Background
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of twelve children, and her father forbade his children to marry. She was bedridden for most of her life (due to her nervous condition) until she eloped with Robert Browning, whom she met through an ongoing letter-correspondence.
Close-reading, Book II, 671-684
1. Aurora defends her choice by saying that she would be lying if she said "yes" to marrying Romney, and that it is God's will that she refuse his proposal. She also declares that she doesn't need money to nourish her soul; and marriage, in providing that monetary stability, is not necessarily important to her.
2. Aurora's use of God in this passage shows that it is not just her personal decision to refuse Romney; God has compelled her to do so. This thus gives her argument more weight and justifies her determination to tell the truth.
3. Aurora differentiates between her "soul's life" and her monetary life by saying "My soul is not a pauper; I can live/At least my soul's life, without alms from men" (681-682). Clearly, Aurora feels strongly about the nourishment of her soul and does not think that a monetary will allow for the growth and freedom of her soul. This also shows her desire to be independent from the financial contract offered by Romney, a contract which would not permit her to pursue the life (of poetry) that will feed her soul.
4. Aurora and her aunt have very differing notions of femininity. Aurora gravitates towards the wild femininity she perceives as the persona embodied by her Italian mother. Aurora's aunt declares that "You cannot eat or drink or stand or sit/Or even die...Without your cousin" (658-661). Obviously, she does not think Aurora can survive without Romney. She views Aurora's marriage to Romney as the epitome of femininity, while Aurora sees such an arrangement as severely limiting to her notion of independent femininity.
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