If the law’s primary function is to respond to social problems, one might assume domestic abuse is a recent phenomenon. Under UK law, coercive control was criminalized in 2015 under the Serious Crime Act, and the first act specifically addressing domestic abuse passed in 2021. However, the absence of legal codification does not mean such behavior didn’t exist, prompting analysis into its history. Reading eighteenth and nineteenth century novels, we unearth nuanced portrayals of domestic abuse predating legal frameworks. Unlike newspapers, which frame these narratives in a factual, objective manner; novels scrutinize the psychological experience of victims, enriching empathetic understanding. My thesis investigates marriage plots using modern understandings of domestic abuse, spotlighting coercive control and emotional manipulation. The intention is not to label these actions anachronistically, but reveal the language employed by those with power and the subsequent impact on victims within a culture that didn’t see them as such.