Old Maid: Difference between revisions

* Charlotte of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''. This concern only really shows up when Elizabeth objects to Charlotte marrying Mr. Collins under the assumption she's doing it to help Elizabeth's family. Charlotte tells Elizabeth point blank that she [Charlotte] is a 27-year-old single woman with no prospects and no family—the fact that the marriage also helps solve a problem of the Bennetts is only an added incentive.

* On her eighteenth birthday, [[Twilight (novel)|Bella Swan]] has nightmares that she has turned into an ancient lady and her forever-young vampire boyfriend Edward <s>won't love her anymore</s>''will keep loving her and treating her just the same''. (Visualize a world-class handomse young man tending to an extremely old woman in a wheelchair, and adolescent, utterly lovestruck expression on his face as he gently caters to her every needs while whispering the cheesiest, kindest ''sincerest'' terms of endearment...)

* ''[[Washington Square]]'' and its film version ''The Heiress'' play with this trope and end up being one of the few works to portray it ''positively''; the main character never marries her [[Gold Digger]] love interest or anyone, and is shown to embrace spinsterhood and be confident in herself in a way she never was when she had to worry about the prospects of marriage.

* ''[[Bridget Jones]]'' considers herself to be one.

* Alix Crown in ''[[Quills Window]]'' is an especially blatant example, as she is attractive and wealthy in addition to being single at twenty-five. Incidentally, she does have a good reason for this, as legally she would stand to lose many of her legal rights if she were to get married.

[[Category:Aging Tropes]]

[[Category:Always Female]]

[[Category:Old Maid]]