--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The plot of Love on a Mortal Lease is not…" description: "\"“The plot of Love on a Mortal Lease is not unlike those Shakespear would use later, nor unlike those of commonplace Victorian works. The heroine, Rache..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de1/olivia-shakespear-45051_bad-marriage_the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-no_2930184.jpg" --- # The plot of Love on a Mortal Lease is not unlike those… ![“The plot of Love on a Mortal Lease is not unlike those Shakespear would use later, nor unlike those of commonplace Victorian works. The heroine, Rachel Gwynne, has dead parents, as is the case from Oliver Twist (1837) through hundreds of other ensuing tripledeckers. Rachel is a novelist – most of…” quote by Olivia Shakespear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de1/olivia-shakespear-45051_bad-marriage_the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-no_2930184.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de1/olivia-shakespear-45051_bad-marriage_the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-no_2930184.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de1/olivia-shakespear-45051_bad-marriage_the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-no_2930184.jpg) > ““The plot of Love on a Mortal Lease is not unlike those Shakespear would use later, nor unlike those of commonplace Victorian works. The heroine, Rachel Gwynne, has dead parents, as is the case from Oliver Twist (1837) through hundreds of other ensuing tripledeckers. Rachel is a novelist – most of Shakespear’s heroines would be writers – in love with a military man many years her senior. After he refuses to marry her because he fears his mother will dislike Rachel and therefore disinherit him, Rachel becomes his mistress. Once the snobby old mother meets Rachel by happenstance in London, however, they immediately adore each other, and the Colonel may now safely marry Rachel – though she doesn’t love him anymore, and he seems none too fond of her, either. They muddle along in unhappy matrimony until Rachel conveniently discovers (as we’ve known for a while) that the Colonel has had another longtime mistress, a stupid society girl, throughout the course of their marriage, and even during their preceding affair. When the Colonel even more conveniently falls on his head and dies, Rachel is made a wealthy widow in her mid-twenties, free to marry a nice young writer who knows about, but forgives her, her former relationship. A happily wish-fulfilling story, perhaps, for a young woman writer in a bad marriage, and Rachel has some interesting ideas about her profession: speaking of clever girls who scribble, she hopes for the day that “the cleverness and the scribbling . . . fall from her, like a disguise, and she stands revealed in her true form – then she may never write another word, or she may write something immortal.”8”” [Olivia Shakespear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-shakespear/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A woman trapped in an unhappy marriage seeks authenticity, confronting societal expectations and personal ambition. **In simple terms:** Search for true self beyond oppressive relationships. Key Takeaway Pursue authenticity, even if it means breaking norms. Themes marriage authenticity societal pressure Mood melancholy determined critical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - arranged marriage - career aspirations - family expectations Key Concepts feminism identity literary critique Questions to Reflect On - What does true freedom look like for you? - How do societal expectations shape personal choices? A Different Perspective The narrative may romanticize sacrifice over realistic solutions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bad marriage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-marriage/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Heroine Rachel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroine-rachel-4314643/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Military man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/military-man/) [Novelist Shakespear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novelist-shakespear-4314640/) [Oliver twist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oliver-twist/) [Plot Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plot-love-4314644/) [Rachel Mistress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rachel-mistress-4314641/) [Rachel Novelist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rachel-novelist-4314642/) [Young woman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young-woman/) ## Related quotes > [My pictures of 'Oliver Twist' and 'A Boy in Flanders' are being used as school lessons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-coogan/my-pictures-of-oliver-twist-and-a-boy-in-flanders-are-being-used-as/) [Jackie Coogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-coogan/) > [“Sean: …………And I'd ask you about war, you'd probably throw Shakespeare at me, right, "once more unto the breach dear friends." 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Good copy comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-fuller/mark-twain-didn-t-psychoanalyze-huck-finn-or-tom-sawyer-dickens-didn/) [Samuel Fuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-fuller/) > [I'm doing something called 'Olivia Twisted,' that will start next year. There may be something in between, but right now, that's the one that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-greene/i-m-doing-something-called-olivia-twisted-that-will-start-next-year/) [Ashley Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-greene/) ## More by Olivia Shakespear > [“Do you seriously think I’m coming to your dance?” I went on. “Why, I haven’t got a dress, or a face fit to show…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-shakespear/do-you-seriously-think-i-m-coming-to-your-dance-i-went-on-why-i-haven/) [Olivia Shakespear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-shakespear/) > [“who are incapable of understanding a woman’s character, heart, and soul. 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The heroine, Rachel Gwynne, has dead parents, as is the case from Oliver Twist (1837) through hundreds of other ensuing tripledeckers. Rachel is a novelist – most of Shakespear’s heroines would be writers – in love with a military man many years her senior. After he refuses to marry her because he fears his mother will dislike Rachel and therefore disinherit him, Rachel becomes his mistress. Once the snobby old mother meets Rachel by happenstance in London, however, they immediately adore each other, and the Colonel may now safely marry Rachel – though she doesn’t love him anymore, and he seems none too fond of her, either. They muddle along in unhappy matrimony until Rachel conveniently discovers (as we’ve known for a while) that the Colonel has had another longtime mistress, a stupid society girl, throughout the course of their marriage, and even during their preceding affair. When the Colonel even more conveniently falls on his head and dies, Rachel is made a wealthy widow in her mid-twenties, free to marry a nice young writer who knows about, but forgives her, her former relationship. A happily wish-fulfilling story, perhaps, for a young woman writer in a bad marriage, and Rachel has some interesting ideas about her profession: speaking of clever girls who scribble, she hopes for the day that “the cleverness and the scribbling . . . fall from her, like a disguise, and she stands revealed in her true form – then she may never write another word, or she may write something immortal.”8”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Olivia Shakespear" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-shakespear/the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-not-unlike-those-shakespear/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bad marriage" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-shakespear/the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-not-unlike-those-shakespear/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de1/olivia-shakespear-45051_bad-marriage_the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-no_2930184.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de1/olivia-shakespear-45051_bad-marriage_the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-no_2930184.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de1/olivia-shakespear-45051_bad-marriage_the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-no_2930184.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The plot of Love on a Mortal Lease is not unlike those Shakespear would use later, nor unlike those of…” — Olivia Shakespear", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Olivia Shakespear", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-shakespear/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The plot of Love on a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-shakespear/the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-not-unlike-those-shakespear/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-shakespear/the-plot-of-love-on-a-mortal-lease-is-not-unlike-those-shakespear/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```