Mourning
Posted by Kelley on September 10, 1997 at 09:31:23:
In response to Question about mourning clothes etc., written by Lynn on September 10, 1997 at 08:34:20
] In the ET version of S&S, the family starts out wearing black, or a black bow, Margaret at one point wears a black sash on her blue dress, or they wear black shawls. So they wore their mourning clothes, but part way through the movie, the girls don't wear their black bows (at one point ET has a small one on her bodice) or anything. Mrs. D wears black throughout. Would it be because children were not expected to wear mourning for as long as a spouse, or did Mrs. D just keep with it because she still mourned in her heart? Is there some other reason? How long was one obliged to be in mourning and for who? (in Persuasion, there is mention of them wearing arm bands for Mr. Elliot's wife, although they have never met her).
Widows were supposed to mourn for at least two years, during which one was expected to wear all black. After a while, she could wear half-mourning, which had black stripes on it. Many chose to wear widow's weeds all their lives (like Queen Victoria), which may be what Mrs. D. is doing (though I don't know how much time passes in S&S).
Children should mourn their parents for at least a year, but I'm guessing that they could follow the half-mourning idea as well.
Men were luckily allowed to wear black armbands only if they so chose, but women had to wear full black. Was it the men in Persuasion who talked about the armbands?
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