Abusive Marriage in English Literature: Patriarchal Power, Domestic Tyranny, and Female Resistance

 

Marriage has long occupied a central and seemingly inviolable position within English social and literary imagination, traditionally idealized as a moral institution that guarantees stability, companionship, and social order. However, a sustained examination of English literature from the eighteenth century onward reveals a persistent counter-narrative that exposes marriage as a deeply gendered structure of power. Far from being a purely private or sentimental bond, marriage frequently emerges as a political and ideological apparatus through which patriarchal authority is exercised, normalized, and concealed. Literary representations of abusive marriage thus function as critical interventions, unveiling the psychological, emotional, and symbolic violence inflicted upon women within domestic spaces sanctioned by law, religion, and custom.
By foregrounding female suffering and resistance, English literature transforms marriage from a romantic ideal into a contested site of domination, surveillance, and identity erasure. Through narrative realism, Gothic symbolism, psychological interiority, and proto-feminist critique, writers interrogate how abuse operates not only through physical violence but also through silence, moral coercion, and emotional deprivation.
Marriage as a Patriarchal and Ideological Structure
Historically, marriage in English society was governed by legal doctrines and cultural assumptions that entrenched male dominance. The principle of coverture legally subsumed a married woman’s identity under that of her husband, depriving her of property rights, financial autonomy, and legal voice. This institutional framework rendered women structurally vulnerable, while male authority was framed as natural, benevolent, and morally justified.
English literature reflects this imbalance by depicting marriages in which domination is exercised through control over speech, movement, sexuality, and emotional expression. Abuse within these narratives is rarely sensationalized; instead, it is embedded in everyday practices—condescension, neglect, moral judgment, and enforced obedience. By representing such dynamics, literature exposes how patriarchal power disguises itself as marital duty and how domestic abuse is legitimized through social respectability.
Importantly, these texts challenge the public/private divide by revealing the home as a space of ideological discipline rather than safety. The domestic sphere becomes a microcosm of broader social hierarchies, where women’s bodies and minds are regulated in the name of marital harmony.
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: Gothic Confinement and Moral Resistance
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) offers a complex and multilayered critique of abusive marriage through both overt resistance and symbolic representation. While Jane’s narrative arc ultimately affirms autonomy and equality, the novel’s most disturbing portrayal of marital abuse is embodied in the figure of Bertha Mason, Rochester’s wife.
Bertha’s confinement in the attic of Thornfield Hall operates as a powerful Gothic metaphor for the silencing and pathologization of female resistance. Her so-called “madness” functions as a socially convenient explanation for her exclusion, allowing Rochester to exercise absolute control while maintaining moral authority. Feminist critics have argued that Bertha represents the unacceptable female excess—sexual, emotional, and racialized—that Victorian patriarchy seeks to suppress.
From this perspective, Bertha is not merely an obstacle to Jane’s happiness but a victim of marital imprisonment, colonial exploitation, and psychological abandonment. Her violent eruptions can be read as distorted expressions of resistance within a system that denies her language and agency. Marriage, in this context, becomes a site of total domination where female subjectivity is erased under the guise of medical and moral necessity.
Jane’s refusal to accept a morally compromised relationship with Rochester, whether as a mistress or an unequal wife, articulates Brontë’s ethical vision of marriage as a partnership grounded in respect, autonomy, and moral symmetry. Jane’s insistence on economic independence and emotional selfhood challenges the assumption that female fulfillment is contingent upon marital submission. Thus, Jane Eyre exposes abusive marriage while simultaneously imagining an alternative model based on equality.
Thomas Hardy: Marriage, Hypocrisy, and Emotional Violence
Thomas Hardy’s fiction offers a profoundly pessimistic critique of marriage as an institution shaped by rigid moral codes and social hypocrisy. In Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), Hardy dismantles the Victorian ideal of marriage as redemptive by portraying Tess’s union with Angel Clare as a site of emotional cruelty rather than salvation.
Angel’s idealization of Tess as a figure of purity reveals the gendered double standards that underpin marital expectations. When Tess confesses her past, Angel’s moral absolutism leads to emotional abandonment and rejection. This withdrawal of affection constitutes a form of psychological abuse that is socially sanctioned and morally justified within patriarchal discourse.
Hardy’s critique extends beyond individual failure to indict the social structures that permit such cruelty. Tess is punished not for moral transgression but for honesty, while Angel’s earlier sexual experience is forgiven. Marriage thus becomes a mechanism through which female sexuality is disciplined and male authority preserved.
Hardy’s tragic realism emphasizes that abuse need not be physically violent to be devastating. Emotional neglect, moral condemnation, and enforced shame operate as powerful instruments of control. Tess’s suffering exposes marriage as complicit in sustaining gendered injustice rather than protecting vulnerable individuals.
Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: Psychological Abuse and the Crisis of Selfhood
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879), though not English in origin, occupies a foundational position in English literary studies due to its profound influence on modern drama and feminist thought. The marriage between Nora and Torvald Helmer exemplifies psychological abuse enacted through paternalism, surveillance, and moral domination.
Torvald’s language consistently infantilizes Nora, reducing her to a decorative and obedient presence within the domestic sphere. His control over finances and decision-making strips Nora of autonomy while maintaining the illusion of care. This form of abuse is insidious precisely because it is normalized as love and protection.
The crisis of the play emerges when Nora recognizes that her marriage has denied her individuality and moral agency. Her realization that she has lived as a “doll” underscores how marriage functions as a performative institution that prioritizes male reputation over female humanity. Torvald’s reaction to Nora’s sacrifice exposes the moral emptiness at the core of their relationship.
Nora’s decision to leave the marriage constitutes a radical rejection of patriarchal domestic ideology. It challenges the assumption that women’s ethical duty lies in self-sacrifice and obedience, repositioning selfhood and autonomy as moral imperatives.
Literature, Silence, and the Ethics of Representation
A recurring theme in literary representations of abusive marriage is silence—how women’s suffering is normalized, dismissed, or rendered invisible. Literature disrupts this silence by granting access to female interiority and psychological trauma. Through narrative voice and symbolic representation, writers articulate experiences that social discourse seeks to suppress.
Feminist literary criticism has emphasized that these texts perform an ethical function by exposing the violence embedded within everyday domestic life. By revealing abuse as structural rather than exceptional, literature challenges legal, religious, and cultural narratives that prioritize marital permanence over human dignity.
The act of representation itself becomes political. Literature does not merely depict abuse; it interrogates the conditions that enable it, inviting readers to question the moral legitimacy of social institutions.
Conclusion
Abusive marriage emerges in English literature as a powerful critical lens through which writers examine patriarchy, gendered power, and the ethical failures of social systems. From Brontë’s Gothic symbolism and Hardy’s tragic realism to Ibsen’s psychological drama, marriage is repeatedly revealed as a contested space where domination is normalized and resistance becomes necessary for survival.
By centering women’s suffering, consciousness, and defiance, English literature transforms private trauma into public critique. These narratives insist that marriage devoid of equality is not a moral ideal but a structural injustice. In exposing the violence hidden behind domestic walls, literature affirms its enduring role as a site of resistance, ethical inquiry, and cultural transformation.