Monday, March 19, 2012
Marriage and Education
As I have been reading this novel and thinking about the themes about marriage and education I was wondering what exactly Opie was trying to tell us about both. Opie illuminates her opinions in Adeline's letter to Mourdant on page 256. I will quote an extended passage because I believe this is a moment when Opie is speaking through her characters. She says, "I am convinced, that if the ties of marriage were dissolved, or it were not longer to be judged infamous to act in contempt of them, unbridled licentiousness would soon be in general practice.--What then, in such a state of soceity, would be the fate of the children born in it?--What would their education be?--Parents continually engrossed in the...new and happy love, lost in selfish indulgence...without morals or instruction [children] would grow up to scourge the world by their vices, till the whole fabric of civilized society was gradually destroyed." Quite a grave consequence, and even someone as virtuous as Adeline cannot make it work. I think that Opie is using Adeline as an example of what could happen, even to the most honest, virtuous and respectable of people, if society accepts kept mistresses the same as wives. I am only left wondering if this is meant to be a harsh rebuke on the people she undoubtedly kept company with because of who her husband was? Did this group of intellectuals feel the same way as Opie? That, in theory abandoning marriage could be good, but in practice it involves the destruction of society?
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I had trouble with this passage too! I suppose the way I considered it was similar to your own thought that the reality of abandoning marital ties is too dangerous to be seriously considered. But then how do we take the mistreatment of Adeline? Is it right that she's shunned because her ideals are inherently dangerous? It's hard to reconcile the fact that she puts her up against so many other unlikable characters with obvious flaws when we're suposed to see Adeline as flawed too. Maybe the whole system is flawed? It's definitely a difficult argument considering the people Opie associated with!
ReplyDeleteIt seemed more to me that she was just using not getting married as a instance of acting on theory instead of reason and experience. Although Adeline thought about the immediate act of getting married, she never really thought through the consequences until they were presented to her, like the child with unwed parents being the outcast. This passage seems to highlights the other consequences her theories don't consider.
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