A Comparative Analysis of Marriage Themes in English Literature

This essay delves into the multifaceted theme of marriage as portrayed in English literature, examining its evolution and societal implications through a comparative analysis of several key works. The essay begins by establishing marriage and family as recurrent themes in modern literature, highlighting their use as vehicles for conveying social messages and exploring human interactions. It then proceeds to analyze Yiyun Li's "The Flawless Silence," Shakespeare's "Othello," and Margaret Atwood's poem "Spelling," each offering unique perspectives on the complexities of marriage. "The Flawless Silence" explores marital issues stemming from political differences and power imbalances, while "Othello" examines how power influences marriage and challenges traditional notions of courtly love. "Spelling" highlights the sacrifices women often make within marriage and the societal expectations they face, particularly regarding motherhood and personal aspirations. The essay concludes by emphasizing the significance of Atwood's work in illustrating the societal constraints placed upon women within the institution of marriage, making it the most relatable to the essay's thesis.

Running Head: ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENGLISH LITERATURE
Introduction
Marriage and family have been two recurrent themes in the modern literature since
the past centuries. These themes have been used as prominent devices to convey the social
messages and the conventions along with providing insight into the workings of the human
interactions being the most intimate. It helps the readers to relate with the views of the
society about marriage and their own marriages in that context. In this regard the masterpiece
of Jane Austen can be mentioned as it is the most appropriate piece of work that depicts the
most creative use of marriage as a tool to reflect on it. The beginning lines of the novel helps
the readers to understand the zeitgeist of the marriage of early 19th century. The novel clearly
raises voiced against the race of getting daughters to be married off soon to wealthy men. It
has well presented the relationship between love and marriage and presented how many
women require to marry men whom they are not in love with only for the financial security.
Since that particular period, women have always been subjected to suppression and
oppression. Marriage has been an official way of subduing women of all ages and hold power
over them so that they cannot raise their voice. This essay will deal with the theme of
marriage in several pieces of literature and describe which story connects with the theme of
marriage in the best way and how is it connected.
Discussion
Firstly, Yiyun Li’ “The Flawless Silence” is written from a different perspective and
reaction that is important for any of the younger reader especially female reader. Most of her
short stories focus on the aftermath of election 2016 and the way the differences in the voting
can be the reason of marital issues having woven the public nature of politics into the private
relationships. The title of the story “ Flawless” abridges the character of Min, who has spent
all her life trying to be perfect , the perfect wife and the perfect daughter too. The passive

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nature of her comes to a shock when she meets an 80 years old man spending two decades
with the obsession of sending emails without any of the reciprocations. In simple words, the
story presents the ostracizing of conservatives in the liberal spheres but the actual problem of
the story develops from imbalance in the power structure. The disparity is due to the
masculine-dominated marriages of Min and Sandra who is the mother of a son who supports
Trump ( Li and Yiyun 34). The wives voted for Clinton whereas their husbands did for
Trump. Election becomes a serious issue for their marriages and reasons for fight. There is a
struggle to control one another’s opinions and the opinions of the daughters too along with
their reaction to the elections. The character Min, protests silently against her husband and
gradually wishes the old man to die (Major 22). Her silent struggles are the main focus of the
story and it ends with the reactionary movement of the women who finally finds her voice.
On the other hand, there are more than just the characters in Shakespeare’ play
Othello. There is a message to marriage and there is a message to power too. Although both
the central characters are married, the love they have is quit questionable (Boyer 199). The
intention of Shakespeare was to convey not the message of love but how power influences on
marriage. The main characters are Othello who is married to Desdemona and the other
character is Iago who is married to Emilia (King 12). The story of Othello ends at tragedy and
begins where comedy ends usually. There is a group of critics who focus on the theme of race
but there is another group that love to deal with the theme of marriage along with the actions
of the primary characters. In the wooing scene of Act 1, Scene 3, the theme of marriage is the
most relatable. The consummation of the marriage rights in Act 1, Scene 1 is also highly
important for discussing the theme of marriage(Jawahar 17 ). In Othello, courtly love is
defined in terms of women’s loss of power and submission of them to patriarchy of the
society. However, Othello does not follow the convention of the courtly love and transforms
into the ideal of Petrarchan lover of the Renaissance period. Mockery and Satire both have

