In the present day, marriage has seen a decline in our society, in particular because people tend

to delay it, as it has lost the importance it used to have a couple of centuries back (Goldstein &
Kenney, 2001), where women were to be married at 21 as it was viewed as their sole vocation,
and they were shunned if they did not; furthermore, because it was the only way to advance in
life, families exerted a tremendous pressure in their heirs to do it. This was particularly true
during 18th and 19th century Britain as Lawrence Stones (1990) explains: “The first and most
traditional motive for marriage was the economic or social or political consolidation. Marriage
was thus primarily a contract between two families for the exchange of concrete benefits...”. Two
literary works that can enlighten our understanding of how was marriage perceived during this
era in British society are the plays An Irish Engagement (AIE from here onwards) by Walter
Watts, and A Marriage has been Arranged (AmhbA from now on) by Alfred Sutro. Two plays that
through the use of humor, demonstrate the intricacies of being forced to marry someone you do
not know, be it by a psychological, economical, or societal pressure, and how important the role
of marriage as an institution was. For this reason, the following essay attempts to compare both
plays in order to corroborate how was marriage conceived in 19th century British society, by
analyzing the type of marriage presented in both works, the role played by women in those
marriages, and how important was love for a marriage to happen, by means of a sociological
literary criticism.
In the first place, before going any further, it seems appropriate to define the meaning of a
forced marriage: “Forced marriage is commonly defined as a union of two where one or both
parties are coerced into a marriage against their will and under duress. This element of duress can
include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure” (Sabbe et al, 2014).
As already mentioned, children making the choice of whom to marry, and merely informing their
parents of their decision was an extremely rare occurrence still in 19th century British society,
what was common was for the parents to make the choice of whom their children were to marry,
without considering the opinion of the bride or groom (Stones, 1990). Thus, the very small line
between what is arranged and what is forced becomes incredibly blurred due to these sometimes
unbearable pressures. In both plays this subject is tackled through somewhat different
perspectives, we are presented to characters that against their will, are being forced to establish a
relationship with a person they have never met, but the form of the coercion varies. In Alfred
Sutro's play, which is set in the late 1800's 1 in London, the Duchess is forcing Aline to accept the
proposal of a wealthy man to marry him, and despite not being any physical coercion that can be
inferred, Aline is well aware of the terrible consequences that may befall upon her if she refuses,
as she explains “Living in an absurd milieu where marriage with a wealthy man is regarded as
the one aim in life”. Thus, if she refuses, she would be considered a spinster lady, a pejorative
term used to describe a woman who never married, and which Wilkes explains “... she who lives
to be an old maid, against her will is unfortunate, and therefore not without reason peevish ... in
these kingdoms it is a kind of imputed scandal” (Women in the Eighteenth Century, 1990),
meaning that not accomplishing her only goal in life would make her nothing short of a “failure”,
a fact that is reinforced by a comment she makes towards the end “Like myself she has hitherto
been her mother's despair”. Hence, she is forced to marry this man because of the unfavorable
position of unmarried women in this society, which might be a burden difficult to bear for most
people, and constitutes a great psychological pressure. While in the case of AMhbA the pressure
the characters endure is mostly psychological, in AIE the audience is shown that the type of
coercion in this forced marriage, is mainly emotional. As Julia explains “I cannot bear the idea of
marrying a man whom I have never seen”, however her father mostly for a matter of honor,
cannot break the promise he made with his Irish friend, “by the blood of the Bullfinches, I cannot
break it”. The fact that her father repeats this phrase continuously throughout the play “by the
blood of the Bullfinches” means that his moral code relies heavily upon respecting the name of
the Bullfinches, and that he is inflexible when it comes to saving face in matters pertaining his
name. Thus, no matter how absurd this promise might seem, Julia must marry this man because
not only would she disobey her father, and as her eldest daughter she is under the most pressure
as she would in theory inherit most of the family estate (Stones, 1990) 2, but also her refusal
would be a stain on the family name. In this way, Sutro and Watts masterfully portray a very
distressing side of how marriage was conceived in British society at the time, by means of parents
forcing their children into it with types of pressure that ranged from the psychological to the
financial and emotional.
Both plays also give the audience an idea about the role played by women in these marriages,
and what was expected of them. Aline in AMhbA puts it very clear when she expresses “I hate

