Leah A.
September 29, 2005
English 540.01

Cecilia’s sacrifice: weak or strong?

“Beauty and independence, rarely found together, would attract a crowd of suitors at once brilliant and assiduous.” (Cecilia 10)

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Pride and Prejudice

A number of novels of this period including Evelina and Pride and Prejudice use a lack of fortune or an undesirable family connection as an obstacle to romance or marriage. While the same may be said of Cecilia’s impediment to marriage, her case is also somewhat unique in that she posseses the fortune ( i.e. independence) and must relinquish it to marry Mortimer Delvile. It seems that in most novels of this period it is the man who must sacrifice or condescend to marry the woman. Does this change of roles in Cecilia place Cecilia in a dominant position in the relationship for being willing to give up her fortune for the one she loves, which one could argue was a more traditionally a masculine role, or is it a sign of weakness? Does it signify a woman having to surrender her independence to her husband and submit to him?