Prado manuscript: ‘A man and a woman are tied together with ropes. They struggle to be freed and scream to be separated immediately. If I am not mistaken, are not these two people who have been married by force?’

'The Ayala and Biblioteca Nacional texts confirm that the subject of this print is, on the one hand, arranged marriages as an indication of the low moral standards of the times, and on the other, the antiquated attitude of the clergy which opposed divorce even under these circumstances. [Eleanor] Sayre notes that the large owl which overlooks this scene was not a symbol of wisdom in eighteenth century Spain but rather was a symbol of stupidity and other evils. Sayre also suggests that the owl's ‘old fashioned spectacles’ might stand for ‘outmoded custom, the weight of convention, or religious dogma that would not permit divorce.’

Johnson, R. S., Francisco Goya, Los Caprichos, R.S. Johnson Fine Art, Chicago, 1992, p. 176.