Cantebury Tales
Christine de Pizan was one of the first feminist authors in the history of literature. She wrote many poems and books voicing her opinion on the injustice women of her time faced. One such novel is The Book of the City of Ladies. In a visionary dream, Christine is visited by Ladies Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. The three ladies inform Christine that God has chosen her to build an allegorical city in which to defend womankind, using examples of female virtue and achievement both from the past and her own day as the stones with which to build the city's walls and towers. Reason provides materials for the foundation, Rectitude helps to build the walls, create the moat, and lays out the city, and Justice adds the finishing touches to the high towers and places. With the creation of this city, Christine forms a sort of utopia for all women by providing powerful positive images of women, ranging from warriors, inventors and scholars to prophetesses, artists and saints. She also offers a fascinating insight into the debates and controversies about the position of women in her medieval culture. Much of The City of Ladies was inspired by events in the author's life that sparked some animosity a
In 1380, the year Christine and Etienne married, Etienne was made a royal secretary. --Like the Mourning Doves, Christine de Pizan As the sole breadwinner of her household, Christine supported herself and her children through her literary work. Christine and Lady Reason discuss motives behind men's misogyny. However her mother's disagreement to a female education was also a topic of discussion for Christine and Lady Rectitude. A pattern is established here that will be repeated in following chapters where parallels are drawn between classical models and more recent examples of comparable virtues, for Christine is clearly unwilling to have feminine virtue demoted to a mythological past. Their patronage gave her a means of support. The small amount of money left to Christine by Etienne was the subject of dispute. " In her composition of The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine writes with a clear organizational pattern. Like the mourning dove I'm now all forlorn. This point of view was probably planted by her father in her early years, since he too saw no wrong in a woman's education in such things as the sciences. Etienne was twenty-five and a graduate of the University of Paris. "She selected examples of admirable women from mythology, ancient history, and occasionally from past or contemporary French history, all designed to call attention to the abilities and accomplishments of women" (Bornstein, 6). Christine's father had passed away in 1387.
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Acceptance Essays
