Sara K M said:

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I can see why a lot of people think Lana ratted Lois and Clark out, especially since she was at the funeral. I admit it is a possiblity. However, I don't really think she did. When I started reading this story, I was expecting Lana to blow her top when she

(1)Found out her boyfriend had female roommate.
(2)Found out what happened at the cabin.
(3)Found out Clark had to get married.

But, although she was upset all a of these, she didn't act irrationally, particularly for an 18 year old girl.
And contrary to what most readers expected, she DID NOT encourage Clark to have an affair with her once Lois and Clark got married, behoynd the first time Clark to her they were married. (And I think her emotions were understandable, in that situation.)
As for Tim, she thought Clark had betrayed her. What else was she supposed to do?

To conclude, although I don't want Clark with Lana, I don't think she's a bad person.
I think Sara is right that Lana hasn't proved herself to be a horrible person, assuming it wasn't her who told the media about Lois, Clark and Christopher. (But in view of the fact that Clark once told Lana that he was in fact not Christopher's father, it might indeed be Lana who chose to bring that tidbit to the media.)

Let's assume, for the moment, that it wasn't Lana who tipped off the media. Does that mean she has proved herself to be the sort of person who deserves Clark's eternal and undying love?

I don't think she has. I think she has done several things to suggest that she is in fact a spiteful person. Lois, on the other hand(!), has shown herself to be altruistic and caring on several occasions.

At my school we have a highly simplified version of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale. Here Chaucer uses the wife of Bath to tell the story of a knight, who has violated a woman and who has therefore been sentenced to death. However, the Queen intervenes on his behalf. He will have one year and one day to find out what a woman wants more than anything, and if he can come up with the right answer, his life will be saved.

The knight travels far and wide, asking everyone he meets what a woman wants more than anything, but none of the answers he receives sounds just right to him. Finally, on the very last day, he asks a very ugly woman he finds by the side of the road. She tells him that, yes, she knows the right answer, but she won't tell him unless he gives her a solemn oath that in return he will do the first thing ske asks him to do. In desperation, he agrees.

The knight returns to the Queen, accompanied by the ugly old woman, and he gives the Queen the right answer: A woman wants her husband to obey her. That is what she wants more than anything. [/flow of narrative] Okay, okay, you don't have to agree with the knight and the old woman![flow of narrative] The Queen agrees, and everybody cheers. The knight found the right answer!

However, now the ugly old woman demands her reward. In return for saving the knight's life, she now demands that he marries her! And since that was the first thing she asked him to do, he will have to obey her and marry her! After all, he gave her his solemn, knightly oath that he would!

The knight is understandably heartbroken. What healthy young man wants to marry an old hag like that? But he gave her his oath, and he has no choice but to obey.

On his wedding night, the knight was so heartbroken that he might have killed himself, if suicide hadn't beeen regarded as one of the most nefarious sins in existence and therefore unthinkable for a noble knight. But his ugly old wife started talking with him.

"Dear husband," she said. "Why are you so depressed? Don't you believe that I am a good person?

"Yes, I do," said the knight.

"So what's wrong? Why are you so unhappy that you had to marry me?"

"You are not... beautiful," the knight reluctantly admitted.

"My dear husband," she said. "Don't you know that beauty is a fleeting thing? Even if you had married the most beautiful woman in the world, her beauty would have faded soon. Beauty fades, but goodness remains. I am a good person. Do you not believe that my goodness will make you happy?"

"Yes," said the knight. "I believe you."

And as soon as he had said that, his ugly old wife changed into the most beautiful woman in the world, because she was a fairy, and she made herself beautiful for him, when he believed her.


Okay, that was the end of the Wife of Bath's Tale! Now think of Clark's unhappy marriage to Lois and his pining for his childhood love, Lana. Why does Clark love Lana so much? What has she done to deserve it? Is she actually a good person?

I don't think Carol has shown us any sort of proof at all that Lana is a good person. Carol has, on the other hand, shown us a lot of evidence that Lana is somewhat spiteful. So why does Clark love her? Is it just because of her looks?

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I think Clark loves Lana because of her blond good looks. Possibly more than that, however, he loves her because of all the love he has invested in her and his commitment to her. I think that's it, he loves his own commitment to her (and her commitment to him, the way it used to be). But what if she is a not-so-good girl whose beauty will fade, and only her spite will remain?

I think that Lois, on the other hand, has shown herself to be a good person. And Clark is already married to her, to boot. So Clark, wake up and smell the coffee!

Ann