"they were all helpless victims of a brutal society"

Right on, Sophocleese!

However, we got a great folksong out of it. The only individual I would seriously censure in this tale, given the standards of the time and place in which it is set, is the little page. He should have kept his big mouth shut, and no one would have been the worse for it. I bet Lord Arlen had a few dalliances here and there on his looting and pillaging missions far afield, or his visits to the King's Court, or whatever. Of course, the double standard in those days was pretty extreme.

It's understandable that Lady Arlen would have been attracted to Matty Groves, and she probably felt rather like a bird in a gilded cage, longing for a taste of freedom.

It's totally understandable that Matty would fall prey to her charms...most men would have.

It's totally understandable that Lord Arlen would kill Matty and/or his wife upon returning...given the standards of the time, which were honour-bound and brutal in the extreme.

If this had been a Japanese tale it would have ended up equally tragically.