Doing my Honours Thesis on The Marriage Plot

[stephy26]

Hi all,

I'm hoping to get feedback from anyone who has read The Marriage Plot by Eugenides.

My working thesis seeks to explore how The Marriage Plot deconstructs the ideals surrounding Marriage in Victorian novels, and in doing so, also scorns the necessity for 'Marriage' to be used as a tool to 'complete' novels. In Victorian novels, marriage used to function as a form of closure to the novel, marriage was a safe haven which females who came of age, and men with enough money to support a family, naturally went into. Marriage was such a central aspect of the Victorian novel, that it was almost as if the Victorian novel could not function without the Marriage component. Throughout The Marriage Plot, there are various references to Victorian novels. However, Madeleine's life in actuality is nothing like the Victorian classics she reads. In fact, the novel ends with a failed marriage and a likely union which didn't work (Mitchell and Madeleine).

I'm just wondering if there is more that 'The Marriage Plot' seeks to say about the Victorian novel. Ideas, anyone? Thanks so much!

Steph