Novice Mistakes

When a man seeks a second wife, he is looking for complementarity between the second and the first—the right equation between co-wives. The trap in this logical approach lies in the attributes sought for this purpose. A novice man will try to find a co-wife who—aside, of course, from the physical attributes he secretly dreams of—will be a help with household chores for his first wife. It may be that the latter already has several children and he perceives her as being overwhelmed.

The error in this is that it is not the right kind of complementarity to seek between wives. One need only hire a domestic helper and the job is done—even if, obviously, the other more joyful facets of marriage would not be part of the package. The absolute truth is that if two wives get along, they will naturally help each other.


This article is reserved for the Members of the Cercle. A subscription gives you access to the full Diary and all our analyses.

I already have an account