Marriage in The Tempest

In The Tempest Shakespeare mentions briefly marriage, but it is enough to remind us about what was happening in Measure for Measure. In Measure for Measure we go back to when we discussed how the government was trying to have control over the people and saying that society cannot be married without following the rules set down my the government. And the play was a mockery of this, saying that the government cannot do everything it says it will do, it cannot be everywhere and do everything. In The Tempest the opposite is occurring. Marriage is shown to be incomplete without the traditions of society and the witness by the government. This is shown when Prospero is telling Ferdinand to hold him self back and not to have sex with his daughter, Miranda, until they have gone through with the marriage ceremony:
PROSPERO. Then as my gift and thine own acquisition Worthily purchased, take my daughter. But If thou dost break her virgin knot before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be ministered, No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall To make this contract grow, but barren hate Sour-eyed disdain, and discord shall bestrew The union of your bed with weeds so loathly That you shall hate it both. Therefore take heed, As Hymen's lamps shall light you. (4.1.13-23)
We can see that through this quote the marriage ceremony holds a stronger bond with society then it did in Measure for Measure. And maybe this is Shakespeare’s way of telling his audience that marriage is defined by us and that whatever way one wishes to be married or whoever one wishes to marry, is of no concern to anyone but those who are being married. Marriage is a bond between man and heaven, not man and society.
Spencer Sohler