Recent statistics have discovered that the divorce rate for first marriages in the United States has climbed to around 50%. With such a staggering percentage like this there must be an explanation for why so many marriages are failing to succeed in our society today. One explanation that comes to mind is that maybe these couples that are getting married, and divorcing at such a quick rate, were not really meant to marry in the first place.
On the day that Kirsten and Shelby led class, we discussed the topic of "soul mates", and how it related to Wuthering Heights. Many of us agreed that Heathcliff and Catherine were soul mates, despite the fact that Catherine ended up marrying Edgar. Catherine chose to marry Edgar in order to improve her social status, and because Edgar was a safe choice. This points out that many marriages occur for without the presence of love, which I believe is very similar to the relationship that Edgar and Catherine had. This could explain the rise in divorce rates.
Returning to the topic of soul mates, our class discussed the question of whether or not you can point out the qualities that you would like, or that you could see your soul mate having. Now lets just say that the majority of people marry their soul mates, and a sould mate is the perfect spouse. I don't believe you can actually plan out or visualize what kind of person your soul mate is, partly because many of us have distorted views of what a perfect spouse (or our soul mate) would be. So many people today describe what they want their future husband or wife to be like or look like. Alot of the qualities we search for are not ones that will sustain a lasting marriage, and therefore when things get tough, the qualities first seen in that person no longer exist and meaning of the marriage is not the same. I do believe that we all have a soul mate, and I do think that that a person's spouse must also be their soul mate in order for the marriage to last. Catherine decided to marry Edgar, who was not her soul mate. The events that followed leading to her death resulted from that decision.
