One of my favorite things about this is when Arcite and Palamon fall in
love with Emelye “at first sight.” Simply because this is so common in stories
but I personaly don’t believe it is real. I never hear about it in real life
so the idea that it is consistently placed in stories is interesting. In my
eyes it kind of shows what people desire and that’s to be able to do that.
But, it also shows
how shallow people can be in terms of what they are looking for which is
honestly just arm candy and that is prevalent In stories especially this one.
Both men “fell in love,” with someone they didn’t even actually know. All they
cared about was how she looked and how beautiful she was. What I also noticed
was that they fought over her, two cousins fought over a woman.
I always here
people joke about women tearing families apart and I also see it in a lot of
older fictional stories.
Women do have a significant amount of power in these stories but I love that they use their emotions and looks to their advantage. They women in this story clearly believe if you got it, flaunt it. Also as far as the two cousins I think that its kinda cool to see them discussing who loved her first and they still try (emphasis on the try) to remain in a knightly manner. I agree that if they both do not get to see her they why didnt they both choose to be free because even Palamon's proactive plan could have been altered to actually benefit him. I would agree to the term "family over everything", because fighting over a female whom from what they know may or may not have an substance is a little idiotic.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, all of the stories that we have read (for the most part) have been immensely shallow. Men tend to objectify women over and over again. So I'm not surprised that we have two idiots doing the same thing. Rather than see her as an individual who has her own thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and maybe even a lover of her own, they choose to see her physical beauty and lay claim to it. This stands true today. I know so many dudes who will see a "fine" woman walk past them and say that they are going to try and get a "piece of that". They don't want to get to know her. They just want to fuck her and move on. What these two young knights are feeling is lust not love, because if it was love then they would be more considerate to her wants and wishes rather than their own. As to why Arcite left his cousin, I think he did it because they both drew a line in the sand when they looked at Emelye. They both came to the realization that there would be no peace between them. Arcite ofcourse would let his cousin rot in prison! He has no chance of getting out (he thought) so it would be better to just leave him there so as to keep him further away from Emelye.
ReplyDeleteI love that one claims to have loved her as a woman fist, therefore, he should be the one to have her. Talk about bro code 101 - you don't date your best friend's girl, even if he hasn't talked to her. Whatever, right? It couldn't be possible that Emelye wouldn't want either of them, that would never occur to these guys. As for freedom, I would be choosing that as well! Screw some pretty girl you only laid eyes on once!
ReplyDeleteWhile I do have a legit problem with the objectification of women in these stories, I'm not sure if "love at first sight" is a negative thing. The way I understand these stories it is that they are dramatizations, kind of like a play. For instance, in one story (I don't remember which), Beowulf (or maybe it is King Arthur...gah...well anyway a knight) hacks hundreds of men into pieces with a single blow of his sword. While that's obviously impossible, the story is trying to get across "damn he's strong!"
ReplyDeleteI think this whole "love at first sight" thing is a similar way. We don't take it very well in modern society, but I think it's the story's way of saying "they felt a real connection to this girl and understood her." It's definitely problematic in some aspects, but in others it's kind of sweet. As for "love at first sight" in real life, I think it can happen to an extent. Even if I didn't have a mature love for my husband when I first saw him (also I was 14 at the time), I did think, "oh he's cool." I think these stories are just trying to dramatize what happens in real life.
Also cool stick figure gif. For real.
It really is a shame how men will gawk at a woman and decide that it is there mission for the night to take them home. Who said they want you back? Who said they want anyone other than the company they came there with? Who said they were even straight? Men really haven't learned over time which is even more of a shame...and some guys think we are less intelligent...righhtt. I am team Emelye all the way on this one. Even though I did enjoy how Palamone ended up with her, I think it's badass to admit that she really couldn't care less about being with a man. She deserved to have the cousin who loved her most, I mean Diana said she had to have one, which in my opinion was a little weird but I guess the Gods knew what they were doing.
ReplyDelete