Change of Condition: Women's Rhetorical Strategies on Marriage, 1710-1756

This dissertation examines ways in which women constructed and criticized matrimony both before and after their own marriages. Social historians have argued for the rise of companionacy in the eighteenth century without paying attention to women's accounts of the fears and uncertainties surrounding the prospect of marriage. I argue that having more latitude to choose a husband did not diminish the enormous impact that the choice would have on the rest of a woman's life; if anything, choice might increase that impact. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Hester Mulso Chapone, Mary Delany, and Eliza Haywood recorded their anxieties about and their criticisms of marriage in public and private writings from the early years of the century into the 1750s. They often elide their own complex backgrounds in favor of generalized policy statements on what constitutes a good marriage. These women promote an ideal of marriage based on respect and similarity of character, suggesting that friendship is more honest, and durable than romantic love. This definition of ideal marriage enables these women to argue for more egalitarian marital relationships without overtly calling for a change in the wife's traditional role. The advancement of this ideal of companionacy gave women a means of promoting gender equality in marriage at a time when they considered marriage risky but socially and economically necessary.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2005

Author dc:creator

• Wood, Laura Thomason

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pettit, Alexander
• Armintor, Deborah Needleman
• Morris, Marilyn

• Marriage -- England -- History -- 18th century.
• Married women -- England -- History -- 18th century.
• Marriage in literature.
• English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism.
• Montagu, Mary Wortley, Lady, 1689-1762 -- Criticism and interpretation.
• Chapone, Mrs (Hester), 1727-1801 -- Criticism and interpretation.
• Delany, Mrs (Mary), 1700-1788 -- Criticism and interpretation.
• Haywood, Eliza Fowler, 1693?-1756 -- Criticism and interpretation.
• companionacy
• matrimony
• gender equality
• marriage
• 18th century

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• Wood, Laura Thomason
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 70043602
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4921/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc4921

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc4921