Married Off (1862)
AUTHOR: Bergh, Henry
Allen, James Madison. Essays: Philosophical and Practical
Anderson, Martha Jane. Mount Lebanon Cedar Boughs
Beecher, Catharine Esther. Woman's Profession as Mother and Educator
Bergh, Henry. “An Address”
---. “An Anthropozoonet”
---. “Editor, Forest and Stream”
Child, Lydia Maria. Philothea
Grimké, Sarah Moore. Letters on the Equality of the Sexes
Jackson, James Caleb. American Womanhood
Lovell, Mary Frances. “Address on Humane Education”
---. “Woman's Responsibility Toward the Animal Creation”
Moore, J. Howard. Better-World Philosophy
---. Ethics and Education
---. “The Martyrs of Civilization”
---. “The Unconscious Holocaust”
Neff, Flora Trueblood Bennett. Along Life's Pathways
Nichols, Mary Sargeant Gove and Thomas Low Nichols. Marriage
Nichols, Thomas Low. Esperanza
---. Nichols' Health Manual
Stow, Marietta. “Grand Triennial Conclave”
--- “Is Marriage Doomed?”
---. Unjust Laws Which Govern Woman
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Palmetto-Leaves
---. “Rights of Dumb Animals”
Twain, Mark. Mark Twain's Book of Animals
Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. “The Ermine”
SUMMARY (Bryn Skibo, edited Deborah Madsen)
In this long poem Bergh satirizes the practice of marrying off wealthy American daughters to impoverished European aristocracy in a commodified market that is likened to fishing and hunting. The three daughters of the Goit family, Tulip, Rose, and Lilly, need husbands. Aside from the analogies between the objectification and consumption of animals and women, the poem is relevant to the issue of veganism for the reversal of animals and humans as meat.
Following a reference to Mistress Goit’s low social class at birth, “An ancestor of old, / Was a Butcher – tho’ not a Field Marshall” (11), section VIII addresses the butchering of animals versus humans, one being better to eat than the other:
At the end of the poem Bergh uses a similar critical comparison between humans and nonhuman animals by asking the reader to look throughout the animal kingdom and note the grief felt by all animals when their offspring are killed; he then challenges the reader, reflecting on his poetic characters, to feel a similar grief and love for “your daughters, the offspring of man” (67) who are ruthlessly sold off into marriage.