William Byrd and His Many

William Byrd and His Many Relationships With Women

William Byrd has established relationships with the numerous women with whom he crossed paths. The relations he formed differed one from the other and the differences relayed in elements such as the social circumstances or the personal interests of Byrd or the women. A constant of the relationships is the gentlemanly attitude revealed in each of the relationships. Whether Byrd picked up a woman and weather he walked her home or engaged in various conversations, played cards with the wives of his friends or whether he discussed the state of his daughter's health with her care giver, Byrd was always polite, keeping up the sense of politeness that characterized during the colonial age.

Despite the initial social perception of respect, Byrd is far from being the model citizen. While it is not presented how exactly he felt and established the relationship with the prostitutes, fact is that he met women for sexual favors. Generally, he would simply go to the places where he knew he would found "easy women." In other words, he minimized the role of women and used some of them for his personal pleasure.

Furthermore, the usage of the appellative whore or that of I rogered her three times is far from flattering for the women in question, as well as it is unflattering for Byrd; the verb to roger means to have sexual intercourse with someone, but it is a very impolite way of expressing it. Still, one should probably not judge this aspect of Byrd's relationships with women so harshly, simply because it was the way of the time; his journal entries of how many times he would roger a woman could indicate a need to restate and reinforce his virility.

Another instance in which the colonial style is manifested in Byrd's relationship with women is given by the personal relation he has with his daughter. William Byrd is far from being what we would now call a model father. He does not live in the same house with his daughter, nor does he visit often -- he often waits for a sign from her or for news about her from various other women. Despite this, he cares about the young girl and thinks of her often, wishing that she recuperates.

In terms of the women he relays to care for his daughter, he is respectful and polite towards them. And relative to his daughter, taking her out of his home and the environment unfitted for the fruitful development of a young lady could have been in favor of the girl, and the very recognition of the faults Byrd has as a father.

A recurrent element in most of Byrd's relationships with women is his failure to announce his visit. In the majority of instances, William Byrd just drops by the women's homes, but they were away from home. However, he does not seem disappointed when these situations occur, but goes on with his activities. This could point out that Byrd's true interest in the respective women is limited and trivial, and whether he manages to get in contact them at the present time or the future time, is of not major importance. Also, whenever such a woman is unavailable, he easily finds another one to replace her.