Christine de Pizan wrote The Book of the City of Ladies to describe an ideal woman society through the three female guides who are leaders of the city. Before Christine de Pizan wrote this novel, all the portrayals of women in literature were from a males point of views. When men portrayed woman, they were described as disorderly and unreasonable human beings. De Pizan wanted to change the society’s view of woman, so she decided to make a living as a writer and opened the first woman’s publishing company. She was the first woman to make a living as a writer. Another novel from the medieval times was Geoffrey Chaucer’s story The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is known for being a famous poet, but people did not recognize his work until after his …show more content…
death. His work was discovered around the years 1415-1420. Chaucer was alive during the 1300s living in England. At the same time, Chaucer was known for the pilgrimages he partook in, which is seen through the characters in The Canterbury Tales. The plot of the novel is having all the characters that are introduced in the prologue, taking a pilgrimage to Canterbury and on the journey to Canterbury they all have to share a personal story. In both stories woman play a major role. Before this time, women were always portrayed as lesser than men, but these stories have changed the medieval image of woman.
The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan describes the perfect city where women are virtuous and shows their role in society by having power over men, and are faithful to God, as seen in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The most important possession that a lady in the city of ladies must obtain is being a virtuous human being. Virtue can have many different meanings, depending on who describes the virtues. Plato describes the virtues as justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. These virtues are known as the four cardinal virtues. Plato describes how all these virtues apply to the city that Socrates built in Plato’s book The Republic. Christine De Pizan city uses different virtues that the citizens must follow in her city. De Pizan believes in three virtues, and she has the three virtues act as a guide that bring the reader through the stories of the citizens and the construction of the city of ladies. The three guides she encounters in the novel are Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. In the beginning of the book, De Pizan wrote, “I suddenly saw a ray of light fall on my lap, as though it were the sun. I shuddered then, as if wakened from sleep, for I was sitting in a shadow where the sun could not have shone at that hour. And as I lifted my head to see where this light was coming from, I saw three crowned ladies standing before me, and the splendor of their bright faces shone on me and throughout the entire room” (6). The three ladies who appear as angels, are the three virtuous guides, Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. The purpose of the three guides is to bring virtue. According to Christine De pizan “No one will reside except all ladies of fame and women worthy of praise, for the walls of the city will be closed to those women who lack virtue” (10-11). She makes it very clear that the only citizens allowed in the city will be women who are virtuous. If women lack virtue, they are not allowed inside the walls of the city. The most important concept for Christine De Pizan is having virtue, and that can be seen in many ways. The novel describes many, many women and their stories they experienced in thier lives. All the woman did completely different things but they all come back to having one thing in common, being virtuous human beings. The reason she values virtue so much is because she believes that if woman have virtue, they will be viewed as equals to men. In The Book of the City of Ladies a virtous role a women in their society is being powerful over their husbands and other men in society.
Being a powerful is women is a vital part of being in this city. Christine De Pizan gives an example of a women that has say in her husband’s decision and leads them to a better life. De Pizan writes in Rectitude’s section, “I will tell you about those men favored with good fortune because they followed the advice of their wives, and let this proof suffice, for I could say so much that it would be an endless process, and what I told you before about how many wise and virtuous ladies on this subject applies here, too”(139). A woman having power in her relationship and having influence on her man’s choices, it makes them better off. This idea contradicts what the norm was during this period. During this era the men in society made all the decisions, leaving the woman to none. In this city, Christine De Pizan decides to give women the freedom of choices, not just the men. One of the story that Christine de Pizan shares is about a noble knight, Belisarius. People were jealous of Belisarius because he was receiving all the attention from the master and received preferential treatment. The other Barons then started a Rumor that Belisarius was going to try and overtake the master and kill him to seize control. The master believed the rumor and was ready to execute Belisarius. After all of this occurred, Belisarius went home to meet up with his
