Marriage is defined as the social institution under which a man and wife establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments and religious ceremonies. The word marriage comes from the Latin word “mas” meaning male. Originally, marriage was the action of a father giving his daughter to another man. Marriage varies slightly around the world, as it is influenced by cultural beliefs and customs. In earlier times marriage was more of a family duty than a romantic encounter. In many areas of the world it was considered shameful to marry only for love. Marriage was used as a tool to raise a person's status or get a hold of the in-law's property.
In Europe, the royal families often used marriage as a sort of peace treaty between two nations. The idea was that a father would not try to take over the kingdom of which his daughter was now the queen or princess. Also, royal families had a practice of marrying within their own families. It was considered below the royal status to take a wife or husband who was not also of royal blood, so without any new genes being added into the mix the royals suffered from many of the genetic problems of being inbred. One such case was with the House of Habsburg. This was the family that Charles II of Spain descended from. He suffered from so many genetic abnormalities that he could not even chew his food properly.
Until relatively recently, marriages were often dominated by men. This is apparent in many marriage traditions. In ancient Greece and Rome, the woman was expected to leave her family and become a part of her husband's house. At that time the responsibility of caring and providing for her is completely transferred to the husband. Recently though, marriage dynamics have changed dramatically. Many wives work as well as their husbands, and if a man dominates the wife in their relationship, often he is labeled oppressive.
There is a form of marriage known as polygamy, in which a person has more than one spouse. This form of marriage is not accepted in religions such as Christianity and Judaism. The most common form of polygamy is when a man takes multiple wives. In many Middle Eastern cultures it was acceptable to keep as many wives as a man could afford and treat fairly. It was not a case of getting tired of the old wife and getting a new one to replace her. Tradition states that all wives must be treated with equal kindness and all must be provided for materially.
Infidelity in a marriage is a rather touchy subject. It is almost universally unacceptable for the female in the marriage to cheat on her husband, but there are certain circumstances when it becomes acceptable for the man to have affairs outside of the marriage. In ancient times the woman was viewed to be property, her feelings towards her husband’s actions were not taken into consideration. In many eastern cultures it was not uncommon for him to keep a concubine or mistress as the role of the wife was to bear a child and the role of the other woman would have been to give the man pleasure.
In O Brother, Where Art Thou? the underlying reason behind Everett's urgent need to escape from prison was that he needed to win back his recently divorced ex-wife, Penny, before she could get remarried. Penny divorced Everett “from shame” because he was in jail for fraud. He was working as a lawyer with a fake license. Penny, being a woman in a male dominated era, was not going to be able to support their daughters by herself while Everett was in jail, so remarriage became a sort of necessity in order to take care of her family.
The only way that Everett could hope to win her back would be to prove to her that he could provide for her and their children, but seeing as he was a convict on the run, there wasn't much hope of him finding a job that he was legally able to do. As he was trying to convince her, he mentioned that he could get a guy he knows to print him up a dental license to which Penny became disgusted with him. She has the ability to choose between Everett and her fiancé, Vernon T. Waldrip, so there is nothing he could do to force her to marry him.
In a way, Everett became legitimate on accident. If he hadn't sung that song in front of that exact crowd, Pappy O'Daniel would not have pardoned the three of them and made them his brain trust. In the end luck and coincidence are what make Everett's journey back to his wife successful. Their marriage was based on partnership; Everett was expected to provide for and be there for the family and Penny was expected to care for and raise the children. When Everett was sent to prison; he was not upholding his end of the marriage. If he had not had all the experiences on his journey to change him, Penny probably would not have taken him back.
Odysseus and Penelope had very different marriage dynamics than Everett and Penny. Odysseus expected her to ward off any possible advances from suitors while he was off being seduced by goddesses. If she had caved to the suitors advances, Odysseus may not have taken her back to be his wife. He ordered the women servants to be killed along with the suitors, so we can reasonably assume Penelope would also have met a tragic fate. Everett on the other hand is at Penny's mercy. They are both in similar situations, however, because both Penelope and Penny are being courted by new suitors. Odysseus was considered to be dead and Penny told everyone that Everett was hit by a train. Both of the societies that they lived in frowned upon single mothers who owned property, so they were both being pressured to remarry and move on.
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