Marriage a la Mode, by John Dryden, is an ode to the concept of marriage and love within the period of Restoration England. Dryden, presumably, presents two pairs of couples, Rhodophil and Doralice, as well as Melantha and Palamede, in a way that expresses an imperative tone towards marital relations. Throughout the playwright, he uses these couples and their mistresses to allocate the issue of broken, miserable, thorny marriages. Although marriage was common, there was a strong presence of moral emancipation, which Dryden presents through these relationships. These themes of dissatisfaction and obligation towards the concept of marriage are noted throughout the playwright, as Dryden uncovers how each character feels. Dryden addresses the …show more content…
Palamede, in plain English, feels that the tendency to cheat on a spouse is just a natural human inclination. The idea that a mistris could “fix” a marriage is brought up in the numerous excuses that the couples seem to bring up. Throughout the same exchange, Doralice suggests that: DOR. I declare I would never renew a love; that’s like him who trims an Old Coach for ten years to- gether, he might buy a new one better cheap. (5.1. 310-312) Doralice ultimately infers that a marriage cannot simply be fixed; rather, it is best to just seek someone else, who might as well be cheap and leftover from someone else. This exchange between Doralice and Palamede, presented by Dryden, presents these reoccurring themes of the moral emancipation, in which the characters make excuses for their crumbling marriages/relationships by cheating on their spouses. In an exchange between Rhodophil and Palamede, they even compare their wives and mistresses to food and gratification: PAL. Wife and Husband for the standing Dish, and Mistris and Gallant for the Desert. while Rhodophil responds:
RHO. But suppose the wife and the mistris
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(5.1. 415-419)
Dryden uses this exchange to drive the attention on the very idea that there is no true satisfaction in their marriages. The characters can eat their main concourse, but they still long for something tasteful, filling, and satisfactory. In addition, Dryden embarks on the idea that the couples define their marriages, and the idea of marriage in general, moreso as a duty and/or obligation rather than a romantic ordeal. Right before Palamede is about to wed Melantha, he tells Straton that getting married tomorrow PAL. ‘tis hurrying a man to execution, without giving him time to say his pray’rs. (5.1.12-13)
Comparing marriage to “execution” is not exactly sentimental or romantic on Palamede’s part. In another exchange, particularly with his mistris Doralice, he convinces her to: PAL. retire a little with me to the next room, that has a couch or bed in’t.” and “bestow your charity upon a poor dying man: a little comfort from a Mistris, before a man is going to give himself in marriage. . . . (5.1.244-248)
Dryden, in this portion of the playwright, draws attention to this idea that Palamede’s misery can only be cured in one way: through sexual encounters with his mistris. This thought process comes to the surface at many different portions throughout the play. Married people, as Dryden points out with these couples, are subject to obligation and
The starting of the story kept me in suspense: the starting sentence, “No one can accuse Philippa and me of having married in haste” (Fox 1). This clearly brought up the theme of love and marriage. The selection of words by the narrator told that the speaker did not regret his marriage. The defensive tone of the narrator made me to think that perhaps people had criticized his marriage.
Mrs. Ames from “The Astronomer’s Wife” and Elisa Allen from “The Chrysanthemums”, two women in their best ages, did share similar lives. They were loyal wives, of decent beauty and good manners. They were married for some time, without any children and they were fighting the dullness of their marriages. At first, it looked like they were just caught in marriage monotony, but after the surface has been scratched deeper, it was clear that these two women were crying for attention: but they had different reasons.
While he is effective in defining his sacrifices, his self-victimizing diction limits his claim as he blames his wife for his suffering and frustration. He discusses the social sacrifices he made as he no longer has personal time to have smaller liberties such as “time with friends...basketball games, beer” (Bartels 58) However, more importantly, he feels blindsided as he “wasn’t informed that [he] would give up golf altogether...not warned that sex would become a rarer commodity” (Bartels 63). Because Bartels claims he was unaware he would have to sacrifice so much with marriage, he places the blame for his dissatisfaction onto someone else’s shoulders, mainly his wife. Using a militaristic strand of diction, Bartels depicts his wife as an aggressive and offensive threat. Bartels explains how he has a consistent “fervor to confront(defeat)” problems that arise in his marriage, alluding that he exhaustingly fights through the problems he faces to meliorate the situation(Bartels 63). Additionally, Bartels feels as though his “castle, it is under siege. From within” which conveys his experience from menacing frustration and anger as well as his self-victimizing action by describing his sense of peril (Bartels 59). If Bartels places himself as the hero who nobly fights against danger for the greater good of the marriage, there must be an antagonist to the story. He vilifies his wife by portraying her as a constant threat, and consequently, not taking responsibility for his own emotions. Instead, exemplifying the a hasty generalization fallacy, he blames her inability to control her anger for all problems he faces throughout the marriage. Because he does not accept any responsibility and accuses his wife of his stress and sacrifice, his claim crumbles, even though he was able to provide specific examples of the sacrifices he
Torvald and Alymer think they’re inlove with their wives but, they are not. Alymer and Torvald love their possessions, similar to loving a car. They love the feeling and the moments they get to spend on earth mesmerizing their beautiful uniqueness, but they do not care about the wellbeing of the other person. “Women define visibility as including communication, verbal and non-verbal, show the slipperiness of the slope, and raise question of consciousness.” (Deutsch, 1889) In both relationships there was a lack of communication, intimacy, and respect. Nora and Georgianna both wanted their loved ones to show concern for them even in rough circumstances, but both men failed either because of selfness or love of science. When Torvald received the IUE from Krogstat, his immediate response was “I’m saved!” Being selfish his first thoughts are of himself rather than, his kids, and Nora. Aylmer’s attention to his wife’s birthmark over time, drove Georgianna insane to the point where she would die trying to remove a little mark on her face. Alymer started to point out that she is no longer perfect because of the birthmark. After you marry someone you accept their flaws internally and externally, and both failed to do so therefore, they lost their wives.
