Nobility, Wealth, Happiness

The quest for happiness, probably the hardest goal in life is truly a discussion topic. In the Wife of Bath’s Tale we encounter interesting approaches to this aspiration from different perspectives. The knight’s quest to find what women mostly cherish in order to save his life, brings up different answers which consider superficial aspects of a woman’s life as those seen on the right. It is interesting how the author captures the essence of the approaches given to such an interesting and important question. The answer of an old woman, which the knight finally adopts, obliges the knight to marry this old woman, a character which probably reflects some of Chaucer’s own conclusions in this topic without loosing the humoristic approach of the Miller’s Tale.

After the knight complains of his wife’s humble lineage, age and ugliness, the old woman asks him to: The old woman’s response to the knight’s accusation made me think of how a society where a person is judged not by his money or family but by his merits and nobleness would work. There would surely be more competition. Most people would probably work harder and better. Do we really need to be punished, to have difficulties to work at our maximum potential, can’t we abandon sin without having to be threatened and forced to do so? At least we have the option to do so.

As the old woman discusses poverty and wealth she states that This approach to happiness and wealth, not as the quantification of possessions and social status but as a quantification of gratefulness, of fulfillment is very idealistic and interesting in my opinion. Somebody that lives up to this truthfully, that doesn’t need more to live better, could probably reach an emotional state in which any material change would not affect his level of happiness. It is interesting how some of the richest individuals become philanthropists and live pretty “normal” lives such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet when they reach humongous sums of money. I also find it incredible how “American families who make over $300,000 a year donate to charity a mere 4 percent of their incomes.” (Lyubomirsky - Scientific American) Do we need to own Bill Gate’s assets to understand that money isn’t everything, that it can’t buy us happiness? Satisfaction is in many cases related to happiness, should we lower our expectations, or increase our gratefulness?