Monday, April 9, 2012


The Arch Priest sees love as a deceitful, lying force, with the potential to drive men crazy. The Arch Priest goes on for  a long time, insulting and yelling at Love for all his perceived mean-spirited ways.
Finally, Love answers back that the reason that the Arch Priest has been so unsuccessful is that he never came to Love for help. Love then goes on to give the Arch Priest detailed instructions for how to behave around women and how to choose a good woman. So, in many regards Love acts as a mentor or a teacher to the Arch Priest.   
The instructions that Love gives to the Arch Priest are very similar, in many regards, to the "code of love" that many people live by today. Love describes the right woman to court as having a "good figure and a small head, blonde hair, but not died with henna"(113). Love also says to find a  "woman you can see without her shirt on, to tell if her figure suits you"(113) I'm not sure if that is meant to be mean a woman who the man can "mentally undress" or actually see without her shirt. But, if it's the second, that doesn't say much for her moral character, considering that they are still talking about choosing woman.  But it does seem that men still judge with their eyes before anything else, as Love instructs.
The advise Love gives about how to behave around the "chosen woman"still seems applicable today. He says "Don't speak of other women to her, just praise her" because it will make her jealous to see her man is interested in other women. He also says not to gossip about her. He gives a lot more advise that seems applicable to the modern rules of socially acceptable dating behavior.

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