Divorce During The Victorian Era

Every day, more and more people join hands in one of the most sacred ceremonies, marriage, a heart-warming display of affection, loyalty, and commitment. However, not every couple is able to maintain this long lasting bond. Many often grow apart due to a ray of challenges such as money, infidelity, trust issues, having different views, or a loss of chemistry. Divorce rates are higher than ever before. These issues lead to higher than excepted divorce rates. So much so that annulment has developed into a latter day social norm; where as it was frowned upon in previous generations. During the Victorian Era, divorce was not a basic right for all; it was a privilege that only the upper echelon experienced. In Hard Times, one of Charles Dickens’
As an under privileged character in the novel, Stephen wishes to be granted a divorce because his wife has developed a major substance abuse problem. Before the mid-19th century very few divorces were granted through parliament. The new laws passed by the government were designed to make divorce more fair, transparent, and rational. Yet, all it did was present a double standard for men and women. Marriage laws in the Victorian Era made it almost impossible for the working poor to secure a divorce.
The most common reason for a couple to get a divorce during the Victorian Era was due to economics. Being rich in the 19th Century had it perks, as one might expect. A rich man could get anything that he wanted in the blink of an eye, if he was willing to spare a few dollars. If a wealthy man in the 19th century wanted to get a divorce from his wife, he could just pay to surpass any divorce law that could possibly be stopping him. The rich were able to ignore the rules and buy their way out of almost any situation, including
There usually had to be special circumstances to receive a divorce. This is shown clearly in the chapter "No Way Out" in Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times. Stephen Blackpool goes to Mr. Bounderby in the look for advice, on how to break away from his marriage. For nineteen years, Blackpool was patient with his wife as she became a raging alcoholic, sold their possessions, and tore herself apart, along with the marriage as a whole. Due to all of the problems he has dealt with, he sees nothing to do but part ways with his fallen spouse. When he lays all of his problems to Bounderby, he simply replies, "You had better have been satisfied as you were, and not have gotten married. However, it's too late to say that." (p.72) Blackpool still pleas for another answer. He states that if he did any harm to his wife, if he flees from her, or marry another woman there would be a law to "punish him." These were the standards of how one can acquire a divorce in the nineteenth century. Of course, this does not give the party a divorce without obstacles. These obstacles are an act of parliament money. "...you'd have to go to Doctor Commons with a suit, and you'd have to go to a court of Common Law with a suit, and you'd have to go to the House of Laws with a suit, and you'd have to get an Act of Parliament to enable you to marry again, and it would cost you, I suppose from a