The musical, Fiddler on the Roof, presented many traditions that are common in the Jewish faith. One of these traditions is the custom of asking the father of the family for permission to marry. The father's often choose their daughters future husbands to ensure they are a proper match. Throughout the musical, Tevye, the main character's, daughters continually defy his "right" to choose their husbands, by picking men that their father wouldn't necessarily have chosen for them. Many of these engagements are arranged with the help of a matchmaker, who informs the mothers of who is eligible for their daughter to marry. Tevye’s oldest daughter decides to defy her father and not marry the man he has chosen for her. She marries an old friend. Tevye’s second daughter marries a man who is not Jewish, which is against her father’s wishes. He decides to shun his daughter and tells the rest of the family not to contact her. This becomes incredibly hard for the family to do when they are uprooted from their home and are forced to move to America.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
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Hey Lindsay, i was wondering what your opinion is on arranged marriages. You tell the story over but don't include your input. I'm not surprised you choose this tradition though because it seemed to be the prominent tradition in the play, which is also why i choose to write about it. However i forgot to include the part where his second daughter marries outside their religion. The act of shunning his daughter was bold and portrayed how hurt he was that his daughter was breaking such tradition.
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