Georgina Annabelle Lincoln (bcgal) wrote in neogenesisrpg, @ 2009-07-05 11:05:00 |
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George Bernard Shaw described marriage as an institution that brings together two people “under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions. They are required to swear that they will remain in that heightened, abnormal and exhausting condition continuously until death do them part.” Shaw’s comment was amusing when he wrote them at the beginning of the twentieth century, and it still makes us smile today, because it pokes fun at the unrealistic expectations that spring from a dearly held cultural ideal – that marriage should be based on intense, profound love and a couple should maintain their ardour until death do them part. But for thousands of years the joke would have fallen flat.
For most of history it was inconceivable that people would choose their mates on the basis of something as fragile and irrational as love and then focus all their sexual, intimate and altruistic desires on the resulting marriage. In fact, many historians, sociologists and anthropologists used to think romantic loves was a recent Western invention. This is not true. People have always fallen in love, and throughout the ages many couples have loved each other deeply.
But only rarely in history has love been seen as the main reason for getting married. When someone did advocate such a strange belief, it was no laughing matter. Instead it was considered a severe threat to social disorder...