Divorce Of The Innocent

Divorce in

e of Innocence

Divorce in modern times is a common thing. It seems that every modern marriage has had troubled times that could have ended in a divorce. However, things now are not as they were before. Marriage used to be considered more of a holy sacrament than it is today. There was a time when divorce was frowned upon as much as, say, murder or burglary. The Age of Innocence is a book that is set in such a time period. Ellen Olenska, otherwise known as Countess Olenska, is the character who wanted a divorce from the count. Back then family and society frowned upon divorce. Newland Archer is the character who is helping Ellen take care of all the legal proceedings. Newland is engaged to Ellen's cousin May Wellend. At one point in the novel Newland also wanted a divorce, so he could be with Ellen. However, nothing was done about Newland and Ellen's feelings for one another simply because it wasn't done in that society. In the end of the novel May dies and Newland Archer and his eldest son take a trip to Paris. While they are there his son wants to visit Ellen. Newland , however, did not go and visit her instead he walked away. Newland probably walked away because he would not have been able to stand the stigma attached to the relationship between himself and Ellen. Since they have been involved people might see that as them waiting for their spouses to die instead of getting a divorce. Not only did women not want to get divorced because of religious reasons; there were also other socitical and econmic reasons as to why divorce was frowned upon in the nineteenth century.

Religion has played a very important role in citizen's lives, especially back in the nineteenth century. Religion is defined as, "human being's relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine." Also, "Religion is commonly regarded as consisting of a person's relation to god or gods or spirits" (Norton, 1016). Christianity has looked at divorce as a sin, an unforgivable one at that. "But there's no getting around it: whether we define sin as a transgression of Christ's commands, missing the mark, or breaking of relationships, divorce is a sin. To be sure, divorce is sometimes the lesser of two evils, but it nonetheless nullifies god's intent. God joins people together, he does not pull them apart" (Christianity Today, 47). Because divorce is looked at as a sin, Ellen Olenska would have become an outcast to the church and members of the congregation. If Ellen were to have actually went through with the divorce she would have been disrespecting the church along with her self. She would not have been able to remarry in the church, because the church would only recognize her first marriage. So if Ellen and Newland Archer wanted to be married in the church they would not have been able to.

Societal influences also play a major part in any divorce. Of course, society frowns upon divorces, however, this is because women had no rights. Basically women's husbands owned them; they gave their wives an allowance. They did this so she would have money to go shopping with the girls, or treat herself to luxuries. If someone of a high social class were to have filed for divorce, that would have hurt their family and their name. Back then if someone received a separation that family was viewed in a whole new way, they were attached with a bad sin. The reason society looks at divorce as a sin was because society was dominated by religion. "Society becomes, "something artificial and secondary to human nature" which "exerts an unmitigatedly destructive pressure on individuality" (Hadley, 66-67). The society that Ellen Olenska lived in was catholic dominated. Which mean that it did not stress individualism, instead everyone was part of a group. If Ellen were to have gone through with the divorce she would have been ostracized by society. Since society was so into religion any act that would separate that person from the rest of society was looked at as disgraceful. Being an individual in the society that she lives in is not looked at as an admirable trait. Women in the nineteenth century basically had no rights, which made it even harder to live independantly. In Ellen's society independent women were looked down upon, because they were second class citizens. Women in this society were property of their husbands. Women in this class were also considered to exist solely for the pleasure of their husbands. So basically wives were considered slaves to their husbands. Women could not be individuals at that time because without their husbands women did not exist. As Steven Mintz and Susan Kellogg describe, "they suggest reasons for increasing rates of divorce throughout the period and describe the rise of "companionate" marriage. The relatives who discouraged Ellen Olenska's divorce seem intent merely on preserving appearances. However, their insistence that Ellen remain married, no matter how unsatisfying the union, speaks deeper concerns about marriage as a sacrament and guarantor of social cohesion" (Wharton, 338). What Mintz and Kellogg, mean by social cohesion is, they would rather see Ellen suffer in her marriage then see her ostracized by society and suffer more.

Economical influences also play a major role in a divorce. Being that woman had nothing back then, being married changed this. With the help of husbands women did not have to work to earn money. Women received money from their husbands called an allowance. Now if a woman were to divorce her husband their allowance would be stopped and that woman would end up becoming