The Secret Life of (Literary) Honeymoons

About this episode

This episode explores disastrous honeymoons in classic literature, highlighting various literary works and their characters' ill-fated romantic getaways.

From the outset, there’s only one kind of honeymoon in classic literature, and it's disastrous. Honeymoons don't become fixed stars in the literary firmament until the early nineteenth century, but they begin as they go on - badly. The first literary honeymoon of the century is Maria Bertram's ill-fated tour with the fatuous Mr. Rushworth in Mansfield Park , with her jealous sister Julia Bertram third-wheeling. Next up we have Victor Frankenstein’s wedding trip to Evian with his bride Elizabeth. No sooner has the couple checked into the hotel and raided the minibar than Frankenstein’s Creature arrives and brutally murders his bride. After that there’s a trio of hideous honeymoons in Bronte novels – Mr. Rochester’s horrific Caribbean jaunt with his first wife; a catastrophic European whirlwind in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (husband already philandering), and Heathcliff’s revenge honeymoon with Isabella Linton in Wuthering Heights . After that, it's all downhill with Tess of the D'Urbervilles , Middlemarch and The Portrait of a Lady. Join Sophie and Jonty for a romp through some of the least romantic holidays in literary history. And we don’t just cover fictional honeymoons –…

People in this episode

Hosts: Sophie Gee, Jonty Claypole

Topics covered

• literary analysis
• honeymoons in literature
• classic literature
• romantic failures
• Victorian literature
• Bronte novels

Keywords

• literary honeymoons
• disastrous weddings
• classic literature
• Mansfield Park
• Wuthering Heights
• Bronte novels
• Victorian literature
• romantic failures

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Mansfield Park, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Middlemarch, The Portrait of a Lady

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