'The Wives' of Pip Patterson, Howie Karger, John Billings and others are presented as remarkable, independent, hardworking, self-respecting individuals that follow their own nature and needs. A woman can shape and direct a man's character through love, kindness, anger, and revenge. Some men have a single wife; others have several, by marriage or some similar arrangement. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and a man's heaven is a contented woman. (William Shakespeare)