Great Works of Literature I, Spring 2020 – Online – Two

How does Pizan respond to male authors’ depiction of women in her work?

 

Throughout the story, Pizan tries to argue each point the male authors made.  Those male authors said females aren’t faithful and are mean by nature. Pizan uses Lady Rectitude, who find females who are faithful and love their husbands. This in Pizan’s eyes wouldn’t make sense since female who loves their husbands wouldn’t ever hurt their husbands. Pizan literally built a place ruled by females proving what those male authors said was wrong.

One thought on “How does Pizan respond to male authors’ depiction of women in her work?”

  1. John I noticed also that Pizan used the Ladies of the book to dispute the claims of men and the stigma that they had created about women. In my opinion, it seems that Pizan took the high road and didn’t attack men but instead demonstrated how women aren’t those things. I like your statement at the end, in which Pizan demonstrated so many positive things about women through figures in history and stories that she could build a city with them.

Comments are closed.