The Palace of Westminister is the location in which the passing of the first Married Women's Property Act in 1870 took place. The first Married Women's Property Act enabled any woman who was married to be the legal owner of the money she earned as well as allowing her to inherit property. Geoge Elliot's novel, Daniel Deronda was written in between the first and second Married Women's Property Acts. The Second Act took place in the year 1882, and Eliot's novel was published in 1876. Daniel Deronda is able to offer readers a transcendent delineation of both legal and social struggles and afflictions that women were forced to endure in this time period. Before the passing of this Act any money belonging to a married woman was automatically considered to be owned by her husband. Women's identites were basically robbed by the act of marriage, and we see this objectifcation of women who are wives play out in Eliots novel. During the Victorian time period it was also very difficult for women to obtain a divorce without extremeity of circumstances such as the commitment of adultery or physical violence. In Daniel Deronda we expierence the relationship of Gwendolen and Grandcourt. We evidentally are given the knowledge regarding how unhappy Gwendolen is in her marriage, yet she is basically trapped with Grandcourt. In this century, marrriage was barely even related to the idea of love. We know that Gwendolen's marriage to Grandcourt happened for the purpose of saving her family, and certainly not for herself or because she loved Grandcourt. Women were expected to marry, and it even seemed to give them a sort of value. Before the Act was passed, married women basically had no rights. They "could not make contracts, keep or control her own wages or any rents, transfer property, sell property or bring any lawsuit." Women were expected to be subdorinate to their husbands, losing all of their autonomy. Even after this act took place, we see the societal situation during the time period brought about in the situations of the novel.
Works Cited
Married Women'sProperty Act of the 19th Century, marriedwomenspropertyact.weebly.com/.