The Book of the City of Ladies is a didactic work. Pizan wants to educate her audience, giving them a new point of view toward literature by using metaphors and examples. She defends feminism by criticizing the literary of misogyny. Since a lot of works are naturally anti-feminism at the age, people tend to think of positive image toward males and negative for females. Pizan not only accuses anti-feminism works but also emphasizes the virtue of women with stories. She brings out issues in three key points, represented by three ladies, Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. For questions from Lady Reason, she points out that several historical female characters are also good at political, educational, and innovative topics. For questions from Rectitude Lady, she tries to twist some negative stereotypes for women in personality, honesty, and sexual behaviors. Lastly, for questions from Justice Lady, she uses Christian stories to highlight the virtue and importance of all females.
One thought on “How does Pizan expect her audience to react to her work? How does she wants her work to change her readers’ perspectives and society more generally?”
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Pizan is brave enough to stand up and publish this work was great. This is a new idea in that period time. Having to be on the other side of most writer, especially those male authors, to critics them is not an easy job. She tried to led her readers to know how women is not the weak one under male author. And to led those one to believe her idea is hard, it’s something that is deep in people and the society.