Kinderwille, Elternwille

Arrangiertes Eheglück bei Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, in der Sozialgeschichte und Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts

Abstract

Among the dichotomies which shape our view of 19th century society is the dichotomy of the arranged marriage and the marriage based on love. It is, however, not always easy to tell, to what extent this dichotomy stems from the observation of historical fact and to what extent it is a construction of the textual imagination and particularly of literature. The paper explores the role of the arranged marriage and opposite concepts in social history, the philosophical works of G. W. F. Hegel and Arthur Schopenhauer and in German literary texts of the second half of the 19th century which are generally described as texts of bourgois realism. With regard to social history it questions the usefulness of a clear cut dichotomy between arranged and romantic marriages. It also argues that one cannot simply associate arranged marriages with economic considerations and romantic marriages with a complete neglect of economic factors. With regard to Hegel and Schopenhauer the paper shows that they both had a high opinion of arranged marriages, although for different, even opposing reasons. With regard to literary texts of the second half of the 19th century it analyzes, how they reject arranged marriages, yet at the same time search for forms of social stability which arranged marriages are supposed to guarantee. The paper also attempts to show, how social history and the writing of social history and the philosophical and literary texts interact.