wife, Antonia. Antonia could tell that something was wrong with Belisarius, so she asked what happen and he told her the story. Antonia then gave advice saying that he needs to believe in Jesus Christ and not let your appearance be shown as sad and hurt from all of this. Belisarius followed through with her advice and the emperor loved him more than before the rumor (page 139-141). In this story Antonia possess the virtue of prudence and was able to help her husband escape his predicament. The women in the city hold the power to influence men and determine the outcome of their actions. A character comparable to Antonia is the Wife of Bath from her ability to control men. Geoffrey Chaucer writes “She had been respectable all her life, and five times married, that’s to say in church, not counting other loves she’d had in youth, of whom, just now, there is no need to speak” (14). The Wife of bath is being described in the general prologue of The Canterbury Tales. The Wife of Bath has a gift of being able to control men and make them fall in love with her. It is her role in society to be a lover and be in control. It says later in her description that she knew all the cures for loves because she has a background of being a mistress. The Wife has become very knowledgably of men knowing how to show women power in a time dominated by men. She is able to use sex as her power tool and waits to have sex until she gets what she wants. With the power the Wife of Bath holds, she would seamlessly fit into the City of Ladies. The Wife has so much experience with men that she can control them, making her seen as virtuous in the city according to the guide Rectitude.. Another the way to make in the city of ladies besides power over men, is woman’s faith and pure innocence. This is seen in the book The Book of the City of Ladies through a virgin by the name Saint Christine. Saint Christine is fully devoted to faith, but the experiences trouble with her father for not believing in the same higher figures as him. Christine De Pizan writes in the Justice virtue section, “O blessed Christine, worthy virgin favored by God, most elect and glorious martyr, in the holiness with which God has made you worthy” (240). Saint Christine became a martyr for her faith, meaning she killed herself in the name of her faith. Her father was trying to convince her to change her mindset, but she felt it was more important to stay loyal to her faith, convincing herself to commit a martyred act in the name of Jesus Christ. The reason a woman like Saint Christine belongs in the city is because she was fully devoted to her faith and would do whatever her faith believed was necessary. Saint Christine was also seen as a pure human being because she was a virgin and had no intent of ever getting married. Saint Christine was only interested in keeping to herself and sharing her life with Jesus Christ. According to the novel, there was eleven thousand-woman that were virgins were willing to do the same thing as Saint Christine and were all beheaded in the name of Christ, before they were going to be sent off for marriage. A character in Geoffery Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales who could represent a character like Saint Christine is Emily. Emily is the woman in The Knights Tale that the story encompasses. The tale told by the knight is about two cousins, Palamon and Arcite, who are prisoners and fall madly in love with Emily. They both end up getting out of prison and want to marry her and decide to battle to see who will win her hand. Emily is described as “so fair and young” (27). She was simply a young woman who was an innocent virgin. Emily had no interest in getting married. When they decide they want to battle over her, Emily does not know what to do so she goes to visit the goddess Diana. Emily says to Diana “Desire to be a virgin all my life, never to be a mistress or a wife. You know I’m still one of your company, A virgin, and a lover of the chase” (61). Emily is very devoted to faith, like Saint Christine, so she goes to seek a goddess for advice on what to do. Emily has no interest in getting married and wants to stay a virgin for life and be devoted to faith. Diana then informs her “Among the gods on high it is affirmed, the eternal world is set down and confirmed, that you shall marry one of these two men” (62). Emily does not want to get married but since her faith is telling that she has to, she will follow through. Emily will do whatever her faith tells her, like Saint Christine. They are both innocent religious woman who fit perfectly into the city of the ladies. They both will do stuff for their faith and want to stay celibate for their own God in the name of the virtue of Justice.
