’ with her husband, even though she may never see or hear of him.” Even if the wife and husband did not live together or did not see eachother often, the husband still had control over the wife’s legal existence. This meant the the husband could be doing anything that he wanted but the wife was bound to follow his orders because he had legal control over her. Therefore after a woman was married, all of her legal rights and responsibilities went over to her husband. There also needed to be special government permission to get

In the Victorian era, marriage was not as romanticized or fairytale-like as depicted in many novels of the time. On the contrary, love actually played a very minor role in the majority of matrimonies that took place. An engagement was entered into as one would approach a business deal, and there were some generally accepted rules and guidelines to follow.

Marriage is a relationship is about coming together in which two people have promised themselves being with each other. However, marriage in the United States has changed in the 1950s from what it is today. Marriage in the 1950s was different because there was no such idea of a divorce because women had to fix their marriage. (Tartakovsky). Yet, marriage that occurs today people can get a divorce in America. Marriage is better today in America than in the 1950s because of more freedom and not being pressured into marriage in society. This time period 2015 for me is more preferable to live in for marriages instead of in the 1950s. Although marriage is a union between two people, there is a

Before 1840 women were viewed as something that needed to be taken care of. They could not own property, fathers would not mention their daughters in their wills, women could not be treasurer of their own companies, it was the husband’s responsibility. Only seven vocations were available to them outside of the home in the late 1840’s; widows would receive no share of her husband’s property or his families, and if one did not marry or remarry she had to enter one of the few employments for her or be a charity case for her relatives. When factory jobs became available to women they were quickly taken because it gave women a way to be independent and not a burden to their loved ones, but earn and spend their own money however the wished. For once

Colonial American citizens faced several challenges through the time span of the 16th century to the 18th century. It was a time of great change and growth as well as being full of obstacles. The Revolutionary War, hostile Native American tribes, harsh living conditions, and disease all played factors in the struggle for survival in early America. However, there is a topic that is also significant but not discussed as often. Marriage was a confusing and exhausting situation for many individuals. One may wonder, ”What were the challenges of finding a spouse during the Colonial Era in American history?” It was difficult for young men and women to find a suitable marriage partner who would meet all their needs or standards and stay by their side till death do they part. Oftentimes, there was no choice in the matter. During this timeframe in American history, there were several barriers that affected whom one was allowed to marry. These obstacles included race, culture, social and economic status.

According to the article “Rights for woman”, in the 1800 women were treated as subsequent class citizens, and they did not have many rights at all. They were not able to vote and were not encouraged to get an education, or even get a job that they enjoyed (Rights for Women, Par. 1). Women were expected to clean, cook, and find a husband. According to Juliet Levy, Marriage is an agreement that over all comes with substantial financial upbringing. (Levy, 427) As previously stated woman were worth less than men during that time, so the men were basically able to treat them however they wanted. Men were able to send their wives to insane asylums if they did not follow the rules or live up to the expectations of women of that time. According to an article on woman

During the 1870s and 1880s, the plural marriage created a crisis for Mormonism. Bigamy was recognized as an offense by the early English ecclesiastical courts, which considered it an affront to the marriage Sacrament. Parliament enacted a statute in 1604 that made bigamy a felony cognizable in the English common law courts.

But what is one to do? I did write for a while inspite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal – having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition”. (Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper, 1898). Here one can see that the narrator wished to work and have a change in her domestic life, but the struggle to keep it a secret from her husband was too great because she knew he would not approve. Marriage, which is supposed to represent unity, love and the coming together of two equal partners was anything but that for the narrator. In the 19th century women were at the mercy of men, even though they marched forward for equality they were still very much dependent on their male counterparts. They were not allowed to have control over their assets and therefor marriage was the best solution to live a comfortable life seeing as their parents could not provide for their daughters forever. In The Yellow Wallpaper the prisonlike feeling that marriage causes the narrator, eventually leads to her insanity. Which for some was probably an actual occurrence in that era. More

“Just as today a woman’s wedding was one of the most important days of her life” (William Shakespeare info). During the Elizabethan Era, most marriages were arranged, and some couples would be introduced to each other on their wedding day itself! (William Shakespeare info) Many of times marriages were done so that both families could “benefit” in some way, such as status or wealth ( Linda Alchin). Even though there are some differences from then to now, weddings today have some of the same aspects as Elizabethan weddings did, because a wedding is still one of the biggest days of a person’s life. There were many customs, preparations, and important ceremonies done during these times, and some of them are

Women were expected to basically be merely an object, even a trophy for their husbands. They were expected to stay home and clean, as well as cook. With all these expected tasks, women hardly had any time to branch out and figure out what they wanted to do with their life. They had no time for leisure activities of any kind because, of course, their activities involved taking care of the house. Women were also seen as the weaker sex, always submissive to their dominant male counterpart. Although the women were submissive, they were held to a higher moral standard. Adultery was twice shamed upon if committed by a woman rather than a man. (Hughes par.3) A woman could be stoned to death, but people would turn their cheek for a man while the woman still was expected to stay beside the man.

In the nineteenth century, the marriages were arranged by the parents. The parents would arrange the marriages by wealth. The women and men do not have the chance to start the relationship as friendship or girlfriend and boyfriend, so they are able to see if they love each other. Instead they go straight into man and wife, they do not have the love for each other until later on in the relationship. Once the women get married their wealth also belongs to the husband. If the women worked later in the marriage, the earning she received will belong to her husband. The women do not have a say in their marriage. The women do as their husband tells them. The husbands had the control over the wives. The man had the power in everything the wife did

Although marriage was expected during the Victorian Era, for many women it was considered a necessity in order to gain financial stability. Austen argues this issue through one of her characters, Charlotte, "When you have had time to think it over, I hope you will be satisfied with what I have done. I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins' character, connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state. (22.17)" Charlotte is portrayed as a traditional Victorian Era woman because she places value on being supported by her husband and not love, which was very common for women during this