There have been many changes since the Victorian Era. These changes include the ideas of marriage, love, superiority, and respect. Over time, it seems as if these parts of life have been less strict than before. Today, people consider love, marriage, and respect to be abstract ideas because their definitions are different depending on the person. Although there is some overlap between the ideas of today and the ideas of times before, there are clearly some changes. Marriage, for instance, used to be the only area where women could succeed. Once they were married they became housewives and mothers, only staying home while the husband brought in the only source of income. Nowadays, a woman could be married and have children, but she has the opportunity to bring in an income of her own. She is not limited to being a wife and a mother. …show more content…
Specifically, I will be using two major works of Thomas Hardy, written during these times. I chose Thomas Hardy because one of his prominent goals in his writings was to point out all the wrongs with the Victorian Era, such as women’s placement in the world, and the idea of marriage. His writings were critiques of the Victorian Era. The Mayor of Casterbridge and The Return of the Native, both by Thomas Hardy, exemplify his goal of exposing the Victorian Era’s truths and wrongs. By evaluating and analyzing these works, I intend to show what Hardy believed was wrong, and how it differs from times today. Along with the work themselves, I plan to use literary criticisms of the works to also support my argument. These will provide good insight into other people’s thoughts of the Victorian Era and Hardy as a whole. By using their criticisms of his novels, I am opened to different opinions on the same topics, which would in turn strengthen my