Contrastingly, Mrs. Darling, his wife, is portrayed as a romantic, maternal character. She is a “lovely lady”, who had many suitors yet was “won” by Mr. Darling, who got to her first. However, she is a multifaceted character because her mind is described “like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East”, suggesting that she is, to some extent, an enigma to the other characters, especially Mr. Darling. As well as this, she exemplifies the characteristics of a “perfect mother”. She puts everything in order, including her children’s minds, which is a metaphor for the morals and ethics that she instils in them. Although ...
The couples share a certain amount of love for each other but the disconnection was stronger. The protagonist’s disconnection is evident because her husband treats her like a little girl instead of a wife when he takes her “ …in her arms and called [her] a blessed little goose” (p121). The Mallard’s disconnection is also evident because her husband’s “face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (p 15). This is not the emotion a wife wants to feel from her husband.
“Said he, ‘I beg of you, for my sake and for our child’s sake,as well as for your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind!’”(Gilman, 774) shows John begging her to withhold all feelings to save herself, him, and their child from any further pain. This suppression of feeling caused the mental confinement that the narrator felt. He hadn’t known in asking her to do so, it would cause such a reaction. While, Brently Mallard’s consistent pressure of being a perfect wife on Mrs. Mallard caused her conflicting ideas on his death as her being set free. “And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not.” (Chopin, 785) shows Mrs. Mallard's rethinking of her feelings towards her husband. The release of pressure caused by her husband death caused her to rethink and find her true feelings towards him. Mr. Mallard had unknowingly applied this pressure upon his wife because it was simply what he had always thought a woman should be which is learned from society. Meanwhile, Henry Allen consistently ridicules and rejects Elisa’s ideas of breaking free of the set standards of what a woman should be not knowing the effects it had on her. “Oh, sure, some. What’s the matter, Elisa? Do you want to
Edna marries her husband, not out of love, but out of expectation of society and her family’s dislike of him. She is a young woman when they marry; she has never had a great romance. The closest thing to passion she
Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the disposition of the parties are ever so well known to each, or ever so similar before hand it does not advance their felicity in the least (Austen 23).
The short stories “Souls Belated” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” have in common ‘Marriage’ as main theme. However, the marriage is treated quite differently in both short stories. In "Souls Belated", Lydia chooses to take control of her destiny, to deviate from conventions and to choose what is good for her. She is the strongest character of the couple. Whereas, in "The Yellow Wallpaper", the name of the main character who is also the narrator of the story is not known. She is identified as being John’s wife. This woman, contrary to Lydia in "Souls Belated" is completely locked up in her marriage. This essay will first describe and compare the characters of Lydia and John's wife in the context of marriage, and then it will look at how marriage is described, treated and experienced by couples in these two short stories.
Wilde’s view on marriage is known through the characters. For example, Lane insinuates that marriage is boring by stating that the wine is better in the hous...
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is written in an entertaining and adventurous spirit, but serves a higher purpose by illustrating the century’s view of courtly love. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other pieces of literature written in the same century prevail to commemorate the coupling of breathtaking princesses with lionhearted knights after going through unimaginable adventures, but only a slight few examine the viability of such courtly love and the related dilemmas that always succeed. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that women desire most their husband’s love, Overall, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that the meaning of true love does not stay consistent, whether between singular or separate communities and remains timeless as the depictions of love from this 14th century tale still hold true today.
...more, the audience never figured for Mrs. Mallard, a wife, to be content about her husband’s death. What would make someone satisfied about one’s death, especially a wife? Nevertheless, Mrs. Mallard was going to be unhappy because she may have loved her husband, but she was not in love with him.
To give a little background on the play; the pursuit of marriage is the driving force behind the play. “I now pronounce you, man and wife.” This traditional saying, commonly used to announce a newlywed couple during a wedding ceremony, marks the happily ever after that many dream of today. In today’s society, marriage is an expression of love between two individuals. Marriage has not, however, always been an act of love. In the Victorian era, marriage was almost a chore. Most people married out of need rather than want. In the Play this is evident when Lady Bracknell objects to Gwendolen and Ernest’s engagement on the basis of his lack of legitimate background. On the other hand, Jack objects to the marriage of Cecily and Algernon’s
Situational irony and the love triangle give big laughs to the viewers. The audience becomes engrossed as they observe Violas transformation into Cesario, the Duke’s servant. Suspense is built as Viola begins to realize that she is falling in love with Duke Orisno, but in order for her to survive; she has to keep pretending to be a man and is unable to reveal her love. The irony settles in when Orisno, asks his close servant Cesario to go to Olivia and make her understand how deeply he loves her. Shakespeare shows her helplessness in this situation because she has to help her love, try to woo someone else. The irony builds into a love triangle as Olivia begins to fall in love with Cesario as “he” loved Orisno. Olivia’s love is confirmed when she says “Yet come again, for thou perhaps mayst move that heart, which now abhors, to like his love” (III.i.153).