Month: April 2020

Towards the end of the book, Pizan contradicts herself when explaining building women and tearing down men. This is because in the first topic she believes that men and women belong to a similar sphere. In some sections, she purports women should tolerate their husbands while in other sections she encourages women to leave their wicked husbands. As a Christian, she should have tried to reconcile women with their husbands. 

The mythical all female warrior civilization, known as the Amazons, is utilized by Pizan as a model for the all female city that expects setting forth and creating. As Pizan states in the beginning of the book, the Amazons were able to convene together and lead their society successfully without any male presence and Pizan admires how they were able to build and maintain a society through their own rule and determination. Pizan also mentions how they were so commited that they were even willing to mutilate themselves to reach their goals. Amazon warriors burned off their left breast so they could carry a shield more effectively and their right breast removed so that they could shoot arrows more effectively. The removal of a single breast is a symbolic act of immense commitment. They were willing to sacrifice a piece of their own body in the defense of their way of life. The Amazons are symbolic of their dedication to a goal and their willingness to make very personal sacrifices even if it means being able to achieve an objective in the long run.

In The Book of the City of Ladies, there was definitely a strong defense for women against male authors’ depiction of women. Before this book or even after this book of Pizan, there was many books giving negative description of women, and tend to look down to women. At the very beginning of the book, it started out with criticism and defense to other male’s book or works with women. There was idea of powerless, dependent, not smart as men, etc., among society, this cause many books to have those weak, nonsense, and brainless women characters under the pen of male authors. Under Pizan’s work, in this book, she highlighted those brilliant women that were forgot by history and people. She give different definition to those works that we might have read, a more fair one, not the one that tent to be on the side of men. She wants all readers to know that women can be smart as men or even more. Having to seek a fair judgement between men and women.

Penthesilea was a virgin her entire life before falling in love with the Trojan prince, Hector. When he was killed by Achilles in battle, she promised to avenge his death. This may have been the first reason why the Amazons sided with the Trojans. I also believe that she made the Amazons side with the Trojans because the Trojans were much more civilized and less barbaric than the Greeks. The Greeks represented a lot of the wrong that came from men which is what the Amazons resented and wanted to stay away from.

The Book of the City of Ladies begins with Christine’s criticism of the male authors’ works. Christine believes that women are often maliciously attacked by men. Many male authors use lies and vicious opinions to condemn women and intentionally make women inferior to men. Then Pizan shows readers the great achievements made by women in the past. Pizan also introduces the stories of some intelligent, courageous and virtuous women to readers. Pizan wants readers to know that women and men are equal. People should not easily believe the biased views of male authors against women.

Christine de Pizan writes The Book of the City of Ladies to fight all the negative statements towards women at that time. In this book, she mentions numerous outstanding women to show their capabilities and power. One of the remarkable women she mentions is Orithyia, an Amazon queen, who claims many triumphs during her ruling. When two of her maidens, Menalippe and Hippolyta, are held captive by the Greeks she is determined to save them. In the end, Orithyia is able to come into terms with the Greeks and even forms a pact with them. By doing so, she has avoided unnecessary violence as well as creating new allies. Pizan includes Orithyia as an example that women can be peacemakers and builders of alliances. Pizan writes about Orithyia as someone who can form peace to show that this is only one thing that women can do, but that they are also capable of doing so much more. She wants to prove that women can achieve a lot more but have been held back by the men in their lives. Pizan hopes that her audience can see the value and worth in women and ignore all the ongoing negative stereotypes society has placed upon women. 

In my opinion, there are at least two reasons that Christine de Pizan choose to make the Amazons side with the Trojans rather than the Greeks.

On one hand, the Greece was more powerful than the Troy at that time. Arranging Amazons in the weaker side could highlight their bravery, belligerence and adventurous spirit. Instead of Troy, they tended to challenge the powerful Greece.

On the other hand, it showed the chastity of Amazon Warriors. Penthesilea kept virginity because she thought most of men couldn’t match her. But when Penthesilea heard that Prince Hector who had the same qualities as her, she began to love him. After Hector was killed by Achilles during the war, Penthesilea looked at Hector’s body in a temple and Swore to avenge him. And then she fought until dying. By depiction of this, Pizan displayed the precious virtue that women should be loyal and faithful to their lovers.

The Book of the City of Ladies is a revolutionary book that exemplifies a woman’s perspectives on the lives of women during the Middle Age. Before Pizan’s book, several books had been written by male authors about women, but none had been written by a woman to illustrate their plight. In her book, Pizan gives a comprehensive outline of the actual roles of women as opposed to the expectations of the patriarchal society. She presents the stories of various intelligent and innovative women who contributed greatly to the world. Through her book, Pizan gives the readers an outlook of various heroines who had positive reputations and encourages them to consider their personal experiences when judging the virtue of both men and women in society.

During the beginning of the book The City of Ladies Pizan, Christine de Pizan’s introduces herself as not being confident about herself. She was born and raised mostly around a male-dominated world. She informs the readers that women are outcasts. She shows her feeling that males authors are being sexist towards women. As the male authors introduce a Misogynistic view, they did not have the knowledge for women’s history. The three sisters were the ones to encourage her and inform her that women are as equal as men in all types of ways. She used her knowledge to stand up for women’s rights. She wanted to show to everyone that women should be treated equally the same as the man.

Pizan stood strong to defend women and overturn the existing conception that men are superior in comparison with women. For instance, she turned to the bible over Eve-Adam’s story and strongly defended eve. She argued that the act of Eve giving fruit to her husband, mostly considered as deception of men by women was not a trickery situation but was a sign of sincere and true love. She argues that after Eve was deceived by the devil, she never recognized whether it was a deception aiding to a trap.  Full of love and care she gave her husband to taste how sweet the fruit was as opposed to how the most audience interprets it. In her writing she has criticized the authors whose work undermines the role of women; instead, she has considered women noble beings.