This study day will look at marriage proposals across a range of nineteenth-century fiction.

Whilst there will be a light-hearted consideration of the many unenviable proposals that appear in fiction from this period. We will also consider the more serious ramifications for women at a time when acceptance often had to be a pragmatic decision based on what the head knew, rather than a romantic decision based on what the heart might have wanted.

The discussion will incorporate a consideration of social and economic practicalities but also enjoy the skill with which a range of writers have shown how Cupid’s golden arrow was so often filled with lead. Authors will include Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Brontë sisters, Anthony Trollope and more.