They buried Barbara in the old church yard
They buried sweet William nigh her
Out of his grave grew a red, red rose
And out of hers a briar
They grew & grew up the old church wall
Til they could grow no higher
And at the top twined in a lovers' knot
The red rose & the briar
Did Barbara Allen deserve sweet William? Was sweet William a fool for courting Barbara Allen? Is it not upsetting that sweet William calls forth Barbara Allen when he is on his deathbed with the intention of telling her that he will die without her love? I mean really, he is putting Barbara Allen in a position that is not of her doing. How can he expect someone who he has barely met to give in to his "love" just to keep him alive? That is a poor excuse for love. In fact, it is not love at all! It is ridiculous, and yet this kind of thing happens all the time.
How can a man permit such power unto himself? It infuriates me that no one points out that 'sweet' William is pressuring Barbara to say yes to him. That the bells tolling "hard-hearted Barbara Allen" is just another way of describing society's view on women choosing themselves, their worth over a man's, as the 'hard-hearted' choice. It were the men who decided that they'd fall in love with Barbara Allen despite knowing that her tendency was to not reciprocate their same feelings. The men brought their troubles unto themselves, not Barbara Allen.
For goodness sake, a man staring at the sun cannot blame the sun for going blind. It is not the sun's fault that it exists, it is the man's fault for staring at it and knowing very well that blindness could occur. Similarly, Barbara Allen is just a person existing in this world. 'Sweet' William had quite the audacity to guilt trip Barbara Allen over his death (which, by the way, was of his own choosing - he chose to sicken himself over her).
Oh, but our leading lady refuses his request, only to feel bad after seeing the corpse of 'sweet' William. She did not die out of love for him, she died out of pity. Put yourself in her shoes; anyone can make themselves believe strong enough in something to make it happen, but that is effort put forth in making yourself feel a certain way - it is not your true disposition.
Barbara Allen did not love 'sweet' William, and I do not think 'sweet' William deserved Barbara Allen's love. It humors me to know that between the two graves, William's grew a rose and Barbara's grew a briar. Even in death does Barbara Allen not share the same feelings with 'sweet' William.
In my opinion, she died in vain.
No comments:
Post a Comment