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Chapter 12 - Marriage

from Part II - Social, Cultural, and Intellectual Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2024

By
Aileen Douglas
Edited by
Michael Griffin  and
David O'Shaughnessy
Michael Griffin
Affiliation:
University of Limerick
David O'Shaughnessy
Affiliation:
University of Galway
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Summary

The Vicar of Wakefield is a tale with marriage at its core. This chapter puts that preoccupation in historical and cultural context, accounting for the importance of the Whistonian controversy and Hardwicke Marriage Act of 1753 as backdrops to a novel which does not merely reflect its time, but anticipates subsequent treatments of the institution of marriage in fiction.

Keywords

The Vicar of WakefieldThe Citizen of the World; Hardwicke Marriage ActWilliam WhistonclassFrances Burney
Type
Chapter
Information
Oliver Goldsmith in Context , pp. 96 - 103
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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