Shelley and the Marriage Question

"Shelley and the Marriage Question" by John Todhunter is a book that thinks carefully about marriage and its effects on society, especially by looking at the ideas of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Todhunter critically looks at how people traditionally saw marriage and discusses how ideas about love and friendship were changing. Todhunter shows how Shelley had forward-thinking views about freedom, love, and marriage, and views him as someone who thought about individual freedoms and relationships before his time. He explains that Shelley believed traditional marriage could stop people from experiencing true love, and that he supported free and real ways for people to show their feelings. Todhunter also points out that women were not happy with their place in society and marriage, pushing for changes in the laws and social rules that had to do with relationships. This weaves together philosophical discussions with the pressing social issues that Todhunter was seeing.