The Matrimonial Trap

Eighteenth-Century Women Writers Redefine Marriage

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Feminist Criticism, Women Authors, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Women&
Cover of the book The Matrimonial Trap by Laura E. Thomason, Bucknell University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Laura E. Thomason ISBN: 9781611485271
Publisher: Bucknell University Press Publication: December 5, 2013
Imprint: Bucknell University Press Language: English
Author: Laura E. Thomason
ISBN: 9781611485271
Publisher: Bucknell University Press
Publication: December 5, 2013
Imprint: Bucknell University Press
Language: English

Mary Delany’s phrase “the matrimonial trap” illuminates the apprehension with which genteel women of the eighteenth century viewed marriage. These women were generally required to marry in order to secure their futures, yet hindered from freely choosing a husband. They faced marriage anxiously because they lacked the power either to avoid it or to define it for themselves. For some women, the written word became a means by which to exercise the power that they otherwise lacked. Through their writing, they made the inevitable acceptable while registering their dissatisfaction with their circumstances. Rhetoric, exercised both in public and in private, allowed these women to define their identities as individuals and as wives, to lay out and test the boundaries of more egalitarian spousal relationships, and to criticize the traditional marriage system as their culture had defined it.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Mary Delany’s phrase “the matrimonial trap” illuminates the apprehension with which genteel women of the eighteenth century viewed marriage. These women were generally required to marry in order to secure their futures, yet hindered from freely choosing a husband. They faced marriage anxiously because they lacked the power either to avoid it or to define it for themselves. For some women, the written word became a means by which to exercise the power that they otherwise lacked. Through their writing, they made the inevitable acceptable while registering their dissatisfaction with their circumstances. Rhetoric, exercised both in public and in private, allowed these women to define their identities as individuals and as wives, to lay out and test the boundaries of more egalitarian spousal relationships, and to criticize the traditional marriage system as their culture had defined it.

More books from Bucknell University Press

Cover of the book Feminism and the Politics of Travel after the Enlightenment by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Novel Bodies by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Reconsidering Biography by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Writing the Americas in Enlightenment Spain by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Staging Marriage in Early Modern Spain by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Afro-Cuban Identity in Post-Revolutionary Novel and Film by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Native Americans in the Susquehanna River Valley, Past and Present by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Impossible Mourning by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book The Internationalization of Intellectual Exchange in a Globalizing Europe, 1636–1780 by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Encountering China by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Alexander Wilson by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Sade's Sensibilities by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Freedom of Speech by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Beyond Human by Laura E. Thomason
Cover of the book Memoir by Laura E. Thomason
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy