Rejected Proposals// Emily Otts

     In Chapter 9 of Bleak House, while Mr Jarndyce, Esther, Ada, and Richard are being visited by Mr Boythorn for a time. Mr Guppy comes by one morning to visit him. At lunch time, Mr Guppy comes to Esther, wishing to have a private conversation, which she obliges. In this conversation, Mr Guppy proposes to Esther. Shocked and disgusted, she rejects him. He leaves, certain she will change her mind. 

    While reading this, I could not help but to be reminded of a similar instance in Pride and Prejudice, when Mr Collins proposed to Elizabeth Bennet. Both men had made proposals to women who did not now them as well. Both were rejected. And both men believed the women would change their mind.

    Another thing they had in common was something a lot of marriages were based on the economic aspect of the contract. Mr Collins mostly just wanted to marry Elizabeth for the estate and reputation. Even though Mr Guppy claimed to be in love with Esther, he still started off by stating his salary: "Mr present salary, Miss Summerson, at Kenge and Carboy's, is two pounds a week. When I first had the happiness of looking upon you, it was one-fifteen, and had stood at that figure for a lengthened period." Back in these times, women had to depend on their husbands for a means of living, thus showing why both characters bring this up when proposing. It definitely shows how different the idea of marriage has changed over the centuries. 

I commented on Emma Dalgety's and Emmett Bryant's posts.

Comments

  1. Emma Kate PattersonOctober 26, 2021 at 1:22 AM

    I like how you tied the book to another piece of literature. It is important to be able to tie something new to something old as this helps us better understand the new concept.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ashlyn ScismOctober 26, 2021 at 10:34 AM

    This is so accurate! This is especially frustrating when considering the culture of the time. Like you mentioned, marriage for women is a matter of economics. When a women’s entire livelihood is based on a man’s income then it is only wise to marry for financial stability. However, this is frustrating to a modern audience because women no longer have to marry in order to live a good life and I think Lizzie and Esther know there is something wrong with this system deep down.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lily CaswellOctober 30, 2021 at 3:45 PM

    I love how you tie this in to Pride and Prejudice, which is probably my favorite Jane Austen novel to date. It is also interesting how both men bring up the subject of their salary; I hadn’t thought about that. The idea of marriage has definitely changed since those times. Back then, women had to depend on their husbands for money; nowadays, a woman can choose.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A House Divided//Emily Otts

The words Jesus spoke in Matthew 12 remind me so much of this play: "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand." (Matthew 12:25) King Lear, at the end of the day, is about a family being divided multiple ways. These divisions arise over greed and hatred for one another and cause the whole family to be ruined because of it. King Lear first divides the kingdom after his daughter Cordelia does not proclaim her love to him, so he banishes her. Later, his daughters go against him for not doing as they asked, believing he is unfit and unworthy to be king, secretly plotting against him. But all of this comes to a head in Act 5. After capturing King Lear and Cordelia, Edmund plans to have them killed. You would believe the sisters would be able to work together because their plan is working, but an even greater division has risen between them. Both of them wish to have Edmund for themselves, and they plot against each o...
Read more

The Plague in Everyone// Emily Otts

     In part 4 of the Plague , Tarrou tells Rieux about how he has had the plague forever. Except, this is not the same plague as the one ravaging the town. Tarrou speaks of how his father was a lawyer who believed in the death penalty, how he saw so many people support it and be comfortable about it, and how he had to witness the executions of prisoners. He explains how this sort of mindset is a plague itself, one Tarrou had been fighting for a long time. " That's why everybody in the world looks so tired; everyone is more or less sick of plague. But that is also why some of us, those who want to get the plague out of their systems, feel such desperate weariness, a weariness from which nothing remains to set us free except death" (Camus, part 4, chapter 6). Tarrou wants to desperately not submit to such awful ways of thinking.      Tarrou does not realize it, but the plague he is talking about is sin. Everyone has it, some people give in to it and let...
Read more

The Thirst for Knowledge

     With Book Seven of Milton's Paradise Lost, Raphael is continuing his exposition on Satan's apostasy. The plan is to expose Adam and Eve to the wretched fate of those who cross God's will. The more he shed's light on the subject, however, the more Adam is inclined to ask for more information. He wants to know everything about the subject, as well as God and His creation.      However, while the taste of such knowledge leaves Adam yearning for more, there are boundaries. It is like a toddler eating a cookie... and eventually begging her mother for the rest of the jar. Is it a coincidence that the one thing Adam and Eve are not to touch is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Most readers know how the story ends: these toddlers are never going to be content with a few cookies. They're going in for the jar.   There is a statement in the Bible that is constantly being repeated throughout the Old Testament: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of ...
Read more