Family
‹ 5 · Outline · 7 ›
6.Divorce, separation, widowhood and remarriage
6a.The controversy over divorce
Paul, The First Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 499Paul forbids divorce among believers, addresses mixed marriages with unbelievers, and holds children holy.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 397Divorce and remarriage declared adultery.read · scan
Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12
- p. 60–61Dissolution of marriage by mutual consent; his son by Aspasia.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 240–241Caesar divorces Pompeia after the scandal.read · scan
- p. 252–253Cicero divorces Terentia, remarries a rich ward to pay debts, loses his daughter Tullia in childbirth, and dismisses his bride for seeming pleased.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 271–272Caesar divorces Pompeia because his wife must be beyond suspicion.read · scan
Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12
- p. 327–328Antony divorces his wife, his cousin, on suspicion of adultery with Dolabella.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 96His concubine is torn from him for the sake of marriage; she returns to Africa vowing chastity, leaving their son with him.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 382The marriage is annulled and the Wezir's family grieves.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 209–210Monogamy, marriage broken only by death, adultery or intolerable manners; divorce by council; cruelty of abandoning a sick spouse.read · scan
William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas MoreVol. 36
- p. 91Wolsey exploits the King's inconstancy to turn him from Queen Katherine, raising a scruple about marrying his brother's wife.read · scan
- p. 91–103Legal trial over the lawfulness of the King's marriage to Katherine, a dispensation and appeal.read · scan
- p. 103Son-in-law Roper converses with More; the King presses More on his marriage.read · scan
- p. 103The King's marriage and desired divorce drive events.read · scan
Nathaniel Ward, The Body of LibertiesVol. 43
- p. 66–67No man to be deprived of his wife or children except by law.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 252–253Divorcement is the image of God's putting away the synagogue.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 36–37Aeneas's excuse that Juno made the marriage yet he must forsake his wife.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 38–39Ralph, married with a child, plans to abandon his wife and never return.read · scan
- p. 41–42Ralph forgets his wife and child; Franklin drifts from his engagement to Miss Read.read · scan
- p. 43Ralph lives with Mrs. T and her child, having abandoned his own family.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 206–207Slave marriages disregarded and spouses sold apart.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 298Discusses Humboldt's view that marriage be dissolvable at will, and Mill's reply that children and third parties create obligations.read · scan
Giuseppe Mazzini, Byron and GoetheVol. 32
- p. 393Byron's ill-advised marriage and exile from home and child; he kept his love for his sister and daughter Ada.read · scan
Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's First Inaugural AddressVol. 43
- p. 320Analogy of husband and wife who may divorce, unlike sections of a country that must remain face to face.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 249–250Sails recounts his marriage and abandonment by his wife, who left with furniture and money; he advises Chips accordingly.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23
- p. 400–401Sails, whose wife ran away, has married again and keeps a little tenement.read · scan
Walter Bagehot, John MiltonVol. 28
- p. 168Milton's three marriages, difficulties with his first wife and writing on divorce.read · scan
- p. 180–182Mary Powell refuses to return to Milton; Bagehot blames her but suggests the austere husband and pecuniary motives played a part.read · scan
- p. 182–183Milton complained his wife would not talk; he wanted an 'intimate and speaking help' in marriage and urged divorce.read · scan
- p. 185Milton defends the husband's right to divorce a wife whose temper or unfitness makes marriage unbearable; Bagehot doubts husbands as judges in own cases.read · scan
6b.Widows and the question of remarriage
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 15–17Burial rites for a dead father, mother's remarriage, son's duty of vengeance.read · scan
- p. 22–23Antinous blames Penelope for the suitors' delay, telling of her delay over marriage and Laertes' shroud.read · scan
- p. 26–27Telemachus will seek news of his father, and marry off his mother if Odysseus is dead.read · scan
- p. 200Athene warns Telemachus of his mother's impending remarriage, saying a wife forgets former children and lord and increases her new husband's house.read · scan
- p. 212–213Telemachus explains his mother's seclusion from the wooers who court her and seek Odysseus' sovereignty and house.read · scan
- p. 217Telemachus describes his mother's divided heart between staying loyal to Odysseus' bed and marrying the best wooer who gives most gifts.read · scan
- p. 251–252Odysseus's parting charge to care for his parents and marry when their son is bearded; Penelope dreads the hateful marriage.read · scan
- p. 260Penelope longs for Odysseus, resists remarriage with the wooers, and weaves Laertes's shroud as a delaying wile.read · scan
- p. 261Penelope's parents and son press her to remarry; the son resents the wooers devouring his inheritance; Odysseus recounts his lineage.read · scan
- p. 270Penelope is torn between staying with her son and husband's house or marrying a wooer; her son now urges her to leave.read · scan
- p. 271–272Penelope prepares to leave her house of wedlock with the winner of the contest, remembering it in dreams.read · scan
- p. 281Agelaus urges Penelope wed the highest bidder; Telemachus's inheritance and mother are at stake.read · scan
- p. 282Telemachus refuses to drive his mother from the hall against her will, and offers gifts for her marriage to whom she wills.read · scan
- p. 285–286Penelope sets the bow contest as a marriage prize, willing to leave her house of wedlock with the winner; the household mourns its lost lord.read · scan
- p. 286–287Telemachus speaks of his mother's possible remarriage, pledges to protect the household, and would not mind her leaving if he could keep his father's arms.read · scan
