Marriage a La Mode

Coursework Assessment James Ward Kathryn Ward 18th Century and Restoration How far do you agree with the view that Restoration and eighteenth-century representations of marriage tend to exclude happiness and focus on infidelity, inequality and immorality? Your answer should refer to any two or more of the following: The Country Wife, The School for Scandal, Marriage A-la-Mode, Pamela.

The secret of a successful marriage was one of the most hotly debated topics in the public houses and coffee shops of 18th-century England, and the outcome of this fascination with finding the perfect formula set the tone for our modern-day Western approach to marriage based on the ideal of a harmonious, intimate partnership founded in mutual love. This shift in ideas about marriage was ground-breaking.

At the beginning of the 18th century most marriages among rich or high society families were essentially business deals, founded by the desire to cement powerful alliances, to increase social standing, to be financially beneficial or in order to exchange or acquire land and property. Although in most ways, the richer in society had more freedom, when it came to choosing their marriage partner, the working class had the freedom.

Although many of the plays at the time presented the idea that marriages were commonly seen as a form of business transaction or lift up the social ladder this was not entirely true for society, as a the freedom to choose one’s own marriage partner became more and more of a reality, although this luxury was mostly confined to the lower classes. Although people in working-class and agricultural communities were more or less free to choose their own partners for life—albeit generally within the same narrow economic group and geographical area—the vast majority of marriages among aristocratic, wealthy, and middle-class families were arranged by parents with the prospective bride and bridegroom having little or no say. ‘1 In this essay we will investigate whether or not it is fair to say that Restoration and eighteenth-century representations of marriage tend to exclude happiness and focus on infidelity, inequality and immorality.

The four main topics within marriage representations to be discussed are the exclusion of happiness, a focus on infidelity, on inequality and finally on immorality. To conclude this essay, I will decide whether or not I agree with the above statement and justify my opinion. The first characteristic of representation of marriage in restoration and 18th century is the idea that happiness is excluded from marriage, or at least not valued as a crucial part. 1 Wendy Moore, Love and Marriage in 18th Century Britain, Historically Speaking, Volume 10, Number 3, June 2009.

In the 18th Century and even still in modern times marriage was depicted as something you had to suffer, something to be endured instead of enjoyed. In School for Scandal, Sir Peter talks about the misery of marriage; ‘I. ii: SIR PETER: ’Tis now six months since Lady Teazle made me the happiest of men – and I have been the most miserable dog ever since. ’2 In the 18th Century it was not uncommon for people to be very unhappily married, especially as people didn’t commonly marry for love or happiness, but for financial and social benefit.

In the upper classes, it was common place for children to be betrothed in infancy and married in their teens, more often than not to strangers, men and women they had never even met before. This is one of the main reasons why infidelity was so rife within marriages, and why so many people chose marriage as a good topic for writing about. A scathing indictment of marriage published in 1700, the writer Mary Astell demanded to know: “If Marriage be such a blessed State, how comes it, may you say, that there are so few happy marriages? 3Unsurprisingly, Mary Astell never married and remained a spinster all her life. This same idea of unhappiness being rife in arranged marriages brings up Hogarth’s Marriage-A-La-Mode, particularly in the first scene in the series, called ‘The Marriage Settlement’. This scene shows the Earl of Squander (seated on the right) and the rich merchant (seated in the centre) coming to an agreement over the marriage of their children.

The rich merchant, through this marriage is buying his way into the aristocracy as he desires a higher social position for his family, while Squander needs money to fund his overly extravagant lifestyle, as depicted in the half finished building seen through the window behind them. 4 Meanwhile, their children are displaying either supreme indifference or misery at the proceedings. The son, Viscount Squanderfield is dressed in the latest Paris fashions, after his recent return from the continent. The black spot on his neck indicates that he has syphilis.

The alderman’s daughter is inconsolable, but is being comforted by the lawyer Silvertongue. The fact that the couple will be bound together in an ill-matched, loveless marriage is made clear by the chained dogs. 5 2 The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Project Gutenberg Release #1929 (October 1999)”. Retrieved 19/03/2013 3 Mary Astell, Women’s Political ;amp; Social Thought: An Anthology, edited by Hilda L. Smith, Berenice A. Carroll, Indiana university Press (2000) 4 http://www. tate. org. k/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/hogarth/hogarth-hogarths-modern-moral-series/hogarth-hogarths-2 last visited 20/03/2013 5http://www. tate. org. uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/hogarth/hogarth-hogarths-modern-moral-series/hogarth-hogarths-2 last visited 20/03/2013 The next characteristic of marriage representations in the 18th Century is infidelity. A classic representation of this is Hogarth’s second scene in the Marriage-a-la-Mode series, ‘The Tete a Tete’. In this scene the viscount has just returned from a night on the town to his Palladian house, the clock on the wall showing its past midday.

He is slumped in the chair bored and exhausted as a dog sniffs at a women’s cap in his pocket, most likely belonging to a lover of his from the previous night. To his left sits his wife, who has apparently been innocently playing cards all night, but from her sly look and satisfied stretch, its most likely that she herself has enjoyed a sexual liaison. She also appears to be signalling to someone out of sight using a pocket mirror. This and the upturned chair could indicate recent departure of her lover at the sound of her husband’s arrival home.

The fact that in this scene, not only are both people in the marriage have extramarital affairs, but there are both sloppy about them, leaving evidence of their actions out in the open, shows that they aren’t overly worried about the other person finding out. The next scene that clearly acts as a representation of infidelity in marriages in the restoration is the fifth scene from the Marriage-a-la-Mode series, called ‘The Bagnio’. In 18th Century England the word Bagnio was used for a type of place where rooms could be hired, with no questions asked, and where prostitutes were also available.

On the floor of the room depicted lie masks and clothes, suggesting they have just come from a masquerade ball, discarding their costumes in the heat of passion. The rumpled bedclothes suggest that the couple could have been caught ‘in the act’ by the earl, who might himself have been hiring a room down the hall, knowing his previous promiscuity. A sword fight between the earl and the lawyer/Silvertongue has ensued. Here the countess is seen begging for forgiveness as the earl take in his last