What a Girl Wants

Okay, so I have been really scared of writing these blog posts because everybody gets to see them and what if I make a mistake or write something dumb, but I am trying to become more comfortable with it.

So with that said, this is what I thought of the Wife of Bath’s Tale. I don’t think that in life, most women, there may be some who do, want to have dominance over anyone. I took dominance to mean complete control over something or someone. When thinking about this, I narrowed in on how relationships have changed over time and why sovereignty might have been more important back then.

Nowadays, I don’t think that what women want most is sovereignty in their relationship. I think that is because the dynamic of relationships have changed. An example of how relationships have changed is shown in the television show I Love Lucy, where Ricky Ricardo is still the dominant partner; he is the head of the household and he makes all of the decisions. Lucy has to ask him for permission to do and buy things. Back when this poem was written, women were given to their husbands along with all of their money and wealth. It was as if they were property and had to listen and serve their husbands until that happy day when their husband died. Now, I see relationships as more of an equal partnership, where everyone comes with what they have and what they have is shared in the relationship. I have a friend whose mother is a stay at home mom and her father works for the government. They share all of the household responsibilities. By household responsibilities, I don’t just mean the cooking and cleaning, I also mean the finances and taking care and maintaining the family.  They split the effort because they have determined that they are both equals and want to share the work that goes into having a family. Back in the times of the Canterbury Tales, women needed sovereignty from their husbands because it was the only way that they could get a say in the relationship.

I also don’t think that being widowed is seen as a good thing or a thing to look forward to anymore. I could be wrong, but I don’t know of anybody who is waiting for the day that their husband will die. I know that back then, women wanted their husbands to die so that they could acquire all of the money and property and have sovereignty.