In this assignment I am going to compare the two short stories "The Three Sisters" by Jane Austen and "Teresa's Wedding" by William Trevor. The two stories seem different at first but they both tell a story of love marriage and deception.

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                             Wide Reading Assignment

In this assignment I am going to compare the two short stories “The Three Sisters” by Jane Austen and “Teresa’s Wedding” by William Trevor. The two stories seem different at first but they both tell a story of love marriage and deception.

“The Three Sisters” written by Jane Austen is set in upper-middle class England in the 18th century and tells the story of three sisters who are being pressured to marry a man that none of them want to marry but feel that one of them have to or face social embarrassment. The story is written in a very clever way where we see the sisters feelings through a series of letters they have written to their cousins.

The three main characters are the three sisters Sophy, Gorgiana, and the man one them is suppose to marry Mr.Watts. Mary is the first to receive an offer of marriage and in her letter she constantly changes her mind on whether to marry Mr. Watts or not. At first she seems pleased “ I am the happiest creature in the world, for I have received an offer of marriage” although it seems more like it’s the fact she was asked then who actually asked her because it will mean that she will get married before her sisters and a rival family called the Duttons “ I believe I shall have him. It will be such a Triumph to be married before Sophy, Georgiana and the Duttons.” This shows us that, at that period of time, being married was very important. However Mary has her doubts about marring Mr. Watts because she sees him as being old, ugly, disagreeable and extremely jealous. “He is an old man, about two and thirty, so plain that I cannot bear to look at him and he is extremely disagreeable and I hate him more than anybody else in the world. He has a large fortune and will make great settlements in me.” She mentions that he is rich, which is clearly very important to her.

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As the other two sisters realise that if Mary does not marry Mr. Watts then one of them will have to because their mother will not let the opportunity of marrying one her daughters go, they hatch a plan to use reverse psychology on Mary “Sophy and I have just been practicing a little deceit on our eldest sister”, and pretend that is Mary did not marry Mr. Watts either Sophy or Georgiana definitely would “Oh do not accept him said I, and then perhaps he may have me!” Mary falls for the trick and when she meets with Mr. ...

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