After I finished
reading The Wood Beyond the World, I was really struck by the sexual aspects of
this story. I honestly didn't like the way love was portrayed in Morris’s
story. Walter and the Maiden seemingly loved each other immediately but when it
came to keeping the secret of their love they were too comfortable with
honestly sleeping with other people to keep it quiet. Walter sleeps with the
Queen because he “can’t really avoid it”. The Maiden does a bit better by
slipping the King’s Son a sleeping potion.
If you really love someone you do whatever
you can to get out of bad situations and “save yourself” for them which Walter
did not do. Walter’s motives seem so honorable and straightforward but when it
comes to the sexual part of him, he is much different. The Queen is also quite
sexual, seducing men and then they end up dying. Later, the Maiden apologizes to
Walter for what she did but the apology was one sided. The story in itself
starts off with a seemingly unfaithful spouse and the theme of lust,
unfaithfulness, and sexuality in general follows through the book.
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