A girl's first love is usually her father, an observation that Shakespeare relied heavily on when writing many of his plays. He successfully masters the art of explaining the traditional Elizabethan marriage ritual as well as the importance of father-daughter relationships. Although, as Lynda E. Boose, author of "The Father and the Bride in Shakespeare," explains, Shakespeare's creation of many father-daughter relationships and marriage rituals in his plays was not always successful. of success and some tended to distort or mock expectations. by Elizabethan society, particularly in the case of Romeo and Juliet where her wedding scene with Romeo violates every aspect of the traditional wedding ceremony. In the Elizabethan era, the traditional marriage ceremony consisted of a marriage performed in a church which symbolized the separation from a father. and her daughter as well as the transition to the daughter's newly married life. As Arnold van Gennep states, there are three major “rites of passage” which include “separation, transition, and reincorporation” (qtd. in Boose 325). First the father ...