[ SECRET POST #5601 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5601 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 48 secrets from Secret Submission Post #802.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Well... I think the problem in that era was that it wasn't just about marrying and having kids and whether or not an individual woman found that fulfilling. It's that society wasn't set up very well to allow single, independent, older women to function, much less thrive. It helped if you had family money, of course. But if you didn't, you either had to work (and likely work at fairly menial jobs where it'd be a struggle to support yourself) or rely upon family (and possibly accept a very low status position in someone else's household that relies upon their financial support and goodwill). A lot of women married in order to secure some level of future financial and social comfort, like Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice.

Austen novels contain more than a few female characters who live somewhat precariously because of this - Fanny in Mansfield Park/, who gets sent to live with her wealthy aunt and is treated like a glorified maid/companion. The Misses Bates in Emma, who are poor and rely upon the generosity of their neighbors, and Jane Fairfax, who has to take positions as a governess to get by. Elinor and Marianne Dashwood (and their widowed) mother in Sense and Sensibility have to scrape by on a small income because their half-brother won't support them financially, and they're grateful to their cousin Sir John Middleton for giving them cheap rent of a cottage.

And of course, Austen herself had to pinch pennies and combine households with her mother, sister (and later a friend?), moving around to places they could afford until one of her brothers let them live in a cottage on his estate. That's after she turned down an offer of marriage that would've made her financially secure, if potentially very unhappy.

[(Anonymous)]

na

Georgiana's position seems most similar to Emma Woodhouse's in that she has her own fortune and wouldn't have to marry. But I would assume there would still be a societal expectation/pressure to marry because it's all about making alliances when you're from prominent families. And even if a woman didn't need to marry for money/support, you're right in that society wasn't really set up for single unmarried women. It's a generalization, but it really was all about getting a husband.