This week's topic of "what does love have to do with it" is pretty interesting. I think that it's all about maintaining power. These men who were writing these stories (probably ministers or other men of high social standing) were still trying to teach to young women about the ways they should and should not act. The fact that the marriages were all arranged shows that marriage is something controlled by society, not the individuals involved. Therefore, these men were teaching young women not to fall in love and the dangers that could come from it because they wanted to be able to maintain control. The men did not even want these girls to realize that you can have your own romantic feelings because if they did, the men might lose their control over this part of the society. I think the higher social standing people of the communities wanted to keep things the way they are, especially the arranged marriages, in their control.
Just because these women were hurt and victimized by their love, I still think it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. I do not agree with the arranged marriage idea, but I think that is the normal opinion on that subject today. I can understand the men wanting to have arranged marriages so that they can keep control, but I do not think it is the best for the people involved. I mean, most of the girls (and men) during this time do not ever feel true love because they were just told who to marry. I think the idea of love worried the community leaders just like the idea of witchcraft did. Love is something that is unexplainable, unpredictable, and something no one can control. Arranged marriages could fix that problem, and creating these stories would teach girls not to fall for the guys trying to pick them up, because they will soon break their hearts, which will ultimately kill them and their parents!
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2 comments:
I fully agree that romantic love threatened the patriarchal structure. Arranging a daughter's marriage could be pretty lucrative for a father, and the tradition as a whole kept women under greater societal control. Like you said, the seduction narratives do far more than simply warn young women to watch out for rakes as they receive suitors. I think it's a definite possibility that the texts are also subtly discouraging too much romantic love--especially considering that the authors were men. Good thoughts.
Good posting. I think you did a good job comparing the fears witchcraft caused within Puritan's society with the fear of real love.
As long as marriage was a rational, negotiated "treaty", it didn't cause any "problems" because people knew what they were expected to do.
Besides, parents could still control their children and did have a big influence about their future. But what would happen if women married because of their real feelings??
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