The Shakesperean norm of love, 1 thus understood, may be described somewhat as follows. Love could mean liking; affection (which might grow with shared experience), and physical attraction. But a ‘common proverb’ said that ‘hot love is soon cold’: sexual passion was an unsafe basis for an enduring marriage. Men also performed all the roles in plays. Shakespeare’s work reveals ideas relating to marriage, romance, and love throughout early modern Europe during the Renaissance specifically in Elizabethan England. In principle, love was at the heart of marriage. ... Katherine is dismissed by polite society as an unmarriageable “shrew”. The purpose of arranged marriages in the Elizabethan Era was not to marry for love and have affection for one another. The Role of Men in Elizabethan Society Men had greater freedom and power during the Elizabethan era. He explores the tension, in Shakespeare’s plays, between the old order, in which fathers chose their daughters’ husbands, and the new order based on mutual love, but still plagued by the threat of infidelity. The image of the Masculine Friend, which was a prosperous candidate for these swelling power relationships, is a well-known bond perceived during the Elizabethan era. Arranged marriages were to strengthen a family when you preserve its claim to wealth and land. After all, the only relationship that lasts (Tom and Daisy's) lasts because of the security of being in the same class, while the others fail either due to cross-class dating or one member (Myrtle) desperately trying to break out of her given class. Even though this was a time where a woman was in the highest seat of power, this was not the case for the average woman during the patriarchal society’s era.… Claudio and Hero’s relationship started off at love at first sight therefore they did not know each ... Shakespeare explores some of the inseparable elements of the Elizabethan society. Elizabethan Weddings and Marriages “Just as today a woman’s wedding was one of the most important days of her life” (William Shakespeare info). The Elizabethan era, commonly referred to as the “Golden Age”, was a time where Queen Elizabeth I reigned supreme and the society underwent various developmental changes. She is today celebrated as one of Shakespeare’s strongest female characters, as she is sharp, witty and incredibly clever. The comedy involves two distinctive types of couples who defy all odds to achieve happy endings at the completion of the play. relationships and avoids contact with or anxiety over women‟s sexuality. In Homosexuality and the Signs of Male Friendship in Elizabethan England , Bray comments on the idea of the ‘Masculine Friend’ versus the homosexual or sodomite. You could explore how the relationships expose that America is in fact a classist society. (12) Sometimes, with a well-secured marriage, a family van go up in society. They held all the professional jobs in fields such as medicine, law and politics. Love is a passion, kindling heart, brain, and senses alike in natural and happy proportions; ardent but not sensual, tender but not sentimental, pure but not ascetic, moral but not puritanic, joyous but not frivolous, mirthful and witty but not cynical. Eric Rasmussen explains the complex process of getting married in Shakespeare’s England, and the way this worked for young Will himself. Elizabethan audiences were expected to keep track of the fact that Viola was a man playing a woman playing a man. The construction of gender on stage often proves ambiguous, allowing for a flexibility of desire and action that did not necessarily hold with society‟s strict codes at the time. During the Elizabethan Era, most marriages were arranged, and some couples would be introduced to each other on their wedding day itself!