Meters ARRIAGE ‘s the Main Motif And you will End out-of Jane Austen’s novels. But wedding when you look at the Regency England try a highly additional business from what it is right here and today, during the higher area because of changes in regulations according to wedding. Experience in the marriage rules regarding Austen’s community gives a much deeper comprehension of their courses. Furthermore, the newest books provide us with a richer adore out-of how relationship legislation structured the new life men and women.
The newest economics away from ong the nobility and the gentry commonly simply much-discussed throughout the books and also mode the key context of your own wedding area. Of several Austen characters is actually confronted by inadequate fortunes, and you can relationship is, for most, a means to fix the financial difficulties. In the normative order of your books, matrimony for cash by yourself are wrong, however, relationships instead a fortune towards the a minumum of one side are risky.
The newest men who figure in Austen’s novels will be more probably as compared to women to possess money and you may income. To some extent, the newest relative poverty of females try caused by judge laws and regulations favoring dudes, in particular oldest sons. In the event your proprietor regarding a family group home-the family family and you will countries and you will income made by the brand new residential property-died intestate, the laws regarding primogeniture applied: this new earliest child passed on your family home. On the lack of college students, or of male college students, security friends, usually males, in order away from seniority, inherited the new property. Primogeniture is actually the latest laws cultura rusa vs cultura americana citas applied if a good landowner passed away intestate. In many cases household members locations devolved, perhaps not from the regulations off intestacy but based on wills otherwise agreements. A total manager out of possessions did not have in order to prefer their earliest child or other men affairs inside the a may however, often performed very. The goal of favoring brand new eldest child, sometimes by applying of legislation out-of primogeniture or of the wills or agreements, would be to keep relatives locations intact and you may without big personal debt to support other friends.
Austen reveals how community out-of staying family unit members possessions to each other by the bequeathing it towards oldest young buck, in place of breaking up the house or property to take care of most of the, leftover feamales in kind of at the mercy of the brand new foundation from the men relatives. Into the Feel and Feeling, Mr. Henry Dashwood was eliminated from securing his widow and you can daughters because the he or she is bequeathed simply a lifetime need for the household property. Towards the their dying the property goes toward his son John and you can upcoming to help you John’s young man. Their daughters are left with only ?1000 for each and every.
Settlements away from property, tend to produced into affair regarding a married relationship, typically offered the latest partner a lifestyle demand for new home, therefore the property might possibly be entailed toward oldest young buck (and other men descendant) (Cecil forty two). Nevertheless law didn’t wanted that settlements stick to the rule off primogeniture, and there was indeed exclusions. In the Satisfaction and you may Prejudice, Lady Catherine de Bourgh statements: “‘We find no affair getting entailing locations in the women line.-It was not thought required for the Sir Lewis de- Bourgh’s family’” (185). Woman Catherine was lucky. Within her depiction of the Bennet friends, Austen suggests brand new difficulty implemented by common practice of repaying the household house for the earliest men relative. The newest settlement of your own family property suppresses Mr. Bennet from providing to have their spouse and you will daughters just after their demise. When the an excellent young buck ended up being produced toward Bennets, the new young buck, unlike Mr. Collins, would have been entitled to the household assets on Mr. Bennet’s death. And a child, toward attaining the age bulk, have entered into a contract that have Mr. Bennet that would provides block the newest entail and you may sent to the rest of the family. New son’s inspiration in making eg a contract will is actually his wish to marry. So you can get into a good ily possessions, new father’s consent was requisite (Neate 18).
