How Does Social Class Affect Marriage

During the eighteenth century social class controlled the way people went through lives, such as affecting whom people married. Throughout the books Persuasion and Wuthering Heights the characters express how social class affects their lives and the outcome of their lives. During these two books social class and marriage are extremely important to the story line, both books do not let the thought of social class overcome love, although the way they both get to that point is different. During Wuthering Heights and Persuasion social class and marriage affect the story and the characters. During Persuasion Sir Walter Elliot, the father of the main character Anne Elliot, was an example of someone who was affected greatly by social class. He lived his life based on what others thought of him and what he thought of others; and because Sir Walter’s wife, Elizabeth, had passed away he was the role model for his three daughters affecting their opinion on life and what to focus on in life. Sir Walter said, “First, as being the means of bringing persons of obscure birth into undue distinction, and raising men to honours which their fathers and grandfathers never dreamt of; and secondly, as it cuts up a mans youth and vigour most horribly; a sailor grows old sooner than any other man”(13; ch. 3). This is the way most characters thought in Persuasion, they did not believe people should rise in social class if not married into it, and because of this he was not the only one in this book to be affected by the thoughts of society. Anne Elliot was one of these characters that was not able to defeat the thoughts of society when she rejected a proposal from the man she loved, Frederick Wentworth, because he was not in her social class. Throughout out the book, Persuasion, the characters have a difficult time with choosing how to deal with social class and how it affected their marriages. Social class and marriage was also extremely important to the story line of Wuthering Heights and how the characters interacted with one another. Hindley, one of the main characters, used his power to act on revenge toward his father’s favorite, Heathcliff. Once Hindley’s father dies he makes Heathcliff into a servant. “He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm”(1: 46; ch. 6) Hindley used his social power to help seek revenge on Heathcliff. During this book Heathcliff was the character that tried to rise in social class with his love for Catherine, but failed when she did not return the favor even though she did return the love. This caused Heathcliff to want revenge showing how social class and marriage played a large role in the story line in Wuthering Heights. Throughout both of these books there have been some similarities on how social class and marriage affected the characters lives. …show more content…
In Persuasion and Wuthering Heights the couples from the second generation followed their hearts instead of the thoughts of society. For both books it took an entire generation before defying the thoughts of society on social class and marriage. In Persuasion Sir Walter and Elizabeth was the first generation that did not go against what society wanted. Their marriage came from trying to raise social class and not true love. Their love was more of an acceptance of each other, while focusing their true love on other things in life to create their happiness. While the second generation, Anne and Frederick, had true love for each other and got married, although he proposed to her more than once, but Anne took advice from her father who told her not to since he was beneath her social class. Anne fell victim to the thoughts of society on marriage at this time, but as she grew older she realized her mistake and how she should not let what others think of her dictate her happiness and started pursuing a relationship with Frederick again. Frederick Wentworth or Captain