William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode

Ian Gordon (Anglia Ruskin University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1745

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Burlesque
Comedy
Satire

Resources

For Hogarth the narrative comic-history cycle, Marriage A-la-Mode, was a natural successor to A Rake’s Progress, published ten years earlier in 1735. Having shown the middle classes aping the extravagance of the aristocracy in the earlier cycle, he set about showing the aristocracy and middle classes conspiring in mutual selfishness and decadence in the later cycle. Nobleman and alderman, high and middle life, are equally ridiculed in Marriage A-la-Mode. The title refers to a marriage of convenience arranged by the parents of the groom and bride for the benefit, and profit, of the parents rather than their children. The series deals with the ‘progress’ of a husband and wife, the son of Earl Squanderfield and …

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3124 words

Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Marriage A-la-Mode". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 August 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12984, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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