“We must marry ’em”
“We must marry ’em”

Marriages and Endings in Charles Dickens’s "Dombey and Son"

Author(s): Sophia C. Jochem
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Philology, History of Art, British Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Charles Dickens; marriage plot; happy ending; expectations
Summary/Abstract: Charles Dickens’s "Dombey and Son" (1846-8) represents a key reference point for Victorian gender studies, with critics focusing on the contrast between the ‘gender offender’ Edith and what Juliet John terms normative passivity on the part of the heroine Florence. This article addresses the question of whether marriage was really a happy ending for the women in Dickens’s novels, demonstrating that despite numerous weddings and marriages, "Dombey and Son" by no means presents matrimony as a solid foundation for happy unions and success in personal relations. Along with a vivisection of the marriage plot, there is speculation on what readers are expecting from the ending of a Dickens novel and concludes that weddings in "Dombey and Son" are not even “incisive beginnings”. As exemplified by the unions of Bunsby with Mrs. MacStinger, Florence with Walter, Cornelia Blimber with Mr. Feeder, B.A., and Susan Nipper with Toots, marriage is presented as a rather dusty tradition, and often a farce, not introducing the desired or expected change for the protagonists.

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