Thomas Hardy's novels focus on the difficulties of relationships between men and women, especially married men and women. In his preface to The Woodlanders, Hardy poses the question of "given the man and woman, how to find a basis for their sexual relation" (Hardy 39). With this in mind, the reader meets Grace Melbury, a young woman of marrying age, who is betrothed by circumstances beyond her control, to a man named Giles Winterbourne. When the young and mysterious doctor, Edred Fitzpiers catches Grace's eye, Hardy's question of sexual compatibilities is addressed.
Grace and Fitzpiers find themselves mutually attracted to one another, and Giles loses Grace's affection. In time, Grace and Fitzpiers are married. Yet this union is soon challenged by Fitzpiers secret affair with the powerful Felice Charmond. Grace learns of Edred's adultery, and is angered and humiliated. With the prompting of her father, Grace is forced to evaluate her marriage. At this time, they hear about the so-called "new law", which would possibly allow for her to divorce Fitzpiers, and re-engage in her courtship with Winterbourne. This law in question, The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes act of 1857, proves not to be a solution to Grace's dilemma.
Prior to the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857, divorce in England was regulated by the Ecclesiastical Courts. Marriage was a permanent state of being for the most part. The Church granted divorces only with the addition of a private act of Parliament, an extensive and costly procedure; therefore, before 1857, only the very wealthy had access to marital termination. The Act of 1857 created the Probate and Divorce Court in London. The law allowed a man to divorce his wife for adultery, but a woman's request for a divorce would only be granted if her husband practiced cruelty, bigamy, incest, and/or bestiality along with adultery. Women could obtain a separation for desertion of more than two years, as well as adultery or cruelty. A deserted wife could also apply for rights of her own property, something not completely legal until 1870. If a woman could not afford the expenses of a divorce procedure, she could only be granted a separation from her husband. Although a good first step, this law still held many limitations for women.
The Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882 favored women's marital rights. Before this, when a woman married all of her property besides her land dissolved into her husband's. By 1880 women were legally entitled to control over all property that was held both before and after marriage. The late nineteenth century saw much progress in the way of autonomy for married women; however, it was not until the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1923 that women stood on equal ground with their husbands in terms of divorce. With this act women were able to divorce their husbands for the sole reason of adultery. Grace Melbury would have had a long time to wait until her situation could be altered.
These laws are an historical example of how the Victorians regulated married women's legal rights. Hardy shows us that the relations between the sexes are often complex, and to determine sexual ties by law disregards basic, primitive attraction. The Woodlanders does not resolve this issue, yet it does explore its many facets.
Cunningham, Gail. The New Woman and the Victorian Novel. London: Macmillan, 1978.
Hardy, Thomas.
Mitchell, Sally, et al., eds. Victorian Britain: An
Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1988.