Blue, why do you say that "all we have to compare it to is Jane Austen, and the Bronte sisters"??
Literature is not always a reflection of life; often, it is an attempt to improve on it. <g>
Besides, 19th century England is not the 20th (going-on 21st) century Philippines, or 10th century China, or paleolithic Australia, or whatever...
I think you will agree that views on just about anything (including views on marriage, love, sex, etc.) have varied widely from one culture to another and from one age to another....
Joan
P.S. Correction: Perhaps you meant that "we" (Westerners? Anglo-Saxons?) have known nothing like that attitude (if one excepts Jane Austen novels). In which case, strike, as unnecessary, what I said in my last two paragraphs. :-) |
