Advisory Committee Chair
Daniel Siegel
Advisory Committee Members
Kyle Grimes
Bruce M McComiskey
Lisa Scherff
Gale Temple
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2011
Degree Name by School
Master of Arts in Education (MAE) School of Education
Abstract
The proposal scene, as utilized by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and Charles Dickens, is a volatile and instrumental moment in the course of the marriage plot. Entering the marriage conversation through the narrow window of the proposal scene provides a new understanding of the nineteenth-century British author's working commentary on marriage. In the nineteenth-century British novel, the marriage proposal becomes a finite moment that the author uses to encapsulate a couple's central challenge and/or crystallize one of the novel's prevailing tensions. Total bliss and contentment rarely appear in the proposal scene; in fact, more often than not, the proposal uncovers anxieties and reservations that may (1) prevent a perfect union or (2) signal the presence of larger concerns (related to gender, power, sexuality, self-expression, and/or religion) made pertinent by the proposal. Nineteenth-century British novelists exploit this moment in unexpected ways, oftentimes subtly revealing their discomfort with the "solution" of marriage in general. This thesis closely analyzes the proposal scenes in several nineteenth-century British novels, focusing on the eruptions that occur during the proposal moment and the impact of the proposal moment on the discourse of marriage that is woven through each novel.
Recommended Citation
Broughton, Kimberly Ann, "The Marriage Proposal in the Nineteenth-Century British Novel" (2011). All ETDs from UAB. 1269.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/1269