So she should envy me and my knowledge. Of course, what do you expect –
hearing that – she threw a nasty fit; of course, women would do that.
“No more lectures!” cried she, on just one of my lovely overtures about life.
Lectures? Young lady, you should be pleased to hear such stories and learn,
learn important lessons from me. She accused me of taking her womanhood from her;
what a incompetent woman she is. Grateful she should be to possess such, such a great
man as me, to give her moralistic ideas.
One day, an ordinary day, I wanted to take a nice stroll down the sylvan glen. Of course,
she raised a fuss about that; she didn’t enjoy the outside world. So I took a walk;
she plodded behind me, uttering oaths to herself. I happened to chance upon a rabbit,
laying in the ditch. I commented to her; “such a lazy old hare.” Thought that would teach,
teach her a lesson on laziness. Oh, no, how wrong would I be.
All she would respond was with a nasty glare, meaning “I don’t need to learn lessons
from the likes of you.” She’s so full of herself.
Well, after we proceeded a while, then I spotted a tortoise, slowly but surely
making its way on the road. That’s our marriage, I thought to myself. Such a slow,
agonizing process. Of course, then I told her a different story; that perseverance
will win the race. Perhaps if she was more patient and willing to learn from me
she would win some intelligence. Oh, you should have seen her reaction.
She would go on rants after my interesting stories with morals. Called them verbose,
a pile of trash, and a sow’s ear. Well, she got that one wrong - everyone knows that
you can pull a diamond from such a ear. Except for the likes of her.
Morals she would not care for, lessons she would not want to learn. She wanted
her own time to learn; does she not know a man is needed to learn from?
Don't say that I didn't try. “Action, Mrs A, speaks louder than words 1,” I intoned.
Speaks her, “And one sily word from you, Mr A, speaks quieter as a mouse.”
Sily? Who was sily. She had no logic, no wit, no nothing. Nothing, at all.
To her, looking at thinking and logic is like washing a teacup. Tedious.
“Mr Aesop,” you may ask. Shouldn't you be grateful to her for managing your house?
For managing your coin? Your house? Your life? So you say.
You’ve never had to deal with a wife – who, who scoffs at all you say, who claims to be held
only by her own, and not by her husband. She has this new fangled, dangerous; aye –
dangerous idea that men and women should be treated equally. Oh, the horror, I say!
But let it be known I did try my best; my best to keep on the family line; for the sake of offspring – offspring who would understand what my wife could not – lessons about good –
And bad. But oh no, she wouldn’t have one bit of it. Called it diabolical, she did.
With spite, she threatened to cut off my manhood – just to save her feminist traits.
I just shut up; let her laugh with the crude knowledge; all she possessed.
I really wonder if all the other men end up in the same plight as me. Do all the wives
in today’s world – demand that men clean the house? Wash the dishes, cook the food,
take care the baby, do the groceries; all those new and horrible ideas? Do they
not care for the higher intellectual pursuits that men must carry out, for the sake of women?
But no, it’s probably just my estranged wife. She has no sense of direction, no opportunity to laugh, to despair, to act – Act like a decent human being. No she won’t. So indeed, I must conclude that perhaps it must be a flaw on my part; my inability to better ply her and bend,
bend her wishes and wills into what I value a perfect wife to be.
Word Count: 953 Words
Footnotes:
1 – Phrases directly taken from the poem “Mrs Aesop,” by Duffy, in the book The World’s Wife.
Rationale:
Mr Aesop is intended to be a response from the male perspective of Mrs Aesop. I decided to write this task as a poem, as I believed the format most fitting to demonstrate Mr Aesop’s rather traditional attitudes towards women. I portrayed Mr Aesop throughout the poem as a self-centered person who thinks women must be subservient to men, and that men are best to think and impart knowledge on to their women. This runs a distinct contrast with Duffy’s constant feminist theme of equality – this response poem directly portrays women the view that Duffy fights against in her collection of poems. The effect of male superiority in this poem is highlighted by Mr Aesop’s constant bemoaning of the inability of his wife to earn knowledge and be more of a subservient character, and hence draws out the message to the audience that Mr Aesop is extremely a reactionist person with archaic values regarding marriage and knowledge. This poem extensively uses the poetic device of irony; in that Mr Aesop constantly is upset by his wife’s actions, although it would be obvious to the reader that Mr Aesop is at fault here; for example the second to last stanza. This poem was written in free verse; a conversational style that I believed represented Mr Aesop the best. I tried to portray a discontinuity and constant rambling on using enjambment frequently with a conversational tone. The poem also assumes an implied listener; that Mr Aesop is complaining to a sympathetic listener about his plight. In conclusion, this written task explored the textual portrayal of inequality between the genders, and is a response to Duffy’s original poem Mrs Aesop as a contrast from the masculine point of view, but also supports her poem by demonstrating characteristics of Mr Aesop that are anti-feminist.
Word Count: 300 words
by
shutokumasa (student)
