“What Do Women Desire the Most?”

When the class was given the question, “What do women desire the most?” I could not help but get an image/flashback of the movie called “What Women Want” with actors Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. For that particular movie, the answer to this rather open ended question was for men, to be able to read a woman’s mind without them having to say something all the time. I suppose we (women) feel as though men know nothing about women and our thoughts, only until we spell it out to them. This answer could be true…to a certain women out there. What women truly and really desires is such a broad question, ranging from something very simple, to something very complex and abstract. Through studying different and profound women of the medieval time period, it was difficult to pinpoint and come up with just one thing that women desire most because, as we are all different in sizes and forms, but the conclusion and the desire that existed then, which still continues in our modern day society is the desire to have power and control.
Take a look at Eleanor of Aquitaine as an example of a woman with certain desires and wants. She was considered the most powerful woman on the Earth at the time and she wanted it that way. She used her status and her sexuality to maintain her desire. The desire of power and control. She was determined to get what she wanted. She used her beauty, knowledge and intelligence to obtain it. She was able to divorce her first husband, which at that time was almost unheard of, and then she pursued the man that she wanted and actually married him and had many kids with him. Guinevere is a similar character that we read about, who said that the utmost desire for women was to be able to have control and power over men. In the story of the Wife of Bath’s tale, Guinevere had a knight search to find the answer of what women desired the most. He searched and searched and finally an old lady told him that it was control and power over men that women wanted most. The story goes on and the knight is forced to marry the old lady, and when he finally gives in and lets her be in control of his life forever, that is when she turns into a young, beautiful woman. If you take a look at both Eleanor and Guinevere, they were both political figures in high positions, so it would almost come naturally that they both desired, more power and control.
Someone who is completely different from both Eleanor of Aquitaine and Guinevere is Margery Kempe. She was known as the fake Saint. Margery Kempe desired so much to want to be a saint and be appointed by God. She wanted everyone else to acknowledge that as well. In her case, her desire was for her to have most knowledge out of anyone and to be able to tell whomever she wanted what they should do or not to do, what is right and what is wrong. The power and control to say this to anyone was something that she desired. Margery’s desire/want to be recognized as a powerful woman and a saint never happened, but it is obvious that this was what she had wanted.
I am sure women at some point in their lives are left feeling as if they have no control or power whatsoever. As we go on in our everyday lives, we are, in one way or another treated unjust, and the struggle to have our voices heard is still slim. We have yet to see a female president and when our voices are heard, we are thought as man hating feminists. It is pretty simple when we think about. We want to have the same rights, powers and control as anyone else.