The 'marriage plot' is a key literary concept that has been explored and evolved over time, as evidenced by the podcast episodes provided.

The first episode Peter Ho Davies on Ben Lerner's 10:04 discusses how the 'parent plot' has emerged as a modern successor to the traditional 'marriage plot', with the decision of whether to have children now serving as a major marker of adulthood in contemporary literature.

The second episode Adelle Waldman on Sense & Sensibility delves deeper into the 'marriage plot' by analyzing how it manifests in Jane Austen's classic novel, 'Sense and Sensibility', and how it differs from the more contemporary 'rom-com' genre.