Stephanie Coontz: “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love”
Introduction
According to Coontz on the subject of “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love”, she illustrates her ideas that marriage expectations are sometimes unrealistic to many people from different cultures. This idea of marrying for love is also emphasized more by George Bernard Shaw’s theory. According to Shaw, the main purpose of marriage is to bring two people together who are under the effects of passion and only death can separate them. Therefore, Coontz in her article tries to describe the various manners in which different cultures perceive the idea of love and marriage. In her opinion, most people from different cultures get married and fall in love as the days pass by, but they do not get married because they are in love. Love when marrying in some cultures is meaningless, although in other cultures, love is the major purpose why people get into marriage because they perceive it as a necessity according to Coontz. My general expression on this article is that it is informative and interesting since the information provided was of great use to me. Interestingly, I learned that love is not a necessity in different cultures, and some people just get married and then fall in love later. It is quite interesting to learn the main purposes why people get married in different cultures. The article was very informative to me. Love and marriage are considered to go together for an everlasting and strong relationship in different cultures, therefore it is necessary that people respect the way each culture takes on this issue of love and marriage.
Summary
The article demonstrates the idea of love and marriage in different cultures. Coontz explains in detail the history of marriage in different cultures worldwide. In addition, she illustrates how marriage has changed from being a necessity just for the community survival to being a basic fulfillment in people’s lives in terms of happiness and excitement. Historically, marriage was viewed as tool to survive things such as affectionate and passion had little or no place in most marriages. According to George Shaw’s theory, people should take marriage seriously by involving the idea of love so that they remain together until death separate them. In some cultures according to history, it was absurd for some to get married with the claim of being in love with the partner.
However, that mentality changed in some cultures and currently, most people fall in love, get married and live together forever in love. It is still surprising that in some cultures, it was good for a person to get married then develop love later. In Marriage, in case love was accepted then it was only for a short time, such cultures did not encourage the idea that couples should expose their feeling to each other.
Analysis of presentation
Love is something that builds up relationships and binds two people together forever. Without love, many relationships and marriages are bound to break. The society is experiencing a high rate of divorce among families because there is no love shared between the husband and wife. There are a good number of people leaving their spouses or partners because they feel that the love they shared at first is not there anymore. Therefore, love is the binding factor in marriage and relationships. Hence, when Coontz the author argues that love is not a necessity in marriage, it may not be true especially with the current world. Today, love is the centre stage of any relationship. Love is perceived to be extremely important in the modern world and many people get married after falling in love first not like in the past where people would marry then start falling in love later. It is because of love husband and wives have for each other that make it hard for them to break up through a divorce just because either the wife or the husband is infertile. A good number of people who get married because of love tend to persevere each other’s burden by helping them out, caring for them and being there for them when necessary or all the time. Unlike in the past or in other cultures where husbands could be forced to divorce his wife by his parents if the wife was not behaving as required by the family or if she failed to give birth to a specific child in terms of gender according the Coontz. For instance, cultures such as the China communities where they have a belief that too much love expressed between married couples is taken to be a threat to unity of the extended family. The husband could be encouraged to marry another wife or even get himself a concubine. Interestingly, if the husband is seen expressing too much to his wife in a romantic manner, the parents could send the wife away from their home. This is never the case when it comes to those couples who get married because of the love they share for each other.
It is important that individuals respect the values of love and marriage and they should not find any excuse for not sharing or showing their love to their partners. Coontz tells us that some cultures accepted or encouraged loving outside marriage. This should not be the case in the current world because it only causes family breakups and separations where the children are always the victims. For instance, according to Coontz, this is how love was viewed in France during the 12th century. It was declared that if a man loved his wife so much, then he was considered a dull man and therefore no other person could wish to associate with him.
However, currently few societies have accepted the idea of love and have incorporated it successfully in their marriages and child upbringing. This can be seen in different countries like Western Europe and North America, which have established the entire process of new values on the manners in which they can plan and organize the issues of marriage, love and sexuality. These values have been proved to be useful thus are being spread all over the world. These values emphasizes that marriages are supposed to meet psychological and social needs more than ever before. There is supposed to be freedom in marriages, more understanding, love, less or no violence, and no gender discriminations as they used to be in the past.
Response to the Presentation
My general response on this article presentation is that it was an effective article because its ideas are informing and interesting thus of great use to me. Interestingly, I learned that love is not a necessity in marriage to different cultures, and some people just get married and then fall in love later. The author did her best in writing this article because it addressed important issues that are affecting many societies especially love and marriage. She emphasized the need to embrace love in marriages to avoid experiencing divorces and separation within families. The author succeeded in her presentation because her article was detailed well as required thus creates satisfaction to the reader.
Conclusion
The main purpose of marriage is for two people who are under the influence of passion to come together and share love until death separates them. Coontz in her article described the various ways in which different cultures view the idea of love and marriage. In her opinion, most people from different cultures get married and fall in love as the days pass by, but they do not get married because they are in love. The idea of love in many cultures does not exist; in fact, it is viewed as an abomination for someone to express too much love to his or her married partner. For instance, in Chinese society, any relationship based on love was considered a social threat to the extended family thus; it was not approved by the family. In France, any man seen to fall in love was isolated from others because he was viewed as not an active man in the society. Therefore, Coontz in her article has shown as the radical idea for marrying for love in many different cultures.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]