The Wife's Lament

The Wife's Lament is about a woman who is suffering due to the absence of her husband. It is unclear why the husband is absent. I believe the husband and the wife had a forbidden love. The wife's comment of only death separating them leads me to this conclusion. The families of both may have been against them being together. The husband's family and friends probably had a stronger influence on him and convinced him to leave his wife. In the introduction to the poem it says the husband was a nobleman. I think not. My idea of a NOBLEMAN just wouldn't treat his wife like this.