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

How and why does Pizan link women with language (in its various uses) and civilization?

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.