‘Cousin Marshall’ and the Role of Responsibility, Charity, and Suffering
Harriet Martineau, in her story “Cousin Marshall,” addressed the separate spheres of work and responsibility between a husband and wife in the figures of the Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Marshall. Martineau intended the story to act as a lesson to her readers and this is reflected in the dualistic portrayal of the two women. Cousin Marshall is portrayed as the height of womanly responsibility and suffering while Mrs. Bell is portrayed as a blight on society.
Martineau assigned the financial management of the household to women. While she did indicate that it was the husband’s role to bring in wages, it was the wife who was responsible for maintaining and managing the expenses of the household. Mrs. Bell turns away her sister’s children after their mother dies saying “don’t expect me to put any such dead weight on my husband’s neck” (Martineau 11). Marshall objects with the fact that Bell’s “husband earns better wages than [hers]” (11). In this exchange, Martineau places the decision within the context of the respective families’ financial concerns.
The issue of charity arises in Marshall’s discussion with Mrs. Bell. “You have found the gentry very kind to you this year; so much so that I think the least you can do is to keep these children from being a burden on the rates” (Martineau 12). The particular phrasing that Martineau selects here is of particular interest. Her objection is not one of sympathy for the children but to prevent them from “being a burden on the rates” (12). If sent to the workhouse, Martineau argued, it would fall upon the state to support the children, raising the rates that good, hardworking people pay, often to their...
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...dissolute to mock at those who prize independence, and who bind themselves to self-denial that they may practice charity.
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Thus, it is the woman’s responsibility not only to live responsibly, but live by example in a role of quiet victimization.
Martineau clearly had a strong political agenda in writing this story, however in doing so, she addresses the fundamental difference she sees in the roles of responsibility in marriage. In her mind, the husband and the wife have clearly defined roles, not so much along lines of production, but rather in terms of the household. That which is in the household, whether it is the domestic duties or financial responsibility, falls to the wife while it is the husband who is responsible for the income stream.
Work Cited
Martineau, H. Illustrations of Political Economy No. VIII. London: Charles Fox, 1832.
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