Why were marriges arranged in Shakespeare's times?

Answer 1

Marriages were arranged for different reasons, depending on who was getting married.

Royal wedding were arranged for diplomatic purposes to make alliances between nations and dynasties of monarchs.

Members of the nobility similarly allied their families with other families in order to strengthen their positions.

Middle class people arranged marriages for the purpose of allying families in the same crafts or trades in order to increase their wealth and abilities. Bankers and merchants wanted to extend the areas in which they could do business, both geographically and in clientele. Crafts people wanted to avail themselves of technology and other business assets, both in terms of property and in terms of reputation and connection.

There were other reasons to arrange marriages, which was to maintain the power of the family, and of its head. The old Roman pater familias was a very powerful person, and this power was not to be given up easily. He wanted to maintain power over what important things his family members did, and marriage was among them. He would not want a son or daughter, or a grandson or granddaughter, marrying without consent, as this would reduce his power and the coherence of the family. And in many place, the idea of consent was replaced by arrangement.

Remnants of this sort of power, familial and financial, still exist.