Mary realises this and does not want to become an 'old maid',
this is one of the reasons why she is contemplating marrying
Mr Watts. Mary constantly says in her letters how she will
'triumph over the Duttons' on line 5. The Duttons are another
family who Mary is obviously in competition with to see who
will be the richer bride to marry off first. Now she has this
offer of marriage it is her chance to flaunt this proposal to
gain respect and admiration from others.
'He is extreamly disagreable and I hate him more than any
body else in the world. He has a large fortune and will make
great settlements on me' - line 10, Page 1
Mary constantly mentions in her letters seeking advice from
her friend that she hates the man she is proposing to marry.
She is in constant battle with herself whether to marry a man
she hates purely for material reasons or to wait until she
finds someone else who she might just fall in love with.
Although 'The Three Sisters' and 'Teresa's Wedding' have a
similar theme and situation, there are alot of differences
between the two main characters.
Teresa Cornish has fallen pregnant with her newly wedded
husband, Artie Cornish's baby. This has got her into the
situation of having to marry Artie because of the
circumstances of her culture and background. The story is set
in Ireland where abortion is illegal and single parenthood is
looked down on. As Teresa is now pregnant, pressure from
her family and surroundings has forced her to marry someone
who she does not love. This is similar to Mary Stanhopes
situation as society has pushed her to believe that marriage
is the only way for her to suceed in life.
Teresa also pushes herself to believe that she will grow old
and lonely without a husband because similar situations have
happened to people in her family. Her sister Loretta's
marriage had failed within weeks and her other sister,
Agnes, had simply married to escape the town she was living
in and hated. Teresa thinks she will end up like this and so
partly accepts the marriage to Artie as a safe bet to feel
secure about her future life. This is also similar to Mary's
situation in 'The Three Sisters' because Mary's society and
surroundings have lead her to believe that if you are not
married by a certain age there is no hope for you in life.
Although Teresa has had this marriaged aranged for her, she
is alot more optimistic than Mary. On page 437 she says:
'She felt that she and Artie might make some kind of marriage
together because there was nothing that could be destroyed,
no magic or anything else'
Although she knows there is no love in her and Artie's
marriage, she knows that it will not be a failed one like her
sisters and that the security she has now will provide her
with something in life. She tells us this on page 437:
'At least they had no illusions, she thought. Nothing worse
could happen than what had happened already, after Fath
Hogan had laid down the law. She wasn't going to get a shock
like Loretta had got. She wasn't going to go sour like Agnes
had gone when she'd discovered that is wasn't enough just to
marry a man for a purpose, in order to escape from a town'
Mary however is much more pessimistic and negetive about
her proposed marriage because of the hate she feels towards
her future husband. While Teresa is opimistic about her
future life, Mary is opimistic because her marriage will bring
her a much more wealthy and high society lifestyle than she
had before.
Both Teresa from 'Tersea's Wedding' and Mary from 'The
Three Sisters' are marrying for convience, but there could
always be a chance of love whilst married to the men they do
not love.
Mary Stanhope comes across as quite a high maintance, vain
woman, who has high expectations of how her life should
continue. The man eventually agree's to marry, Mr Watts,
also comes across as a quite vain, arrogant man. With
reasonably similar personalities, Mary Stanhope and Mr
Watts could very well fall in love once they spend their
married life together.
This is also quite similar with Teresa and Artie Cornish.
Although Teresa has had a marriage aranged for her with a
man who she does not love, as married life together persists
and they find out more about eachother, there could be love
for them in the future.
These two stories both highlight that fact that even though
they were both written in completely different time periods,
the culture and pressure on some women to marry is still
exactly the same.
Nina Ryner
