Judge, 1898-07-23 · page 16 of 16
Judge — July 23, 1898 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes the courtship ritual of the wealthy Gilded Age. The sequence shows a suitor named Clarence seeking permission to marry Mr. Goodcash's daughter by attempting to win over the father through gift-giving rather than genuine sentiment. The humor lies in the transparent transactionalism: Clarence presents an expensive phonograph (a cutting-edge luxury item) while the daughter dismisses herself as "empty-headed," and Clarence promises to tolerate her vapidity. Mr. Goodcash, a caricatured plutocrat, is portrayed as mercenary—willing to sell his daughter to the highest bidder rather than concerned with her happiness or character. The satire targets both the marriage-as-commerce mentality among the wealthy and the assumption that women were decorative, intellectually negligible possessions. The phonograph symbolizes materialism triumphing over genuine romantic or moral values in upper-class matrimony.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
comicbooks.com A phonograph ! I' will give it to him the first thing in the morsing.” : see how thought hela? te 8 Prsen from Clarence itieloceh 78 ; seat Atk GoODCAR—" Tha’s nie of him. and while Vm eating breakfast 10 jos rete: : bia Ne! Iv. * THe puonocrarx—* My dear Mr. Goodcash—your daughter and caged to fc and hope you wil bare|borsoseane cet to tated es enieaes empty-headed stuff, and [ am a man of my word. Good-bye, papa, good-bye.” in the matter ; if you don’t I will be under the painful necessity of — Sackett 8 Withetns Litho 8 Pr Co Rew York CORYRONT 1808 BY ARK ELL PUBLISNING COMPARY OF KEW YORK 3 HOW CLARENCE ASKED THE OLD MAN’S CONSENT.