(Scary, I know.) So naturally, we have another affair and we're back to the standard "How to Get Away with Cheating on Your Husband" type story. It truly amazes me how cunning and...extra the characters are with their plans. Seeing the secrets of the world is a big thing, I'm just happy no one got caught and had their face shoved into a boiling vat of water. While I can understand the religious tides dictating a person's life during the time, how can someone be so gullible to just accept that your clerk can be closer to your wife than you??
I am a fan, however, of some dank revenge. Absolon was so kind in trying to win Alison's heart and not just forcing her to stay in his presence, and was met with a whole lot of BS. Glad he branded his revenge into the ass of Nicholas. But of course, poor John was made into a laughing stock and humiliated as well as thoroughly cheated on. RIP, here lies John's dignity.
Just some more shrugs. I'm not sure how I feel with it all. I just expect too much from these characters.
Lindsay, I am on the same page -- obviously, how could one not be with the "Trumped up" display of passing off misogyny as excepted romantic gestures of courtship!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that, even with the bawdy setting, story, and storyteller, it is a relief to find the characters in the end not dying violently -- as a woman with a strong feminist viewpoint (one shared by me I might add), I'm sure you'll agree that a little branding of a man is not necessarily a bad thing in some cases ;) .
I also see the frustrating confines of of the day -- between courtship "rules" or etiquette and the churches strong influences -- as limiting to say the least; and if not always plausible, their crazy, ridiculous plans do make for interesting and often humorous tales.
The hanging "tubs" in this version of crazy (romance?) is truly an ingenious device for humor here.
Lastly, (once again) I have to agree that the implausibility is stretched -- even in this "genre" with a husband convinced that his clerk knows best when advising him to stay away from his wife , religious influences or no!
I agree that it started off a little...extra. But I think that overall, it was a story for entertaining. There were some questionable moments regarding religion and loyalty, but don't most of these medieval stories we're reading have something similar? I think that the point of this one was to make people laugh at the ridiculousness of the plans made by the characters.
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