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.
3 thoughts on “How does Pizan respond to male authors’ depiction of women in her work?”
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Ning, I agree with everything you stated. In addition, I would like to reinforce how pizan responded to male authors. For example, Pizan overturns the existing conception that men are superior in comparison with women. In her writing, she has criticized the authors who work less in the role of women. She considers women like princesses and nothing less.
I would like to add that I quoted from “ERIKA ZHANG” post. I felt that it was missing information that needed to be added to your post.
I do agree with your post as well. I feel that even though this happen a long time ago, I feel that women are still being overseen in today’s society.
I agree, i think she does a good job defending unnecessary attacks on the characters of women by providing examples of heros of her sex. I believe one of the male writers she answers to is Jean de Meun, another French author around her time. Pizan did a good job getting her point across because she became considered to be first professional western female author with her feminist text.