Josephine Toy
Honors World Literature,
Period 1
1 April, 2017
An Unequal Marriage
Vasili Pukirev’s painting titled “Unequal Marriage” depicts the disconsolate fate of a young woman being forced to marry a much older man, and displays the reality that many women faced during the 19th century not only in Russia, but in numerous Westernized countries around the globe. The lives of married women in Russia during the 19th century were devoted to their husbands, which essentially owned their wives like property. Married women were expected to be completely submissive to their husbands, and had to receive their husband’s permission before accepting a job, pursuing an education, or even traveling more than 15 miles from their husband’s estate. These …show more content…
Women were not credited or given the opportunity to become successful in composing music, writing, or art. Even middle class women were restricted from voting, receiving a secondary education, or holding their own passports. For noble women, the parents typically arranged the marriage and picked out husbands from the same social class or higher. This appears to be well represented in Vasili Pukirev’s “Unequal Marriage”. The painting clearly shows that the marriage taking place is between people of a higher social and economic status. The young woman is dressed in a breathtaking lace white wedding gown, and jewelry paired with white gloves, and in the background of the image there are men standing around in fine black suits. When first viewing this piece, the eyes tend to catch on the young woman’s face. Her white dress and face seem to be the focal point of the painting because they are the brightest element of this painting, and the rest is filled with more neutral colors and dark tones. The eye catches on the bride’s sorrowful countenance, showing her discomfort with being married away to her much older groom. Both the bride and groom are
Honors World Literature,
Period 1
1 April, 2017
An Unequal Marriage
Vasili Pukirev’s painting titled “Unequal Marriage” depicts the disconsolate fate of a young woman being forced to marry a much older man, and displays the reality that many women faced during the 19th century not only in Russia, but in numerous Westernized countries around the globe. The lives of married women in Russia during the 19th century were devoted to their husbands, which essentially owned their wives like property. Married women were expected to be completely submissive to their husbands, and had to receive their husband’s permission before accepting a job, pursuing an education, or even traveling more than 15 miles from their husband’s estate. These …show more content…
Women were not credited or given the opportunity to become successful in composing music, writing, or art. Even middle class women were restricted from voting, receiving a secondary education, or holding their own passports. For noble women, the parents typically arranged the marriage and picked out husbands from the same social class or higher. This appears to be well represented in Vasili Pukirev’s “Unequal Marriage”. The painting clearly shows that the marriage taking place is between people of a higher social and economic status. The young woman is dressed in a breathtaking lace white wedding gown, and jewelry paired with white gloves, and in the background of the image there are men standing around in fine black suits. When first viewing this piece, the eyes tend to catch on the young woman’s face. Her white dress and face seem to be the focal point of the painting because they are the brightest element of this painting, and the rest is filled with more neutral colors and dark tones. The eye catches on the bride’s sorrowful countenance, showing her discomfort with being married away to her much older groom. Both the bride and groom are