Marriage Law

Document Type

Contribution to Book

Publication Date

2023

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Source Publication

Daniel Defoe in Context

Source ISSN

9781108872140

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.1017/9781108872140.038

Abstract

This chapter examines Defoe’s engagement with late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century debates about the legal regulation of marriage, focusing on Moll Flanders (1722) and Roxana (1724). Through his heroines’ conflicted commentaries on their many matches, as well as his experiments with narrative sequencing and point of view, Defoe shows the dangers of turning marriage into a contract that can be formed and dissolved simply by exchanging consent. Although Defoe suggests that the canon law’s absolute prohibition on divorce is too restrictive, he backs away from proposing radical changes to the law. Whereas Moll Flanders suggests that spouses should be able legally to remarry in the lengthy aftermath of their partners’ desertion, Roxana cautions against contracting new unions prematurely. Even as the novels seek to shore up the legal regulation of the nuptial tie, they contest women’s loss of property and personhood during coverture.

Comments

"Marriage Law" in Daniel Defoe in Context. Eds. Albert J. Rivero and George Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023: 257-264. DOI.

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