The Radical Idea Of Marrying For Love Analysis

730 Words2 Pages

Taima Al-Iriani
ACPI, P1
November 16,2015 The Radical Idea of Marrying for love

“The Radical Idea of Marrying for love” by Coontz, talked about different definitions of marriage according to different cultures. She also talked about love, marriage, and the relationship between them. Coontz focused on the definitions of “Happily Ever after” and how different people view it. Problems are common between all couples, and Coontz talked about the different problems couples used to go through in ancient ages. The article began by defining marriage as “an institution that brings together two people”, according to George Bernard shaw, and “rarely in history has love been seen as the main reason for getting married”(4).
Historians and sociologists …show more content…

Also, Catholic and Protestant theologians believed that husbands and wives shouldn’t love each other too much because it was considered to be a sin of idolatry. According to Coontz, Muslims were more approving of the sexual passion between husband and wife than Christians. They also thought that too much intimacy between a husband and his wife weakened a believer's devotion to God. Men used to marry more than one wife because love was rarely the main reason for a happy marriage. Some women speak about how wonderful and lucky it is to be the “love wife”, but not many experience that. Taita men usually marry their love wife after they’re married multiple …show more content…

In China, a woman brought her sister to her husband’s home as a backup wife. Americans’ idea about polygamy was that it wasn’t acceptable. Also, Chinese ideas about a good wife in the 1900s were that she didn’t bother her husband with news about her feelings. She would also treat him as a guest no matter for how long they had been married.
“A woman can always get another husband, but she has only one brother, “was a popular saying in 1930s , by a Kiowa Indian woman (9). It proved how family bonds were very important to them. The word love referred to feelings toward God or neighbors, but never to a partner. In China, the bond between son with his father still is stronger than the bond between the son with wife.
Coontz concluded by speaking about “ The Revolutionary Implications of The Love Match”. The critics of love match argued that the values of free choice could easily spin out of control. There was also a fear that the pursuit of personal happiness could undermine self-discipline, and it took a hundred years for the contradictions that gave rise to these fears to pose a serious threat to the stability of the new system of

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