The Concept of Marriage in Different Cultures: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This paper aims to study the concept of marriage in the works of three authors, Charlotte Bronte, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and Vikram Seth. The study focuses on the role of female characters towards and within marriage, and the influence of marriage on their lives. The attempt is to depict how women in different times and parts of the world confront inappropriate social conventions. In other words, some women in different parts of the world have no right to choose their partners in patriarchal societies. Jane Eyre is the protagonist of Bronte’s novel, Lata the protagonist of Vikram Seth’s novel, and the two protagonists in Divakaruni,s short stories; “The Bats” and “Clothes” are introduced. Marriage for the protagonists of these three literary works is like a one-way journey, a point with no return. It alters their lives and brings them either happiness or misery. Throughout the current paper, the different attitudes towards marriage will be viewed to show the positive and negative aspects of marriage. A feminist perspective will be employed in analyzing the three literary works.