The speaker in "The Wife's Lament" says: A young man always must be serious, And tough his character; likewise he should Seem cheerful, even though his heart is sad With multitude of cares ... (lines 42-45) What does the woman feel toward the "young man" in this quotation?

The woman feel compassion towards the "young man" in the above quotation.

"The Wife's Lament" is an elegy in which a wife laments over her life in exile away from her husband, friends, and family. The Kings-men plotted against the wife and the husband which led to their separation. The wife was exiled and in her exile, she laments her separation from her husband whom she loved compassionately. She is regarded as dead by her husband and her tribe. The wife laments over her fortune and considers death as the only medium which will separate her from her husband. She wishes that after her death her husband would feel sorrow and grief. She wants him to remember all the good times and moments that they spent together.