- p. 292Penelope reassures the suitors that a stranger will not marry her, and promises the stranger gifts.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 152Dido confides in her sister Anna and considers marriage, though resolved against second wedlock.read · scan
- p. 152Anna urges Dido not to waste her youth without joys of mother or wife; marriage and the plighted faith are debated.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 406Levirate marriage puzzle; marriage belongs to this world, not the resurrection.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 249Regulus's hypocritical treatment of his dead son and his plan to remarry.read · scan
The Voyages to VinlandVol. 43
- p. 13–14Thorstein marries Gudrid and sets out to recover his brother's body; after his death Thorstein the Swarthy keeps promises to Gudrid.read · scan
Songs from the Elder EddaVol. 49
- p. 417–418Gudrun remarries, and her family's fortunes continue; Swanhild is given away and killed, sons urged to avenge.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 353–354Gudrun remarries and bears sons; Swanhild is fostered; Jormunrek seeks her as wife.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 175Nino asks his daughter to pray for him and complains his widow has remarried and forgotten him.read · scan
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; The Nun's Priest's TaleVol. 40
- p. 23The Wife of Bath has had five husbands at the church door besides other company in youth.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 114–116Mother, bride, wife, brother and father are all bound up in the losses; the father urges a new marriage.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 99–100Claudius justifies marrying his brother's widow, weighing delight and dole, and mourning a brother.read · scan
- p. 100–102Hamlet is outraged at his mother's hasty remarriage to his uncle, and Claudius claims a father's love.read · scan
- p. 103–104Hamlet condemns his mother's incestuous hasty marriage, praises his father as without equal, and mocks thrift of funeral meats reused at the wedding.read · scan
- p. 126The queen blames Hamlet's distemper on his father's death and her hasty marriage; Polonius produces his daughter's letter.read · scan
- p. 150–151Hamlet bitterly notes his mother's cheer only two months after his father's death.read · scan
- p. 152The player queen vows never to remarry, calling second marriage base thrift and a second killing of the husband.read · scan
- p. 152The player queen swears never to wed again after her husband's death.read · scan
- p. 162Hamlet confronts his mother over her hasty remarriage to his father's brother, the marriage-vows and the betrayal of his dead father.read · scan
- p. 162Hamlet compares his noble dead father with the vile Claudius and scorns his mother's remarriage as unworthy of love.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 762Ferdinand forbids his widowed sister to remarry and has her watched.read · scan
- p. 762–764Ferdinand and the cardinal warn the widowed duchess against remarrying, calling second marriages lustful and prison-like; she defies them.read · scan
- p. 767The widowed duchess chooses a second husband against custom of rank.read · scan
- p. 791Ferdinand tries to choose a husband for his widowed sister and probes her suspected secret children, asserting brotherly control over her marriage.read · scan
Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old DebtsVol. 47
- p. 928A widow's remarriage: Lovell argues her widowhood is no blemish and that their years, states and births are equal.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 375His prudent widowed mother cares for his childhood and later remarries happily.read · scan
- p. 418Herbert's widow mourns him, later remarries the affectionate Sir Robert Cook, bears a daughter and keeps praising her first husband.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 124–127Martha mourns her husband's death; Margaret fears loving; talk of marriage, widowhood and suitors.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 461–463Widowed wife left with nurslings and no mate.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 973–975Widow, dead warrior and child; the nurse says she lives for the child.read · scan
6c.Mourning a spouse
See also: Life and Death 9a · Emotion 6c
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 263–264A wife mourning her wedded lord, mother of his children; wealth enough for his children to the tenth generation.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 40Linos is said to be the only son of Egypt's first king, mourned after early death.read · scan
Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8
- p. 336–337Theseus returns to a house of mourning, fearing first for old Pittheus, and finds his wife dead.read · scan
- p. 338–340Theseus laments his lost wife and his motherless children; the chorus consoles him that a true wife lost is common.read · scan
- p. 340–342He mourns his wife, his motherless children and ruined house, and seeks her dying wishes about the children.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 166–167Tullia's love for her father and dutiful affection for all her family are recalled.read · scan
- p. 168–169Home can no longer console him after his daughter's death.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 117Aeneas seeks and mourns his lost wife Creusa.read · scan
- p. 131–137Andromache mourns Hector at a cenotaph, and recounts her forced marriages to Pyrrhus and Helenus.read · scan
Plutarch, CoriolanusVol. 12
- p. 183–184Roman women mourn ten months as for a father, son or brother, per Numa's laws.read · scan
Plutarch, DemosthenesVol. 12
- p. 208Aeschines accuses Demosthenes of lacking natural affection for his children after his daughter's death.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 267Caesar praises his aunt Julia and his dead wife in funeral orations, and marries and marries off relatives.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 294–297Public spectacle given as a monument to the memory of a beloved wife.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 268The wife's death is mourned by kin and the king, in the custom of the country.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 328–330Kinsmen have slain Gudrun's husband; Giaflaug and Herborg lament lost husbands, brothers, sons and parents.read · scan
