Character Commontary
This is Fanny and I on our wedding day. This was the first time that I had ever gotten my photograph taken, so I was more than delighted when Francis' sister came with her photography equipment. While I enjoyed this small part of the wedding, it seemed that Fanny got a little carried with everything. All the flowers had to be perfect, her hair had to be just so, there seemed to be something wrong at every turn, but I just had to go along with whatever was asked of me. Fanny was the first one of the sisters to get married, so it seemed that everyone was very excited about us getting together and we had a major crowd show up. I remember the day that I left for Australia. I did not have a pound to my name. I would not have been able to afford anything close to that magnificent wedding, the gold band on her finger, the white horse pulling us away on the carriage, it could not have gone better. Many of her sisters seemed concerned when I first arrived that I was not going to enjoy Fanny the same way I did before I left, as it has been some time, but I was more than delighted to see her again. I do not think that there can be anyone else who makes me feel the way that Fanny makes me feel, and to have that after such a tough loss of my previous wife the year before is just what I needed. I not only feel a deep emotional connection with her, but a spiritual one as well. What more could a man ask for?
Historical Commentary:
There are two very interesting parts to this picture. First off, it is fantastic to see a picture in this good of condition from this time period. It is almost unheard of. The couple was also very fortunate to get their picture taken as photography had only been invented in 1822 (Britannica). Secondly, it is interesting to note the symbolism of marriage at the time. It was not only a symbol of the bonding of a man and a woman in the physical world, but also a spiritual one. During this time period, it was widely thought that women represented piety and purity under the eye of God, so the joining of these two people was to represent the man coming back to purity (Morgan 2010). Upon further looking at the gender roles at the time, one might be able to see how extremely rooted in religion they really were. Since women were supposed to be pure, the women would “produc[e] the ideal home as a private sphere of piety [...] excluded from the corrupting influence of the competitive public sphere of the male” (Morgan). This idea of protecting the woman drastically separated the two worlds of men and women. Now women not only had to fight to get rights in a physical law sense, but they also had to fight against the common religious ideals at the time. This can also explain some of the loss of religion throughout the time period as people tried to cope with a new way of looking at the world (Parliament). It is always so fascinating to see how far or similar these ideals that are 200 years old have changed and morphed into modern-day society.
Works Cited
Britannica. “Photography’s Early Evolution, c. 1840–c. 1900.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/technology/photography/Photographys-early-evolution-…. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.
Genova, Alexandra. “The Bizarre Ritual of the 19th Century Wedding Photo.” Time, Time, 23 June 2017, time.com/4825507/bizarre-wedding-photos/.
Morgan, Sue, and Jacqueline De Vries. Women, Gender and Religious Cultures in Britain, 1800-1940. Routledge, 2010.
Parliament. “Religion and Belief: Overview - UK Parliament.” Religion in the Nineteenth Century, UK Parliament, www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-liv…. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.