Marriage of Convenience in two literary texts studied on the module and non-literary co-texts
...Forrest. As we approach Lily Dale’s love story which comes to an abrupt end, it is an idea to keep Journey to Panama in mind. Miss Viner comments about her ‘friends’ and family who have intimidated her into selling herself as wife to a man that she has never met offer the tone of what it feels like and of what it meant by the fact that women were force into marriage at a time where it would bring them food and shelter and a respectable name for themselves and their family. Lily’s end to her relationship with Crosbie, although not in necessary the same circumstances, is somewhat familiar to Miss Viner’s. Crosbie is lured away by the grandeur of high society and the bland attractions of Lady Alexandrina. David Skilton suggests that ‘of all novels The Small House at Allington is one of those most occupied with mental struggles, and is thus most rich in striking examples of internal debates, mainly belonging to Lily, Johnny and Crosbie.’ The mental struggles which Skilton is talking about are the mental struggles of marriage and unrequited love. Johnny is in love with Lily and Lily is in love with Crosbie. Although Crosbie leaves Lily to conveniently marry Lady Alexandrina it is to climb the social ladder. As a young boy, Trollope was left feeling humiliated, miserable and resentful of the rigid social hierarchy due to his family’s subsequent poverty. The fact that Lady Alexandrina is in a loveless marriage and unhappy could potentially be a dig at the upper classes, portraying how Lady Alexandrina was used by Crosbie for her money. The way marriage is depicted in The Small House at Allington is very unattractive. There is not a single happy marriage in the whole novel. Both men and women’s motives for marriage are very different from each other. Trollope represents marriage in a very negative way highlighting the fact that many mid-Victorians married for convenience or necessity rather than love. In comparison to The Small House at Allington the same issues about marriage arise in The End of her Journey. From the very beginning of this short story it is evident that Teddy is unhappy and that his marriage to Mildred is one of pure convenience due to the fact that he was ‘hard up and tolerably in debt.’ From the start of the story, the fact that the couple do not love each other very much points out the fact that Teddy does not know how to be a husband. Instead he showers his wife with gifts and takes her out all of the time with the notion that by doing so he is being a ‘proper gentleman.’ Going on in the story, Mildred asks her husband, ‘did you love me very much when you married me?’ to which she receives the reply, ‘Yes, I suppose so, dear. What on earth makes you suddenly ask?’ Mr Archerson is somewhat shocked at the fact that his wife has asked him such a question after such a long time after their marriage. The beginning of this short story in particular also highlights the emancipation of women. As Griffiths and Jenner point out, ‘in relation to Lawrence Stone’s denial of the existence of love in early modern unions, historians have given a rather disembodied account of the emotional lives of early modern couples.’ They also point out that ‘the notion of a good marriage included the husband’s obligation to provide maintenance for his family and spouse.’ Mr Archerson is a key example of a typical mid-Victorian husband as Griffiths and Jenner would describe. He is satisfied with giving his wife gifts when she is unhappy and providing for her anything that she desires, yet he does not provide for her the love that she desires. Sir William Quiller Orchardson, born in 1835, was a painter of portraits, genre and historical genre pictures. As Sir William’s career developed he began a speciality of drawing upper-class drawing room psychological dramas, an example of which is his famous painting A Marriage of Convenience, showing a discontented young wife dining with her much-older husband. Orchardson’s pictures are subtle and muted in their colouring. He tended to use browns, yellows, and greens in combination. These colours are best portrayed in his painting The First Cloud which appears to be the same young wife and her older husband. Both paintings are very dull in colour portraying the mood of the painting very well. It is clear to see that the couple are unhappy. In The First Cloud the young woman has her back facing us and is herself facing the dark window or exit to the room she is in. Although she is wearing bright colours, she is very much in the dark, whereas her husband is in the brighter side of the room. This portrays the overpowering husband, with his back a little crouched, due to his age, but his strong posture clearly visible amongst the brighter colours of the painting. The fact that painting itself is very dull gives us the notion that it is not a happy painting but a rather miserable one. Although the young lady’s face is not visible, the rest of the painting gives us the notion that she is very unhappy. The distance between the couple alone suggests that distance does not only exist in the literal sense but also in their marriage. This distance is also visible in Marriage of Convenience. The painting being in black and white gives it a very sombre mood and it is evident to see that the young lady is very sad as she is in The First Cloud. However, in this painting the young lady is in the brighter side of the painting and the two men are in the darker side of the painting. The young lady has her face in her hand and is sitting a little further away from the dinner table suggesting that she does not want to eat due to the fact that she is miserable, even though her other hand holding her stomach. While the two paintings were painted three years apart from each other, they seem to tell a story. The first of the two paintings, Marriage of Convenience sees the woman more in control than the man. She is the one refusing to eat and he can do nothing about it. Then, The First Cloud is the ‘first cloud’ in their mar...