Arranged marriages have had a positive but oppressive impact on world society since the Elizabethan era. They were most commonly found in Eastern cultures such as India and Japan. In Western culture it was extremely popular during the Elizabethan era. Just as it seems today that a marriage serves to seal the love one has for another, having an arranged marriage is like sealing a contract with your parents. Arranged marriages influence the societies that use them by providing wealth, money, and power to couples and their families even if the marriage is unjust. An arranged marriage is one in which parents force the prospective spouses to marry someone they might have. never encountered before without being taken into consideration (Zuffoletti 1). “Marriages would be arranged to bring prestige or wealth to the family. The children of landowners were expected to marry to increase the extent of cultivated acreage” (Alchin 1). Usually another reason why arranged marriages occurred was because "parents know better" and are better equipped to find a soulmate with the same interests and are more compatible with you (Ros 1). Furthermore, “During the Elizabethan era there were numerous family alliances formed by arranged marriages” (Level 1). I'm not sure of the reasons for this, but this adds to a reason why many families had arranged marriages for their children. Arranged marriages were arranged on both sides of families so that both could benefit from wealth. This strength gave Elizabethan women very little choice in who to marry. In almost all cases, brides did not meet their spouses until the wedding day. A woman's wedding day is the most i...... middle of paper ......l Brides were used as currency." Arranged Marriages: Past and Present. Np, nd Web. February 2, 2014 .Sammy, Cheyanna. "Marriage and the role of women in the Elizabethan era. Ed. Jocelyn Kirkwood, 21 January 2013. Web. 12 February 2014. love." ABC News, January 30, 2009. Web. Alexandra R. "Traditional Arranged Marriages".. 2014. .