Thomas Hardys Views on Marriage Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

doubting Thomas venturouss Views on wedding partyThomas Hardy lived in a time when marriage was the anticipate practice for young men and women. He had a very apparent view of the institution and the implications that came on with it. He himself was married twice in his long life, both times not very happily, and had progressive views around the union of the sexes, most particularly regarding divorce. His ideas and opinions are not too guardedly concealed in his literary works, though he contested that he kept his own views out of his fiction. In order to understand Hardy and his views on marriage, we must first understand the time in which he lived. The Victorian society held rigid views on marriage and the role of women in life. Most women regarded marriage as a fixed fact of nature. It was a fundamental part of their life plan, as was childbearing. In the mid-19th century, reproduction was considered a charrs only correct occupation. On average, women of all classes marri ed between the ages of 23 and 26, men between 25 and 30. Marriage and divorce legislation set the relations between men and women. During the 19th century there were great changes made to matrimonial law however, marriage laws still continued to consort more rights to men than to women. Under the common-law doctrine of couverture, when a woman married she lost her independent legal personality as a femme sole (single woman) and became a femme couvert (covered woman). Men could divorce their wives solely on the grand of adultery, but women were forced to show proof of cruelty, bigamy, incest, or bestiality along with infidelity. Husbands could beat to death their wives and get only a minimal prison house sentence, but wives were considered reprehensible for kill... ... should rule marriage. If two people have akin(predicate) interests and work well together, they should be united by marriage in order to enjoy the physical pleasures of a relationship in a socially acceptable way . However, if two people should grow apart and be utterly miserable with one another, Hardy believes that the practical course is judicial separation and divorce. BibliographyChrist, Carol T., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature The Victorian Age. V. 2b, 7th ed. New York W.W. Norton & Company, 2000. Millgate, Michael. Thomas Hardy A Biography. New York Random House, 1982. Mitchell, Sally, ed. Victorian Britain An Encyclopedia. New York embellish Publishing, Inc., 1988. Page, Norman, ed. Oxford Readers Companion to Hardy. Oxford Oxford University Press, 2000. Perkin, Joan. Victorian Women. New York New York University Press, 1993.