This unfinished novel follows Maria, a woman imprisoned in an asylum by her husband to secure her inheritance. Within the institution, she forms a bond with her jailer, Jemima, and a fellow inmate, Darnford. Through Maria’s personal history and Jemima’s account of poverty and labor, the narrative documents how English common law and marriage customs strip women of legal personhood. The text details the systemic trap of coverture, domestic abuse, and the lack of professional mobility for women across different social classes, arguing that marriage often functions as a state of literal and metaphorical confinement.
This book serves students of eighteenth-century history and feminist legal theory. Readers gain a technical understanding of the historical intersection between private property and marital rights. It provides a stark look at the lived consequences of early civil laws on divorce and custody. Those interested in the development of the Gothic genre will find a case study in how social institutions are used to replace supernatural monsters. The reader leaves with a precise map of the institutional barriers that defined female existence in the late 1700s.
Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1799
- Language
- EN
