The Decline of Marriage in Eighteenth Century Britain

The Decline of Arranged Marriages in Eighteenth-Century Britain To many aristocratic women in eighteenth-century Great Britain, freedom depended on their husbands. If freedom and marriage went hand and hand many women grew tired of arranged marriages that resulted in a less-than-desirable life. As a result, the arranged and mercenary marriages of aristocratic society in Great Britain decreased. Many factors played into the decline of these arranged marriages. I will be arguing that the Enlightenment was the prominent factor to cause this shift. The new ideas of personal agency, free will, and self-expression that emerged during the Enlightenment era caused young men and women to explore new outlets and roads to marriage. Overall, the question I seek to answer through my research is how and why did these marriages that seemed to be an essential part of British society decline in popularity during the eighteenth century because of the Enlightenment Era. Keywords - Eighteenth-Century Britain - Arranged Marriage - Enlightenment Er