But even through a gap of almost 1,200 years, we see in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, written in the 1960’s, that the views of women having a say in the community is a minority, and not everyone agrees. Yes, there has been some sort of progress in women’s right, from 800 AD, alike in Beowulf, a person who wants revenge on her son’s death, is considered a hell-bride, but in the mid 1900’s, it would receive a little bit of a less negative reaction. But in both in Beowulf and We Have Always Lived in the Castle men are considered the ruler of them family, well at least until Merricat kills everybody. In my opinion, Merricat’s way of looking the hierarchy of gender, is different of having women in control, that symbolizes that idea that began as a minute topic in the time period of the 1960’s, and has expanded into the situation of women’s role of
Cole's article is not to attack Aristotle on his views of where a woman should be placed within the social and political order, in accordance to the Classic Greek period. Her intrigue is within "surveying some central values of that particular social and political institution," (Sterba 79). At first she begins with Aristotle's view on gender and class in ethics. Making a definite point among the social/political class, ancient Greek women and slaves were only allowed their male citizens to think for them. Being dependent on men silences the women and slaves without a voice to speak out, for the women work while the men socialize with others, the men assume that the women do not need a voice. According to Aristotle, even a woman's virtue is to be subservient to all males. As a part of common life the woman is considered the pack horse and the mother to raise the children, for the men. With all the work that women put into their specific households, some education and training would mature from the experience. It was thought again by Aristotle within; Deliberation, Education, and Emancipation, that woman did not possess the aptitude for practical reasoning. For whomever possessed practical reasoning carried with them authority on their decisions and the action pending. From these three classic Greek examples of how women were considered mentally and treated physically, the author Cole provides a progressive outlook of how women could have gained social and political power in a society of male dominant figures.
In Christine Stansell’s City of Women, the main issue discussed is “the misfortunes laboring women suffered and the problems they caused” (xi). Throughout the book, Stansell delves into the different aspects that affected these female New Yorkers’ lives, such as inadequate wages, societal stigmas about women laborers, and the hierarchal class system, within antebellum America. She argues that since the nation’s founding, in 1789, the bedrock of these tribulations working women would be mercilessly exposed to was gender inequality. Women’s opportunities and livelihoods were strongly dependent on the dominant male figure in their life, due to the fact that in that period there was very few available and accepted forms of employment for women. Stansell claims, “Paid work was sparse and unstable. Laboring women were confined within a patriarchal economy predicated on direct dependence on men” (18). As the work continues, she illustrates these women’s desires to break away from their reliance on men, as well as the avenues they took to achieve this desired independence. To help solidify her
In medieval literature, the role of women often represents many familiar traits and characteristics which present societies still preserve. Beauty, attractiveness, and grace almost completely exemplify the attributes of powerful women in both present and past narratives. European medieval prose often separates the characteristics of women into two distinct roles in society. Women can be portrayed as the greatest gift to mankind, revealing everything that is good, pure, and beautiful in a woman's life. On the other side of the coin, many women are compared to everything that is evil and harmful, creating a witch-like or temptress quality for the character. These two aspects of European culture and literature show that the power of women in medieval narrative can be portrayed through both evil and good, and more often than not, power is derived from the latter.
During this time period women were not respected at all and were belittled by all med in their lives. Even though men don’t appreciate what women they still did as they were told. In particular, “Women have an astoundingly long list of responsibilities and duties – th...
Over the course of time, the roles of men and women have changed dramatically. As women have increasingly gained more social recognition, they have also earned more significant roles in society. This change is clearly reflected in many works of literature, one of the most representative of which is Plautus's 191 B.C. drama Pseudolus, in which we meet the prostitute Phoenicium. Although the motivation behind nearly every action in the play, she is glimpsed only briefly, never speaks directly, and earns little respect from the male characters surrounding her, a situation that roughly parallels a woman's role in Roman society of that period. Women of the time, in other words, were to be seen and not heard. Their sole purpose was to please or to benefit men. As time passed, though, women earned more responsibility, allowing them to become stronger and hold more influence. The women who inspired Lope de Vega's early seventeenth-century drama Fuente Ovejuna, for instance, rose up against not only the male officials of their tiny village, but the cruel (male) dictator busy oppressing so much of Spain as a whole. The roles women play in literature have evolved correspondingly, and, by comparing The Epic of Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Wife of Bath's Prologue, we can see that fictional women have just as increasingly as their real-word counterparts used gender differences as weapons against men.
