Marriage: The Status of Women

 
In Jane Austen's time, there was no real way for young women of the "genteel" classes to strike out on their own or be independent. Professions, the universities, politics, etc. were not open to women. Few occupations were open to them -- and those few that were (such as being a governess, i.e. a live-in teacher for the daughters of a family) were not highly respected, and did not generally pay well or have very good working conditions: Jane Austen wrote, in a letter of April 30th 1811, about a governess hired by her brother Edward: "By this time I suppose she is hard at it, governing away -- poor creature! I pity her, tho' they are my neices"; and the patronizing Mrs. Elton in Emma is "astonished" that Emma's former governess is "so very lady-like ... quite the gentlewoman" (as opposed to being like a servant).

Therefore most "genteel" women could not get money except by marrying for it or inheriting it (and since the eldest son generally inherits the bulk of an estate, as the "heir", a woman can only really be a "heiress" if she has no brothers). Only a rather small number of women were what could be called professionals, who though their own efforts earned an income sufficient to make themselves independent, or had a recognized career (Jane Austen herself was not really one of these few women professionals -- during the last six years of her life she earned an average of a little more than £100 a year by her novel-writing, but her family's expenses were four times this amount, and she did not meet with other authors or move in literary circles).

And unmarried women also had to live with their families, or with family-approved protectors -- it is almost unheard of for a genteel youngish and never-married female to live by herself, even if she happened to be a heiress (Lady Catherine: "Young women should always be properly guarded and attended, according to their situation in life"). So Queen Victoria had to have her mother living with her in the palace in the late 1830's, until she married Albert (though she and her mother actually were not even on speaking terms during that period). Only in the relatively uncommon case of an orphan heiress who has already inherited (i.e. who has "come of age" and whose father and mother are both dead), can a young never-married female set herself up as the head of a household (and even here she must hire a respectable older lady to be a "companion").

When a young woman leaves her family without their approval (or leaves the relatives or family-approved friends or school where she has been staying), this is always very serious -- a symptom of a radical break, such as running away to marry a disapproved husband, or entering into an illicit relationship.

Therefore, a woman who did not marry could generally only look forward to living with her relatives as a `dependant' (more or less Jane Austen's situation), so that marriage is pretty much the only way of ever getting out from under the parental roof -- unless, of course, her family could not support her, in which case she could face the unpleasant necessity of going to live with employers as a `dependant' governess or teacher. A woman with no relations or employer was in danger of slipping off the scale of gentility altogether (thus Mrs. and Miss Bates in Emma are kept at some minimal level of "respectability" only through the informal charity of neighbours). And in general, becoming an "old maid" was not considered a desirable fate.

Given all this, some women were willing to marry just because marriage was the only allowed route to financial security, or to escape an uncongenial family situation.

In Pride and Prejudice, the dilemma is expressed clearly by the character Charlotte Lucas, whose pragmatic views on marrying are voiced several times in the novel: "Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want." She is 27, not especially beautiful (according to both she herself and Mrs. Bennet), and without an especially large "portion", and so decides to marry Mr. Collins"from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment".

All this has more point because Jane Austen herself was relatively "portionless" (which apparently prevented one early mutual attraction from becoming anything serious), and once turned down a proposal of marriage from a fairly prosperous man.

In addition to all these reasons why the woman herself might wish to be married, there could also be family pressure on her to be married. In Pride and Prejudice this issue is treated comically, since Mrs. Bennet is so silly, and so conspicuously unsupported by her husband, but that such family pressure could be a serious matter is seen from Sir Thomas's rantings to Fanny Price to persuade her to marry Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park.
 

There are also the more trivial attractions of the married state: Isabella Thorpe of Northanger Abbey "knew enough [about what her father-in-law-to-be would contribute] to feel secure of an honourable and speedy establishment, and her imagination took a rapid flight over its attendant felicities. She saw herself at the end of a few weeks, the gaze and admiration of every new acquaintance at Fullerton, the envy of every valued old friend in Putney, with a carriage at her command, a new name on her tickets [visiting cards], and a brilliant exhibition of hoop rings on her finger."

