hat he would never control her daughter's choice, but in fact claims that Marlow "(he)'s a man of excellent understanding" (p.4), this meaning that the young gentleman should be the right option for her. Despite her initial disagreement with the idea of this established encounter with the young boy, she finally accepts the meeting after her father's exaltation of the young man's virtues. She then joyfully declares: "My dear papa, say no more (kissing his hand), he's mine, I'll have him!" (p.4). Later on in the play, Tony's false directions lead Marlow and Hastings to the Hardcastle residence, where they believe they can lodge for a decent rate before continuing on to meet Mr. Hardcastle and his beautiful daughter at his estate. This "inn" is actually Mr. Hardcastle mansion, but the travelers do not realize this since the mansion remarkably resembles an inn. Hastings is soon informed of his mistake when he meets Miss Neville, but the couple decides to leave Marlow in ignorance for the time being so that their plans for marriage will not be frustrated by his outrage and embarrassment.
             In a similar way, in the novel Mary the Wrongs of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft exposes this same tendency of arranged marriages, where love is forgotten and only the possible benefits that both parts can obtain from the union are taken into account. Hence, the way in which Darnford asserts "my father and mother were people of fashion; married by their parents" (p.94) should not be taken as a striking statement for this matter was considered in the eighteenth century the usual procedure to follow . It is also important to remark that Mary loses her case because the judge considers that "it was her duty to love and obey the man chosen by her parents and relations, who were qualified by their experience to judge better for her, than she could for herself " (p.199). Therefore it...