Vaněčková, Vladislava. “Women in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales: Woman as a Narrator, Woman in the Narrative.” Luminarium.Org. Anniina Jokinen, 6 Sept. 2012. 5 May. 2014
Some say women can get the worst out of a man, but in The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1485, proves it. The tales were originally written as a collection of twenty four tales, but has been narrowed down to three short tales for high school readers. The three tales consist of “The Miller”, “The Knight”, and “The Wife of Bath” along with their respective prologues. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer shows the weak but strong role of women throughout the “The Knight’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” to contrast different human characteristics and stereotypes on the spectrum of people.
visit the just and exhort them to do what is right, to give to each
Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice exemplifies a principle that is as unfortunately true in our time as it was in his - he who has money also has love, sex, and above all, power. In this case, the use of 'he' is deliberate; 'she,' in the Elizabethan era, rarely had either financial independence or much control over the course of her life. Portia, the deceitful heroine of the play, is a major exception. To put it bluntly, Portia is enormously rich. This unique position allows her to meddle in the affairs of the unsuspecting and somewhat dim male characters, and eventually gives her unprecedented power of self-determination. However, the play is more than a tale of feminine wiles overcoming male dullness of wit. Portia's wealth and intelligence may fuel her successes in marriage and the courtroom, but in each case it is her ability to usurp traditionally masculine roles that guarantees her victory. As Portia exploits the codependence of wealth, masculinity, and public power in her society, she becomes the only woman in the play who consistently controls her own destiny.
The society in which classical myths took place, the Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal one. By taking a careful gander at female characters in Greco-Roman mythology one can see that the roles women played differ greatly from the roles they play today. The light that is cast upon females in classical myths shows us the views that society had about women at the time. In classical mythology women almost always play a certain type of character, that is to say the usual type of role that was always traditionally played by women in the past, the role of the domestic housewife who is in need of a man’s protection, women in myth also tended to have some unpleasant character traits such as vanity, a tendency to be deceitful, and a volatile personality. If one compares the type of roles that ladies played in the myths with the ones they play in today’s society the differences become glaringly obvious whilst the similarities seem to dwindle down. Clearly, and certainly fortunately, society’s views on women today have greatly changed.
In the novel Othello, written by William Shakespeare, there are a variety of ways in which women are portrayed. There are strong willed women such as Emilia, who stands up to the men, especially to her husband. If he is wrong she would openly admit that he is incorrect. There are also women who are thought to be a possession as well as extremely submissive to their husbands such as Desdemona. She is the type of woman that will obey her husband to the day she dies. Desdemona believes that her husband is always right and he will never do anything that will lead her into the wrong direction. Many of the women in this time thought the same way. They are viewed as house workers, cooks, and teachers to the children. In addition to those qualities women obtain, having no authority in marriages is also added to the list. In this novel, there is judgment against women because they are “unequal” to men. They are not allowed to do the same as men for the reason that they do not possess the same qualities as men. Men were considered to be superior to women. Women were treated as their “slaves.” In contrast, today’s time women now have power. They have the right to vote, run for office, and even work outside their homes. Women now play the part as the male and female figure in the households. They are considered independent women, not relying on a male figure. Even if they are married now, they do not listen to everything that their husbands tell them to do. It states in the Bible that a male figure is the head of the households; however women today have strayed away from that view that they had back then. They want to be the dominate figure. Times have really changed from the past to the present. W...
Understanding the way women both were controllers of and controlled by social, political and cultural forces in the medieval period is a complex matter. This is due to a number of factors- the lack of documentation of medieval women, high numbers of illiteracy amongst women, especially lower class, medieval sources being viewed through a contemporary lens and the actual limitations and expectations placed upon women during the period, to name a few. The primary sources: The Treasure of The City of Ladies by Catherine of Siena and Peter of Blois’ letter to Eleanor of Aquitaine concerning her rebellion, highlight the restrictions women were expected to adhere to, and the subsequent reprimanding that occurred when they didn’t. Women were not passive victims to the blatant patriarchal standards that existed within medieval society, even though ultimately they would be vilified for rebelling.
Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.
Theseus, Duke, Lord, and Governor of Athens is revered in The Knight’s Tale as a “conqueror with no greater beneath the sun than he” (Overton 738-780). This depiction certainly glorifies that of man in this time. However, Theseus wed Hippolyta who became queen as a result of such a union and was brought to Theseus’ home “in glory and with great pageantry” (Overton 738-780); this would create an ideation that Hippolyta, a Queen, representing women of the community would only be perceived in the light of property and as beauty thus portraying her and other women in what is now recognized as a negative light. Although currently women wish to be perceived in such a light that would warrant more substance than pageantry, it is understood that during the times of this story, to be seen as such was an honor bestowed upon only the most privileged.