"Modern Love" by George Meredith

Paper Summary:

"Modern Love", by George Meredith, is a collection of fifty sonnets with sixteen lines in each sonnet about the failure of George Meredith's first marriage. The paper contends that the sonnets are a dramatic rendition of Meredith's own personal experiences and are told through the perspective of a husband. Meredith, according to the author, is trying to cope with the idea that his marriage is a failure and has discovered that his wife has been writing letters to another man. The paper explains that since divorce is not an option at this time, Meredith and his wife are made to portray a happy marriage so that society believes there is nothing wrong. The couple deceives everyone around them into believing that all is well and that they have the perfect life with one another.

From the Paper:

"A new century was dawning upon the Victorian Age and a time of change was creeping in. Victorians tried in vain to hold onto their traditional ways and refused to accept failure. The husband and wife in "Modern Love" did just that when they attempted to create a facade of a happily married couple. This performance is displayed throughout the dinner scene in the play when friends and family joined them in their home. The couple has fallen so deep into their deception that they begin to enjoy this game of deceit. "How curiously the dynamics of an age affect the human mind," (Hemberger 4) society being the dynamic in which the human mind yearns to please."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barr, Alan P. "How All Occasions Do Inform: "Household Matters" and DomesticVignettes in George Meredith's Modern Love" Victorian Poetry Fall 2004, Vol.42 Issue 3, p283-293
• Going, William T. "A Note on "My Lady" of Modern Love." Modern Language Quarterly Sept. 1946, Vol. 7 Issue 3, 311- 314
• Hemberger, Anna. "Change is in the Air-But Can the Victorians Smell It?: Meredith'sModern Love as a Telling Aroma" The Victorian Web Nov. 19, 2007 http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/meredith/hemberger.html
• Meredith, George. "Modern Love" Poet's Corner Nov. 19, 2007 http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/meredi02.html

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