The Pros And Cons Of Arranged Marriage

“Our matriarchs had an interesting advantage over today 's western women. Matriarchs didn 't begin their marriage with love. Instead, they were taught how to love. They entered marriage with an earnest determination to grow a love that would sustain their marriage for a life-time” (Zenhabe). Love is a universal virtue that is found in the sacred bond of marriage. Arranged marriage is a unique practice that changes the perspective of marriage from a bond that blossomed from love to a seed that uses love to blossom. The practice of arranged marriage is dwindling as society evolves but there are still many parts of the world that hold firm to the tradition. Although the success of the sacred sacrament of marriage is a practice that cannot

Of these aspects are their divorce rates. Westernized countries have a far lower rate of participation in arranged marriages, could there be a correlation between this fact and their divorce rates? maybe take out. The divorce rate in the western world is at its peak. Countries such as France and the United States have a divorce rate of over 50%, whereas countries with a higher participation in these marriages almost never divorce. For example, in India, where arranged marriages are presently viewed as the norm by 89% of marriages being arranged, a 2011 census concluded that the country’s divorce rate is an astoundingly low 0.31% (“Statistic”). So then, It has been established that arranged marriages have a lower divorce rate, the question still remains as to why. There are both positive and negative answers to this question. Harvard-educated Dr. Robert Epstein studied subjects of arranged marriages from South Asian cultural groups and analyzed the amount of love their marriages contain. In love marriages, he concluded that love decreased over time, leaving them only half as in love in 18 months as they were initially entering the marriage. In contrast, in arranged marriages the couples’ love grew greater and doubled in amount after 5 years (Paul). Therefore, through this data, one can conclude that a plausible reason for arranged marriages having a lower divorce rate is

The first is satisfaction or happiness as a result of fully developing one 's abilities or character (“fulfillment”). In Reva Seth’s novel First Comes Marriage one gains an understanding of the expectation happiness placed upon the parties. It reads, "Women in arranged marriages don 't expect their husbands to fulfill all their emotional needs," Seth explains, "They look to their spouse as a life partner, a companion, and a source of support — but not as their only provider of happiness.”(“Happier”). The problem in many westernized marriages that are adamant on love is that, in many instances, they seek happiness from their partner, without understanding that virtues such as happiness need to be felt first from within. As this passage from First Comes Marriage demonstrates, partners in arranged marriages understand that in order to be fulfilled in marriage one cannot place the burden of their happiness in the hands of their partner, one has to understand that their partner is not a means for their happiness but that their relationship is just one of many sources where happiness can be found. Next, Google defines fulfillment as, “the achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted”(“Fulfillment”). Many Arranged marriages are fulfilled through knowing that their expectation of a life-long commitment is one that will be a reality. Seth’s novel First Comes Marriage