- p. 330–333Gudrun mourns her husband and the wrong done by her brothers.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 239–240Forese owes his swift progress to the tears and prayers of his devout widow Nella, whom he loved dearly.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 106–108Hamilton mourns his wife and three children and says Care should have taken his life instead.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 378–381Macduff mourns wife and pretty ones, saying Macbeth has no children and blaming himself for their deaths.read · scan
- p. 390–391Macduff is driven by the ghosts of his slain wife and children.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 843–845Antonio longs for his murdered wife's voice and thinks of her and their little children.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15
- p. 344Widowed with seven children, Donne vows never to give them a step-mother and mourns his beloved wife.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4
- p. 27Marriage, motherhood and the loss of mother and infant in childbirth; compared to Rachel dying bearing Benjamin.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written During the Civil War and the Protectorate, 1642-1658Vol. 4
- p. 86Grief for his late espoused wife who died in childbirth; he wakes to lonely night.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 330–331Letter to sister's family consoling on the death of their father.read · scan
- p. 339Mourning relatives find the dead revived in their union of heartsread · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 180Christiana grieves the broken loving bond with her husband and recalls her unkind conduct toward him.read · scan
- p. 181A widowed mother and her weeping sons grieve over the departed father and her failure toward him.read · scan
- p. 201–202Christiana, Christian's widow, comes with his four children, confessing she slighted her husband's troubles.read · scan
- p. 208–209Grief at her husband's loss and guilt for treating him churlishly draw her to follow him.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 50–52The dead man is praised as loving husband and tender father.read · scan
- p. 58–60Mourners would gladly exchange the wife for the dead man; Queen Artemisia and Netherplace contrasted in treating dead husbands.read · scan
Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 560–561Husband and wife part, mourning their dead child; the old house recalled with bairns and kind hearts.read · scan
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 713–715Christabel's dead mother, who died at her birth, and her father who sleeps ill; the mother's guardian spirit.read · scan
- p. 717–719Baron mourns his dead wife; Christabel imagines her mother near.read · scan
Charles Lamb, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 736Mother and infant, the widowed husband's loss, and the burial toys and rites.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 193The widow-like wife sends clothes and money to her supposed dead husband in Heaven.read · scan
- p. 195A mother's inconsolable love for her dead seven-year-old son, whose ghost begs her to stop weeping.read · scan
George Gordon, Lord Byron, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 809Having buried all who loved him, he has no child, sire or kin; thought of them had made him mad.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 449–450Scott mourns his thirty-year companion, mother of his children; his daughter Anne is worn out with grief.read · scan
- p. 450–451Scott grieves his wife's death, with son Charles finding him weeping.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 116Her early marriage to an upright but intellectually uncongenial husband, whom she esteemed and lamented when dead.read · scan
Helen Selina, Lady Dufferin, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 919–920Widower mourns his wife Mary who died with her baby, recalling their marriage and her devotion.read · scan
John Greenleaf Whittier, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1359–1360Wives, mothers and sisters wait and mourn for lost sailors.read · scan
Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Contagiousness of Puerperal FeverVol. 38
- p. 254Counts the cost to widowed husbands and motherless children.read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1234–1236Poet honors his mother-in-law as 'Mother', dearer as mother of his dead wife Virginia; recalls his own mother.read · scan
Walt Whitman, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1419–1420The mother, wife and child suffer for the fallen.read · scan
Robert Louis Stevenson, Samuel PepysVol. 28
- p. 303–304Wife's death after the crisis; Pepys remembers the love that bound him to her.read · scan
6d.Polygamy and plural wives
See also: National Character 7b · Custom and Convention 2a
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 45Fen-dwellers live each with one wife only, as do the Hellenes.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 113Priam's hundred wives, fifty nuptial beds and hoped-for progeny fall to the victor.read · scan
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 102–103Marriage laws strictly observed; Germans nearly unique among barbarians in being content with one wife.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 980–981Rulings on women, orphans, and husbands and wives: reconciliation is best, and equity among wives is hard.read · scan
- p. 989–990Rules on wives, dowry, divorce and kin marriage; Mohammed's marriage to his adopted son's former wife and special marital privileges.read · scan
Christopher Columbus, The Letter of Columbus to Luis de Sant Angel Announcing His DiscoveryVol. 43
- p. 23The men are content with one wife, though chiefs may have twenty.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33
- p. 374Men have many wives who serve them at meals and do all labour.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 286–287Polygamy is a direct infraction of liberty, yet voluntary for women taught to think marriage the one thing needful.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 231A husband with two wives becomes jealous of attention paid to his young wife.read · scan
- p. 302Wild Indians take many wives, who weave for the cacique; Christian Indians resist marriage ceremonies.read · scan
- p. 432Polygamy and adultery; a chief with five wives would rather behead them than be troubled; relatives mourn a chief's daughter.read · scan
‹ 5 · Outline · 7 ›