These are the sorts of oaths most people live to regret. Especially if they break them. I mean, these are some pretty dire consequences just for moving on with your life.
I mean, I could understand an oath like this if you were, say, swearing allegiance to your country in battle. It makes some sense if you need to assure your commanding officer that you’re not going to turn traitor.
But I suppose this is the same thing in the domestic sphere. Men have to swear allegiance to their country and women have to swear allegiance to their husbands. In both cases, the one with little authority is assuring he who has more that he or she is not going to do any betraying.
I mean, we never see a male character have to swear his fidelity to his wife after death. It’s always assumed he’ll remarry and the ladies are constantly assuring them that they should.
That very plot point in David Copperfield, for example, drove me fucking bananas. Oh – the stupid little woman is so sweet and so loyal; She WANTED me to marry the woman she knew I loved all along. She told me so herself. So it makes it all alright!
Anyway – I agree with Gertrude.
This lady is overdoing it.
The Hamlet Project 