‘The Case of the Married Girl’ Overview: After a Scandal, She Fought Again

Caroline Sheridan was born in 1808, the granddaughter of the famed playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, into a big household distinguished for literary expertise and wonder and marred by monetary precariousness and the blood spots of “consumption.” She and her sisters made a splash in London society; Charles Dickens known as them “sights for the Gods,” and future prime minister Benjamin Disraeli nicknamed dark-haired, dark-eyed Caroline “Starry Evening.” She grew to become well-known as a author and political hostess, however her legacy can be formed by her marriage.

When an Englishwoman of Caroline’s period married, she ceased to exist, legally. Her husband took possession of the whole lot she had, then and sooner or later: her physique, her cash and her youngsters. In return, he would shield her and supply for her. What enraged Caroline, and finally drove her to struggle for change, was the failure of her husband, and the courts, to keep up the cut price. In “The Case of the Married Girl,” veteran biographer Antonia Fraser, who has written concerning the lives of queens from Boadicea to Marie Antoinette, reveals that Caroline was no feminist: She didn’t demand equality between the sexes however accepted male superiority. Her position was flattery, seduction, appeal—affect behind the scenes.