The Romance of the Rose from the Norton Anthology of English LiteratureI just read this excerpt from a 13th century poem for British Literature class.
It is literally timeless.
Quick synopsis; an old woman is telling a young person (the text is in the masculine but if one reads the introduction it is said that there is some confusion over that point as the context is more like an old woman talking to a young woman, and in some illustrated manuscripts the young person is shown as a woman) about how to succeed in love.
Understand that when I write this I have the utmost respect for women (I have more close gemale friends than male friends, for instance), and I am making generalizations of the grandest sort. Offense is not my intent at all, but merely to point out how culturally things haven't changed much.
The Old Woman starts out by saying that, if they're nice guys, a young woman should see as many rich men as possible, and take advantage of that. What does our culture today teach? Diamonds are a girl's best friend and whatnot.
The next thing stated is that the woman should deceive men in order to take advantage of them. Again, I'm not endorsing or saying that this behavior is in any way honorable but it is a theme that we see over and over again in culture.
Next, we have some fashion tips; show off thine bust.
Learn how to cry properly, because it'll be good to manipulate men.
Table manners are important, of course.
Getting drunk would be bad, because she'll spill secrets, and will have "no defences".
Don't stay inside all the time, get out and party it up and be seen.
Next, women want to be free.
And, finally, the Old Woman talks about her past. This was the thing that really struck me. She talks about being in love with this jerk who called her a whore, did horrible things to her, but then would make up and they'd have make-up sex. And so she'd stay with him, and support him, because he didn't work. So, because of him, once she got past the age where she could use her womanly charms to woo men and get money, she ended up poor. So, the message is, in the end, find a balance between getting around, taking advantage of guys, and then finding one that will take care of you when you're old.
This certainly doesn't seem to jive with what we commonly think of as the medieval view on love and women. Here women are meant to be strong, independent people that are self-sufficient and not view men as caregivers to a "weak" sex but rather to view men as buffoons and traitors that can be played for money and sex. In a way, love was an enemy in this story, because it made the Old Woman poor, in the end. Very interesting.
I would have thought that this was a REALLY modern concept, but turns out that I was wrong.
It just goes to show, that people haven't really changed, over the years. There was no "Good 'ol days"; people have always been people, and always will be people, until we go extinct.
