Love And Marriage In 18th Century

Our aim in this paper will be to analyze and discuss the different ways in which
love and marriage were dealt with during the eighteenth century and to what
extent these two terms were linked together or considered as opposite. To
accomplish this matter we are going to focus our attention on several works that
are representative from this period and that reflect in an accurate way the
social mores and more specifically, marriage conventions and romantic love.

Throughout this discussion we will be emphasizing the idea that marriage is
represented in these works as an institution completely detached from love and
that it pursues more than anything else economic purposes and an rising in the
social hierarchy. First of all we should account for the situation of English
women during the eighteenth century, that despite several social improvements,
continued having less rights or freedom than men within the family and marriage
as an institution. Patriarchal forms were still a deep-rooted custom that ruled
society, which was male-centered. Marriage was often forced on women as their
only way of having a recognized position in society, but at the same time led
them to slavery. Women’s property could be spent to the discretion of the
husband as she was considered, together with all that she owned, a possession of
the husband. Significantly relevant is the fact that the convention of marriages
arranged by parents was still widely accepted. Evidences of this aspect can be
found in Goldsmith’s work She Stoops to Conquer. At the very beginning of the
play Mr.Hardcastle expresses that he has already chosen a husband for his young
daughter: “Then to be plain with you, Kate, I expect the young gentleman I
have chosen to be your husband from town this very day. I have his father’s
letter, in which he informs me his son is set out, and that he intends to follow
himself shortly after.” (p. 3) Mr. Hardcastle later explains that he would
never control her daughter’s choice, but in fact claims that Marlow “(he)’s
a man of excellent understanding” (p.4), this meaning that the young gentleman
should be the right option for her. Despite her initial disagreement with the
idea of this established encounter with the young boy, she finally accepts the
meeting after her father’s exaltation of the young man’s virtues. She then
joyfully declares: “My dear papa, say no more (kissing his hand), he’s mine,
I’ll have him!” (p.4). Later on in the play, Tony’s false directions lead
Marlow and Hastings to the Hardcastle residence, where they believe they can
lodge for a decent rate before continuing on to meet Mr. Hardcastle and his
beautiful daughter at his estate. This “inn” is actually Mr. Hardcastle
mansion, but the travelers do not realize this since the mansion remarkably
resembles an inn. Hastings is soon informed of his mistake when he meets Miss
Neville, but the couple decides to leave Marlow in ignorance for the time being
so that their plans for marriage will not be frustrated by his outrage and
embarrassment. In a similar way, in the novel Mary the Wrongs of Woman, Mary
Wollstonecraft exposes this same tendency of arranged marriages, where love is
forgotten and only the possible benefits that both parts can obtain from the
union are taken into account. Hence, the way in which Darnford asserts “my
father and mother were people of fashion; married by their parents” (p.94)
should not be taken as a striking statement for this matter was considered in
the eighteenth century the usual procedure to follow . It is also important to
remark that Mary loses her case because the judge considers that “it was her
duty to love and obey the man chosen by her parents and relations, who were
qualified by their experience to judge better for her, than she could for
herself ” (p.199). Therefore it is not stunning that the idea of marriage is
often understood as a social custom generally detached from love. This
detachment not only concerns marriage directed by someone superior but also the
economical benefits taken out of it. We can set an example in Henry Fielding’s
Joseph Andrews, and more precisely in the chapters referring to the story of the
young lovers Leonora and Horatio. With the appearance of Bellarmine, a fine”gentleman who owned a Coach and Six” (p.135), breaking into Leonora’s
life, she reconsiders her engagement with Horatio, who had “not even a Pair”
(p.138). Being a young and inexperienced girl, Leonora asks her aunt for