The Quest for a Woman.

Pic Courtesy - howarddavidjohnson.com

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High sat white Helen, lonely and serene.

He had not remembered that she was so fair,

And that her neck curved down in such a way;

And he felt tired. He flung the sword away,

And kissed her feet, and knelt before her there,

The perfect Knight before the perfect Queen.

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Menelaus, the king of sparta was betrayed by his wife, Helen and therefore Menelaus wages a great war, the battle of Troy and marching through Troy`s ruins, sets out to kill her, to avenge her betrayal. In the words above from the poem “Menelaus and Helen”, by Rupert Brooke, he describes how inspite of all the hatred and anger, how helen`s beauty pacifies Menelaus and how he bows down before her kissing her feet.

Women have since time immemorial been an object of beauty for Men. Man falls for her, he desires her presence in his life throughout. The feeling is a myriad of emotions, awe, happiness, thirst, sadness, and last but not the least lust. Though any woman would despise such an intrusion into her privacy and her life by a man glaring at her, a man continues to do the same. A man is alone once he grows up to be one and desires the presence of a woman companion. Animal instinct you might say, but it`s definitely more than that. We all know that by now that by his abilities to think, percieve and analyze, he is no more just a wild animal. Now when a man searches for a woman of his dreams, he does not have in mind a woman with a good figure or heavenly looks alone. He is also in search for a close companion with whom he can share anything in his life, someone with whom he can confide anything, anytime, anywhere. Not just a friend, because life is a complex jigsaw puzzle and it is the divine union of Man and woman, that helps this puzzle gets solved. There are things a man, can discuss and feel comforted, when he shares or spends time with a woman, which he cannot do with a man, or maybe I`m ignorant,but I do not stop.

Now, If you think I`m all out in support of eve-teasers, harassment and rapists, I`m not.! I support Blank Noise Project for it`s cause and I can perfectly sympathize with keshi`s posts here and here. And in fact I would sadly agree that the lack of women in many of the prominent industrial sectors, especially research institutes is due to not just internal politics, but also fear of sexual harassment, about which I`m aware of due to many friends sharing their traumatic experiences with me.

There are eve-teasers and perverts out there, I agree, but this post is mainly to insist that there is a man out there too who is sincerely looking for his woman. Physical beauty may just be an initial attraction, but there is a man who would like to look into the soul of that woman, all the while earnestly yearning that she would look into his soul too.

Again, there is an argument as to why he should admire the beauty at all in the first place. Well, I shall be very candid that it is definitely a major distraction for Man. Aren`t we all aware of how in the puranas, the gods would sent heavenly courtesans to disturb the penance of the sages. But I would persist that the distraction remains just a distraction for many a man. His quest for a woman gets completed only when both of them see and perceive each other`s souls and understand each other`s lives.

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Going back to Menelaus and Helen, Menelaus never really looked at helen`s soul. He was just an admirer of her beauty, and in the second part of the poem when the poet visualizes how their life would have been afterwards, it definitely strikes a chord.

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Often he wonders why on earth he went

Troyward, or why poor Paris ever came.

Oft she weeps, gummy-eyed and impotent;

Her dry shanks twitch at Paris' mumbled name.

So Menelaus nagged; and Helen cried;

And Paris slept on by Scamander side.

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Paris, of Troy had been on a quest for the woman of his life and then he met Helen, thus completing his quest. Having realized after having lost the war that there is no meaning in another quest, he slept on by scamander side.