Women and Marriage

Women and marriage : continuity and change since the Victorian Age

In this essay, the evolution of marriage will be discussed and analyzed in two parts: first of all, the description of marriage during the Victorian Age will be examined. “The Importance of Being Earnest” written by Oscar Wilde will be a good source to illustrate the values of marriages at that time. “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin, will point out the position of women in marriage. Secondly, a development on modern marriages will be interesting for this paper in order to see the real evolution of marriages.

A marriage fundamentally changes one’s style and definition of life of an individual. It actually consists in a union of two people who decide to share their lives together. Decisions can no longer be made for just one of the people; decisions are made by both the man and the woman. The couple places complete trust towards one another and thinks that the wedding will bring both of them happiness and pleasure all along their life. As Sheri & Bob Stritof said, “A marriage is a social contract between two individuals that unites their lives legally, economically and emotionally”. For a marriage to be considered as successful, love, concern and commitment, needs to be present.

Marriage has changed more in the past 30 years than the preceding 3000 years. The changes in marriage have rolled across the West at different rates and have taken different forms depending on each region’s cultural and religious traditions, political institutions and economic conditions.

In the past, weddings were different from the ones occurring these days. The “career” for women in the Victorian Age was marriage. Since their little age, they were educated in the aim of being married and having children. At that period, people never got married more than once in their life. When they married their husband, wife almost always stayed with them. It was seen very badly by the society to see a couple...