Joanna demands more money, not for need, as they aren’t stuck for money yet, but for greed, as since she married Shadrach, Emily has also married – a wealthy merchant / trader, who makes her rich. Emily is very happier, perhaps happier than Joanna – “Emily declared that she had never supposed that she could live to be so happy”, so she is jealous. She married Shadrach as she is socially ambitious. She regards herself as particularly high up in the social hierarchy of Havenpool Town and doesn’t want her friend to triumph over her.
Mrs Radford, on the other hand, quite obviously believes that she is entitled to a percentage of Mr Radford’s income. She demands money from him when he is on a low pay strike-wage, again, not for the need of it, as he is still bringing home money, but for the sheer principle of it. She is greedy and wants more money. Both the authors portray a similar relationship between the men and women in both stories. Joanna and Shadrach Jolliffe have a relationship in which the wife is the dominating character.
Shadrach will do whatever his wife tells him too, as he is an honourable man. He feels bound by his word when she decides she must marry him, after he had denounced their engagement – “It is all the same as before, he answered, if you say it must be”. Later on in the story, when she is so overcome by jealousy, that she sends her own sons (and husbands) to sea in an attempt to satisfy her greed, and Shadrach obeys without question, even though it will lead he and his sons to the grave. Mr and Mrs Radford’s relationship, although similar, differs slightly.
Although Mrs Radford is still the dominating female in the story; Mr Radford likes to think that he is the man of the house. When he comes home form the pub one night, he expects his wife to get him some food to eat; when she doesn’t, “Well, can’t you get it yourself”, he simply obeys her until she brings up the issue of their financial situation. She claims he should give her a percentage of what he is getting, but he defies her saying “Tha’s got plenty o’ money as tha can use”. She gives up, eventually. This is where Mr Radford differs from Shadrach.
As this is his second marriage, he has quite obviously gained experience from his first marriage as to the female devious ways. He resists her. Mrs Radford however, then plays her ‘joker’. She goes out to the shops and realising that her husbands only argument is that she already has money, she decides to do something about it. Now that she is out of money, the only thing left for Mr Radford to do is hand over his pay. I think, in conclusion to this comparison, that the two authors portray both relationships between man and woman in a humorous way.
They portray the man as being controlled by his wife. Shadrach, who has no visible will of his own ends up obeying his wife, even though he suffers for it. Mr Radford is simply beaten at his own game by his wife. They portray the wives as the devious manipulative women who always get their way. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Geoffrey Chaucer section.
