For example, Frederick and John retain their pride, but Isabella is humiliated and loses both suitors. Therefore, Austen’s romantic resolution of marriage is not a cry of despair. These marriages represent what can be achieved. Like many novels written in the time of the ‘romantics’, Northanger Abbey looks at the idea of individualism. For example, the scene in which Catherine is in the Bath’s Upper Rooms celebrating at the ball.
Edith Wharton (1862-1937), one of the most outstanding American writers in the 20th century, won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Age of Innocence in 1921. Many of her short stories and novels portray the conflicts that occur between individual desires and societal expectations. She also steadfastly extols the virtues of high society and criticizes seriously the hypocrisies of the upper class in the American society. Roman Fever is her typical story that implies some serious aspects, condemning the hypocrisies, the promiscuity, the deceit and the jealously through two main characters, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade. (97w) The first serious aspect in Roman Fever by Edith Wharton is making love with someone before marriage.
It was said that the greatest night of their lifes is when they marry and lose their virginity to their beloved husband. “ Without sexual purity, a women was no women but rather a lower form of being “fallen women” unworthy of love of her sex and unfit for their company” ( Lavender 2). It was unlikely at this time for the unfit “fallen women” to get married. However in “A Respectable Women”, Mrs. Baroda defies the role of purity when she desires her husband’s friend. In the short story “A Respectable Women” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Baroda the leading women goes against her purity and faithfulness to her husband because she was his friend Gouvernail.
Lady Windermere changed for the worst, almost leading to her downfall. Meg had her wayward inhibitions all along. The first impression of newlywed Meg Windermere is she seems an irresponsible and immature character. She seductively and teasingly offers her hand to playboy Lord Darlington, in an attempt to seek his attention. Simultaneously she acts loyal to her husband by stating 'its my wedding ring, I never take it off.'
These include the protagonist of the novel, Lily Bart, along with other leisure class women such as Judy Trenor and Bertha Dorset, who are aware that marriage in this leisure class society is merely a tool to ascend the social ladder to the top rung. But we must also consider the antithesis to this view, which is exemplified by Nettie Struther. She, unlike these other women does not seek a position in the “Vanderbilt 400” and does not marry based on that. And when she is seen in the novel, she is genuinely happy, enjoying a successful marriage that is based on love
Jane Austen reflects upon the important personal matters and superficial morals of her society through the role of marriage as seen in Pride and Prejudice. “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 1). With this quote as Jane Austen’s opening line of Pride and Prejudice, the author starts off her story in a manner which reflects the rest of the novel’s satire over the era’s shallow ethics and views of marriage. Many examples of sour matrimonies of different types are given by this never-wedded author through the many relatives and acquaintances of the Bennet family. It could have been the result of family pressures, a desire for money, a change in social status, for physical beauty, escaping the family, or simply avoiding a life with a low-respected, low-paying, job with poor working conditions, but a majority of the time, women married for reasons other than for love of her fiancé.
09 concept, but is still presented in Pride and Prejudice. As stated by Norman Sherry, “marriage is the main issues in her books. The right marriage and the wrong marriage … the right and wrong reasons for marriage”. This is evident to a great extent in Pride and Prejudice. The topic of the book is established through the comical opening phrase – ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Marriage was of great importance in the 19th century, as it gave women an establishment, a supporter and a family.
Thomas SanFilippo Dr. Daniel Turner English 102-E10 10 March 2011 Rebecca: A Story of Ghostly Trauma Alfred Hitchcock's film, Rebecca (1940) is about a newly married couple whose Cinderella type romance comes spiraling down when it becomes encased with misconception, murder, jealousy and madness. The movie starts off in Monte Carlo where youthful women is earning her living as a "paid companion" to a wealthy American women. During their stay, the woman becomes bed-ridden and the young lady is greeted by a wealthy man named Maxim de Winter. She is soon swept off her heels in love with the man and it seems, he too has fallen for her as well. But just as soon as they seemed to fall for each other, the woman who she works for has
At the Netherfield ball Austen shows how Mrs Bennet’s overly direct, loud comments are an embarrassment to her husband and daughters as she loudly tells the guests on her table her mission to marry off her daughters. Although her manners are rather intolerable she herself believes she has good manners and her behaviour is acceptable. The social etiquette of the early nineteenth century was very different from todays as in it was expected for women in the Bennet’s social scale to better their position in life by marrying someone of a higher class and with money, women had no real choice of their marriage partner themselves it was usually their parents had to choose the right suitor as demonstrated by Mrs Bennet. Elizabeth found her mother rather blush making, “Her mother would talk of her views in the same intelligible tone. Elizabeth blushed and blushed again with same vexation”.
Dorothy falls for a private detective hired by Lorelei’s fiancé's father, and there’s a constant dialogue between the two friends about marrying for money or marrying for love. Marilyn Monroe is known for being a voluptuous, glamorous blonde, and was often viewed as a sex icon in American culture. In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she plays a rather “dumb blonde” who is obsessed with money and diamonds. She relates love directly to money, and finds a husband she lands a rich man who is enamored by her beauty. She always tries to remind Dorothy to “stop having fun and find happiness” and tries to convince her that it’s more important to marry for money than marry for love.