3ENGLISH LITERATURE
been used to describe marriage. The tragedy of Othello destroys the ideas of courtly love,
fidelity and marriage. The marriage bed has been depicted as the death bed of women’s
power and opinions.
The next selected poem from the history of literature is the poem by Margaret Atwood
named as “Spelling”. This poem occurs in the collection “True Stories” and one of her most
expressive feministic poems. It starts with an innocent scene which shows a child playing
with the plastic letters of alphabet. However, it is later show to be transformed into an
oppressed woman. The poet also concentrates on the motherhood she possesses with her
every gaze at the daughter. The poem symbolizes different thoughts with the phrases “how to
spell” and “spelling”(Atwood 3). One signifies education and the other one signifies
witchcraft. The poem further depicts the conditions of being a woman towards the third
stanza. According to the poet, a woman in the society should not sacrifice her passions just
because of her being a woman. They must lock themselves in the room and write their heart
out. The position of women in the society at her time is clearly reflected through these lines.
Firstly, it reveals that the society does not allow women to write and should always close
themselves in the rooms. In the simple words, their identity has been hidden in this manner.
Secondly, the society has also got issues with the motherhood of women. They are supposed
to either nourish their children or go in their passion’s direction(Atwood 3). Therefore,
marriage brings problems for women who struggle between the motherhood and profession.
The third stanza also talks about Holocaust where the women were captured, tortured and
made to abort child leading ultimately to death.
Hence, it can be said that Margaret Atwood’s poem “Spelling” is probably the best
piece of work which depicts the costs of a marriage. According to Sureshrao, the poem of
Atwood does not stay limited to marriage as a happy girdle but it also presents marriage as a
shore where women are supposed to drop every desire of them and adopt the role expected of

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them by the society. The poet has also quoted Mary Webster in the poem that was once
claimed of practicing witchcraft. She tried her best to raise the voice but the society tortured
her in the best possible manner. Her words were strangled by covering her mouth with
leather. The history has been retold through the poem of Atwood as she reflects on the
condition of woman of all times. She highlights her shared experience of oppression existing
throughout the ages. In this manner the work of Atwood remains appropriate to the thesis
statement of this essay and depicts how women have struggled and absorbed all the mis-
treatments. As per the views of the poet, women literacy is a power together and women
should utilize their power instead of sacrifice on the marriage bed. The other two works “The
Tragedy of Othello’s “ and “The flawless silence” are equally worthy but Atwood’s“
Spelling’ is all the more relatable to the concept of marriage and the societal viewpoint of
marriage and women.
Conclusion
Therefore the essay has well demonstrated the theme of marriage in several pieces of
literature and described which story connects with the theme of marriage in the best way and
how is it connected. The essay is useful for the readers who can relate with the views of the
society about marriage and their own marriages in that context.

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Reference
Atwood, Margaret, and Joyce Carol Oates. "A Conversation with Margaret Atwood." Ontario
Review 9.1 (2017): 3.
Atwood, Margaret. "Margaret Atwood on What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’Means in the Age of
Trump." The New York Times 10 (2017).
Boyer, Arlynda. "The other interracial marriage in Othello." Shakespeare 11.2 (2015): 178-
200..
Jawahar, Mr P. "Iago–A Deceptive, In Shakespeare’s Othello." IJELLH (International
Journal of English Language, Literature in Humanities) 6.9 (2018): 17-17.
King, Henry. "Othello: An Alternative Dramatistic Analysis." KB Journal 13.2 (2018).
Li, Yiyun, and Yiyun Li. "“A Flawless Silence”". The New Yorker, 2019,
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/23/a-flawless-silence.
Major, Laura. "" Music and Mensis" or the Deconstruction of the Pregnancy and Childbirth
Metaphor in Ntozakae Shange's" oh--i'm 10 months pregnant"." Journal of the Motherhood
Initiative for Research & Community Involvement9.2 (2018).
Sureshrao, Potdar Suhas. "The Study of Feminist Consciousness In The Novels Of Margaret
Atwood." (2018).