Arranged Marriages In The Italian Renaissance

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Arranged marriages are not a new concept, having been around since the ancient times, nor are they extinct in today’s world. The general idea behind it is guaranteeing the parents’ choice of a spouse for their children and they take into account multiple variables when choosing a potential mate for their children. “The Family” by Alessandra Strozzi reveals the behind the scenes of a proposed arranged marriage in the Italian Renaissance. While today, it seems silly to Western civilizations to have arranged marriages, doing so in that period was common. Whether it was for convenience, power or just simply keeping up the prestige of the family, we know of these types of marriages occurred through these documents. The daughters were not involved in the marriage negotiations conducted often through men alone, …show more content…

It represented typical behavior that one finds in that period. In Johnathan W. Zophy’s text, “A Short History of Renaissance and Reformation Europe: Dances Over Fire and Ice”, he discusses at length the Italian Renaissance. For example, he writes, “the age started with females generally subordinated to males and restricted by law and custom” (Zophy 3). This way of live was set in in motion, women were to serve their husband and daughters listened to their fathers. At this point, it is fair to question the relationship between men and women. Zophy writes of women, “for the most part, did not have much of a “renaissance” ” (Zophy 3). In “The Family”, Alessandria, a woman attempts to connect her exiled soon with a prospective bride with the help of a man, only to fall short in her attempts. This reveals the power dynamics between men and women. Regardless of the gender, both men and women were married to each other with the parentings arranging the ordeal. However, for sons, they are involved in the negotiations, while the daughters were