1 Mr. Crockstead makes reference to acquiring his fortune during the Gold Rush in Australia, which took place
from 1851 until 1855 (National Library of Australia, 1994).
2 “But my father will disown me if I dare disobey him”.
poverty, and it has soured me no less than you”. At the time, it was forbidden by law and tradition
for genteel single women during this time to attend universities and colleges, therefore making it
impossible for them to make a living on their own, as they could not enter professions that would
give them steady income. As Stones elucidates, “Marriage was viewed almost as the sole
vocation open to middle class women” and “[a] single middle class woman had basically two
choices: writing or being a governess” (Asteel, 1986). This fact is also supported in AIE when
Norah tells Julia “How unlucky the Captain is poor”, which means that not only her father wants
her to marry Mr. MacCarthy to honor his promise, but also because he is a man of higher
economical status. Both stories as well share similarities in the way women were slaves to their
own fate, and as such behave submissively, unable to rebel against the status quo. As Asteel (op.
cit) reflects: “A woman, indeed, can’t properly be said to choose; all that is allowed her, is to
refuse or accept what is offered”, and even refusing can bring terrible consequences as mentioned
in the last paragraph. Both female protagonist show the nature of the reality women were
subjected to during this era, albeit in a different manner as both their personalities are quite
distinct. Ailene, for example, acts in a bitter way, and tends to express with a sardonic attitude “I
leave you to finish the sentence.”, “It is a mercy to have escaped marrying a man with such a
Christian name as Harrison.”, which shows a person that is angry at the way things are, but
ultimately knows she has to accept this marriage as it is the only way to escape poverty and the
judgment of society, since as a woman she has no rights 3. Julia, while behaving differently, serves
as much to portray this society. She is more submissive, as even when she tries to reason with her
father, his last words are “so make up your mind to like the young gentleman” and she cannot do
anything but accept his demands, and also displays a pessimistic attitude “Heigho! poor Foxlove;
all our dreams of happiness are gone forever.” throughout the play that indicates that she, just like
Ailene, cannot escape her fate because of the little to no rights women were given at the time.
Their attitudes are understandable, however, as still during this period some barbaric actions were
done against women in British society regarding marriage, as Stones (1990) explicates: “From
the 1690s to the 1870s, wife sale was common in rural and small-town England. To divorce his
wife, a husband could present her with a rope around her neck in a public sale to another man.”.
Finally, there is the idea of romantic love being one of the most important reasons for marriage
in today's society, as partner selection became less restrictive in contrast with what we have seen

3 It would not be until late in the century were reforms to legislation were passed allowing women better rights
(Hazarika, 2012).
in 18th-19th century customs, giving the opportunity for romantic love to grow over time in
couples due to frequent interaction before taking the decision of getting married on their own
volition (Van De Putte & Matthijs, 2001). This concept, however, did not become a respectable
motive for marriage in British society until 1780, and even then it was a highly rare occurrence,
although certainly as time went on and it became fashionable, it also became more common in
the late 1800's (Stones, 1990). However, we could think as the period shown in both plays, as a
transitional era were despite the fact that marriage out of love was gradually becoming more
common, still many residues of the old traditions still remained 4. Phrases such as “People marry
for money nowadays; and your mother will be very unhappy if this marriage of ours falls
through” or “What has love to do with marriage?” in AMhbA show that marriage was still seen as
a business transaction. This is mirrored in Watts' play with the aforementioned utterance by
Norah “How unlucky the Captain is poor”, and Mr. Bullfinch's counterargument to Julia's petition
of wanting to marry someone on whom she can bestow her heart, which is: “Then bestow it on
him [MacCarthy]; by the blood of the Bullfinches, the girl's unreasonable.” Hence both plays
give us an insight of what was the state of affectionate marriage during the time, and what little
influence love had in it.
Analyzing the elements regarding marriage in both plays, and comparing them in order to
corroborate whether the information presented might be considered an effective representation of
reality, has provided a better understanding of how this institution was conceived in 19 th century
British society. For example, forced marriage was still a fairly common type of marriage at the
time, as depicted by the protagonists not being able to choose freely who they want to spend the
rest of their lives with, due to financial, emotional, societal or psychological pressure that are
impossible to bear. Furthermore, women were bound by laws and traditions not to follow their
own path, meaning that a marriage with a wealthy man was the only achievement they could get
in life. And finally, we could see that while marrying someone out of love was was slowly
beginning to be accepted in British society, by taking into account dialogues in both plays that are
very similar, we can infer that it was something that would take decades to truly become an
important part in marriage.

4 For example, forced marriages were only outlawed in 1948, were it was named a human rights abuse (Sabbe et
al, 2014)
 Bibliography

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Goldstein, J.R. and Kenney, C.T. (2001). Marriage Delayed or Marriage Forgone? New Cohort
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Hazarika, K. (2012). Social Status of Women in the 18th Century English Society as Reflected In a
Dictionary of the English Language of Dr. Johnson. IJCAES Special Issue on Basic, Applied &
Social Sciences, 2, 352-355.

Jones, V. [ed.]. (1990). Women in the Eighteenth Century. London: Routledge.

National Library of Australia (1994). Gold Fever: Life on the Diggings 1851-1855. Canberra:
Sovereign Hills.

Sabbe, A., Temmerman, M., Brems, E., & Leye, E. (2014). Forced Marriage: An Analysis of
Legislation and Political Measures in Europe. Ghent, Belgium: Springer.

Stones, L. The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800. London: Penguin Books.

Van de Putte, B. and Matthijs, K. (2001). Romantic Love and Marriage: A Study of Age Homogamy
in 19th Century Leuven. Belgisch Tijdschrijft voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis, 3, 579-619.
 República Bolivariana de Venezuela
Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador
Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas
Departamento de Idiomas Modernos
Literatura Britanica

Marriage in 19th Century Britain as Explored by the Plays A Marriage has been Arranged and An
Irish Engagement

Section 002
Tutor: González, Adriana
Author. Molina, Horus

September, 2016