Outline of Marriage in the Victorian Era Essay -- Victorian Era

Outline of espousals in the niminy-piminy EraIn the Victorian era, marriage was not as romanticized or fairytale-like as depicted in many novels of the time. On the contrary, love rattling played a very minor role in the bulk of matrimonies that took place. An engagement was entered into as one would approach a business deal, and thither were some generally accepted rules and guidelines to follow.The Rules * It was illegal to join your deceased wifes sister. You could marry first cousins, but attitudes changed towards the end of the 19th century, and this became frowned upon. * Victorians were boost to marry within the same class (remember the views on social mobility). They could marry up, but to marry down meant marrying beneath yourself (Soames). * A charr entree into the institute of marriage had to be equipped with a dowry. The maintain-to-be had to prove that he could support his new bride in the lifestyle she was accustomed to. * An unmarried woman could i nherit money and property after she reached the age of 21, but at once married, all go would revert to her husband. A woman could not set about a will for her own personal possessions since the control was in her husbands power, he could distribute her property in any air he likes, even to his illegitimate children (if he has any). * Women married because they had a insufficiency of options they were not formerly educated, and were only instructed in domestic duties. They needed individual to support them, and were encouraged to marry and have children (The Rules of Marriage).The Courtship * Marriage was a carefully contemplated subject for a woman since she would lose control over any possessions once married, it was not somethin... ...and helped to strengthen the family line, divorce was neither economically or socially practical. It would guarantee the family losing some of its strength and puzzle out by giving up property and wealth.Works CitedMarriage and divorce ment in Victorian England. Charlottes Web A Hypertext on Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre. .The Rules of Marriage in the Victorian Era. .Soames, Enoch. Marriage in the Victorian Era. The Charlocks Shade. 18 February 2004. Wells, Richard A. Manners Culture and Dress of the Best American Society. King, Richardson, & Co. Publishers. Springfield, MA. 1893. .