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In “Of the Inconsistency of Our Actions,” Montaigne points out the difference between their behavior and action.  The philosophies he proposed may not be surprising in today’s view. But the philosophy of 500 years ago can also resonate with today’s thinking, which is a rare thing. Here is an example of how we contradict ourselves, “even good authors are wrong to insist on fashioning a consistent and solid fabric out of us. They choose on general characteristic, and go and arrange and interpret all a man actions to fit their picture; and if they cannot twist them enough, they go and set them down to dissimulation”. (page 363) We can judge people by our own opinions. Therefore, I agree with Montaigne that people are inconsistent with their actions and behaviors.

Montaigne’s essay “Of the Inconsistency of Our Actions” talks about how humans’ behaviors and actions are inconsistent. Not only do people change and grow every day, but the environment and situations that people are in are also different every day. “a sound intellect will refuse to judge men simply by their outward actions; we must probe the inside and discover what springs set men in motion. But since this is an arduous and hazardous undertaking, I wish fewer people would meddle with it”. We should not judge people just base on what they do unless we understand the intention and motivation for their actions.

Who could ever deserve more praise than she who led men, who were no better than savage primitives, out of the woods where they were roaming like wild beasts without any laws, and instead took them to dwell in towns and cities and taught them how to live a law-abiding existence? (802)

Pizan illustrates how women were very instrumental. Even though men enjoyed demeaning women, they would not be on earth if it weren’t for the female sex. Not only did their mothers raise and nurse them, many women like their mothers were innovators and liberators of history. They were the ones who partook in the shaping of the world’s entire existence.

Women were not only there to procreate and support men emotionally, they did a bigger part by showing men how to survive. Women taught men basic survival skills such as making woolen clothing and growing their own food to feed themselves better. They “invented carts and chariots to relieve men of the burden of carrying their possessions”(802), they created better armory for battles. Most importantly women used their intuition and wisdom to create numbers, language and laws. That way men would be allowed grow and communicate better with the rest of the world.

During the time of courtly love writers were very modest with their expressions. Love was not portrayed as social, and usually kept in private. Women also  kept to themselves, and  men had to pursue a woman. Women barely voiced their opinions. Louise Labé was a renegade in this area of writing and exposing her emotions not only for many to see, but she had it written in her sonnets. Women were not accustomed to  publish or write much in her time, thus making her break the norms. Love was also expressed from a man’s perspective and Miss. Labé described love from a female gaze instead. She did break norms and was captivating while doing it “Kiss me, kiss me again, and then kiss; grant me one of your most glorious, grant me one of your most amorous: I’ll return you four, as hot as this. Alas!” (6) 

With her expressive and glorious writing she marked and brought change in society. She was still part of the courtly love, since she mainly spoke about her tormented love being from a distance. So she in a way still practiced this distant love, which were the codes set for courtly love.

The Book of the City of Ladies strikes me as the oldest feminist piece I’ve ever encountered. It’s interesting to note that Pizan starts off by describing the social status of women as the lowest of all except for that of childbearing. She subsequently brings up several mythologies to showcase women’s abilities. Women are as strong and clever as men. In the latter part of the Book, the Amazonian nation was so strong and dominant that even the male presence was not necessary for women’s existence and success.

Christine de Pizan’s The City of Ladies starts with the heroine reading a cleric’s Matheolus’ attack on women and falling into despair. She comes to the realization that all men – writers, philosophers, orators, and poets – speak ill of female nature, and being a woman herself she knows that they are wrong and full of lies. Christine reflected on herself as well as other women in her life and concluded that her experience, knowledge, and observations contradict all the misogynistic accusations from male authors. First, says Pizan, just because so many men are spreading lies and misconceptions about women doesn’t mean you have to rely on their opinions. In fact, you should probably do the opposite since the male philosophers are constantly contradicting each other and “correcting each other’s opinions”. For example, Aristotle rejected Plato’s theory of forms, while later Doctors of the Church and St. Augustine criticized Aristotle’s teachings on certain matters. In response to male authors’ depiction of women, Christine de Pizan describes female merits and virtues. She reasonably values the good female nature, and to support her argument she gathers and presents numerous examples of great, brave, noble, and strong women in history.

 The image of the wife described by Pizan in “Book of the City of Ladies” and the virtues possessed by these women are precisely the social positioning and requirements of women as wives at that time. In terms of family responsibilities, wife was mainly responsible for housework, which also represented the general form of family division of labor at that time. With regard to the relationship between husband and wife, the wife is still in a dependent position in the marriage and family, and the wife must be subordinate to her husband. In terms of family economic relations, the wife is completely dependent on her husband. After marriage, the wife is forbidden to show her head outside, and has no opportunity to go out to work. Although there will be opportunities to help manage the husband ’s territory and become familiar with and grasp the financial situation of the family, it only occurs when the husband goes out to fight or do business outside, these powers will soon be deprived.

First of all, I feel that the author is based on feminism. Analyzing it from the female point of view, I feel it was risky, since it is about the education that women receive about the violation of their rights. In the book, the creation of a city without men is conceived, that is, the male presence is completely nullified. Practically predicting what seems to be possible in the 21st century, procreation without the need for human participation. Furthermore, I feel that her intention was to defend unwarranted attacks against women’s characters and to provide examples of the unquestionable virtue of their sex.

As a child, Augustine viewed schooling as something that was forced upon him by the adults who he was taught to obey. “Short of being driven to it, I certainly would not have learned.” While he did not enjoy it, it was something that he had to do, and he did it well. During his adolescence, he became a leading scholar in the School of Rhetoric and was arrogant with his achievements, and in his adulthood, he became a teacher of rhetoric in Carthage and then Rome. “I was studying the books of eloquence; for in eloquence it was my ambition to shine… for the satisfaction of human vanity.” As he grew older, he recognized education as a tool for gaining honor and glory amongst men. Although he claims that good was done to him, by God, by being forced to learn to read and write so that he could express himself, his “earthly intentions” were not as pure and grand.

Pizan’s “The Book of the City of Ladies” is definitely way ahead of its time, and can potentially be viewed as one of the earliest forms of feminism. Pizan was deterred by the way in which women were slandered in other pieces of literature, which motivated her to give a different perspective through her literature. It is significant that Pizan does not dispute the claims of the works of men but instead uses her literature to empower women and to demonstrate why women are not like those claims. She uses Lady Reason, Lady Rectitude, and Lady Justice to give examples of powerful women in society such as the Amazons, the virgin Mary and many other examples to further the narrative. Pizan’s book definitely pushed the envelope on the morals and view of society considering it was written in the 14th century, in which these points of view were not very popular in a patriarchal society. No matter the target audience, Pizan was trying to empower women who read her work, determined to show men that the negative stigmatization of women was false and dedicated to change the overall perception of women in society.