Legalities of Marriage:

"People that marry can never part, but must go and keep house together."
-- Catherine Morland defines matrimony for Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey
"Ay, you may abuse me as you please," said the good-natured old lady; "you have taken Charlotte off my hands, and cannot give her back again. So there I have the whip hand of you."
-- Mrs. Jennings addresses her son-in-law in Sense and Sensibility
There are also reasons why marriage was not a state to be entered into lightly. Marriage was almost always for life -- English divorce law during the pre-1857 period was a truly bizarre medieval holdover (readers of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre will remember that Mr. Rochester couldn't divorce his insane wife). Simplifying a bit, almost the only grounds for divorce was the sexual infidelity of the wife; a husband who wished to divorce his wife for this reason had to get the permission of Parliament to sue for divorce; and the divorce trial was between the husband and the wife's alleged lover, with the wife herself more or less a bystander. All these finaglings cost quite a bit of money, so that only the rich could afford divorces. There was also the possibility of legal separations on grounds of cruelty, etc. (where neither spouse had the right to remarry), but the husband generally had absolute custody rights over any children, and could prevent the wife from seeing them at his whim.
 

Of  course, any property that a woman possessed before her marriage automatically becomes her husband's, unless it is"settled" on her; this leads to the "fortune-hunter" phenomenon: men who marry a woman only for the sake of the woman's fortune -- after the marriage, the woman and her money are legally in the husband's power (without any of the limitations of pre-nuptial legal "settlements", which the wife's family might have insisted upon if she had married with their approval) . This is the reason why Wickhamtries to elope with Georgiana Darcy, who has £30,000. The other side of the same thing was the forced marriage of an heiress, to ensure that her money passes into family-approved hands; this appears in Jane Austen only in Colonel Brandon's story in Sense and Sensibility (which appears to have been drawn more from literature than from Jane Austen's observations of the life around her).

Money and Marriage:

The seeming preoccupation with money in connection with marriage in Jane Austen's work may mislead modern readers. While there is no lack of greed and shallow materialism on the part of some characters, even sensible people must devote serious thought to this topic, since it is rather foolhardy to marry without having a more-or-less guaranteed income in advance -- not only was marriage for life, but there was no social security, old age pensions, unemployment compensation, health insurance, etc.

Jane Austen's sister Cassandra was engaged for several years without being able to marry, due to lack of money on the part of her and her fiancé (and their families).

The groom's income, and the money that the bride may have had "settled" on her, was frequently augmented by contributions from one or both of their families (in line with the view of marriage as an "alliance" between the two families).

Passages in Pride and Prejudice dealing with money and marriage:


"Settlements":

In the context of marriage, a "settlement" is a legal document that usually ensures that some or all of the property that the wife brings to the marriage ultimately belongs to her, and will revert to her or her children (though she does not necessarily have personal control over it during her marriage); otherwise it would basically belong entirely to her husband. And a settlement can also specify a guaranteed minimum that the children of the marriage are to inherit ("Five thousand pounds was settled by marriage articles on Mrs. Bennet and the children."). In Northanger Abbey, Henry Tilney can't be entirely disinherited by his father, General Tilney, because some of his inheritance is guaranteed by the marriage settlement of his late mother; also, in Sense and Sensibility the money that came with Mr. Henry Dashwood's late first wife is settled on their son, and it can't be used to help his second wife or his daughters by his second wife (see the genealogy). A settlement is generally part of an overall pre-marital financial agreement between the wife or wife's family and the husband or husband's family (and can guarantee the amounts to be contributed). So to ensure Lydia's marriage, Mr. Bennet is required to guarantee to Lydia and Wickham "by settlement, her equal share of the five thousand pounds secured among his children after the decease of" Mr. Bennet and his wife, "and, moreover, to enter into an engagement of allowing her, during his life, one hundred pounds per" year. In addition, Darcyundertook to pay his debts andpurchase an officer's commission (as an ensign or sub-lieutenant) in the regular army.
 

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