Valene Sell ENG 112 Prof Cory Hoover 3 September 2012 Summary Final Draft A Summary of “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love” by Stephanie Coontz In her essay “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love,” Stephanie Coontz examines the history of marriage in different cultures around the world. She explains how at first marriage started out as a way to define ones’ social status and financial well-being. Love played little or no part in a marriage and was even discourages at times. Other societies considered it a bonus if love developed after marriage, but it was not the sole basis for marriage. Even today in some cultures monogamy and love are not seen as a necessary part of a marriage, men or woman can seek out other needs and not be ridiculed for it It is believed mostly in Western culture that “married couples should be best friends, sharing their most intimate feelings and secrets.
A lot of children resent their step parents and this also makes the situation all the more problematic. Lots of step parents have issues with how to discipline or even if to discipline at all. I feel that if my ex-spouse remarried, I would want the new wife to treat my child just as I would. If he or she needed to be chastised then it would be her responsibility to do it. If I were a step parent I would expect the parents to be completely okay with me treating the child in the same manner that they would.
However we also find out throughout the course of the book how marriage wasn't always about love. Charlotte Lucas claimed, "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance". A very common view then, that Austen herself would have been very familiar with. Often marriages were more like business deals, simply a means of acquiring an establishment where habitually feelings weren't relevant. There was the mercenary marriage, brought about for financial reasons, the marriage based on passion and physical attraction, and lying somewhere in between, was the ideal.
“What Marriage is For,” by Maggie Gallagher is in essence the conservative view and Natural Law Theory of Gay Marriage. She states dozens of times that the fundamental purpose of marriage is for a man and woman to procreate, and that a child can only be happy if brought up by his/her biological parents. Otherwise, the child would grow up in an unstable household and develop mental instability. Divorce is on the rise and motherless children are being brought up in an unhealthy environments, so, why make matters worse by permitting gay marriage? “Marriage is the fundamental, cross-cultural institution for bridging the male-female divide so that children have loving, committed mothers and fathers.” She explains that this is absolutely necessary for a child to be happy, and grow up in a normal environment.
This quote is a paradox because while reading this the reader can apprehend that the unintended meeting was not as bad as it should have been. The one thing that is keeping the true lovers apart is the family feud (Montague’s and the Capulet’s) that’s been going on for many years. But Romeo and Juliet don’t care and later on they go against their families and get married. Tybat (Juliet’s cousin) was killed and Juliet’s parents think that it was the reason she committed suicide. As soon as the nurse finds out that Tybalt is dead her reaction is very troubling and she doesn’t exactly know how to break it to Juliet so at the end result she says, “Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; Romeo that kill’d him, he is banished.” (3.2.69-70).
In the sixteenth century, procreation was seen as the main importance and product of marriage. Bertrande soon found that her new husband, Martin, was impotent. “It was humiliating, and the village surely let them know about it. A married couple who had not had a pregnancy after a certain period of time was a perfect target for a charivari (20).“ Not only did the wife of Martin feel shameful, but Bertande’s parents were pressing their daughter to separate from Martin as soon as possible. The unconsummated marriage was among the first ways in which Martin is portrayed as an unsuitable husband by sixteenth
The two families hold a immense responsibility for the deaths of the star cross lovers as they kept the feud going far longer than what was necessary. The conflict set a strong presumption that Romeo and Juliet's relationship would not be supported, forcing them to keep it secret.The rivalry also caused Tybalt and Mercutio’s violent deaths which had an enormous effect to how their love story ended. Juliet's parents especially should be blamed. Lady capulet, Juliet's mother was narrow minded and domineering. She believed an arranged marriage was a necessity for Juliet without considering Juliet's opinions or concerns.
Even though the two women were matched with their cousins, neither of them liked their “fiances”. In one way or another, this led Shah and Muhibi to have angst against the men, pushing them away from their families. They both also didn’t want to disappoint their families, because they knew it would lead to unrest among the older relatives. Not accepting the arranged marriage meant disloyalty, and in the middle east, loyalty is among the highest qualities between families. If you broke that bond, you were ousted immediately.
Marriage is the most important social institution, and it is a formality for the perpetuation of procreation; hence same sex marriage cannot meet this requirement. In other words, same sex marriage does not aid in procreation, which sustains our species. Same sex marriage will destroy our society. Some believe that although gay couples cannot produce children, they can have adopted children and fulfill a social need. That may seem like a good idea, but I am sure that there must be differences between a child who grows up in an environment with same sex couples than with regular heterosexual parents.
My wife and I want to go West” (123). Wilson needs to get away from the person his wife is having an affair with and by moving west he will have both ended the affair and made his wife happy. If he would have decided to stay he would have been driven mad by the fact of knowing that his wife was cheating on him and would have most likely killed Tom. Do to their relationship Tom is the most aggressive in the conversations and the only way that Wilson would have overcome that would have been o shoot Tom. The diction in this passage reveals many traits of George Wilson and the solemn tone in which describes his