The Book of the City of Ladies was written by Christine de Pizan in
1405. This 1982 translation, by Earl Jeffrey Richards (revised 1998), is the
first English translation since the mid-sixteenth century and therefore returns
to the public eye the revolutionary writings of Christine de Pizan. She was
raised in the French court and when widowed young and left with no means of
support, she turned to her education, of which she had been naturally inclined,
for her support by writing. The Book of
the City of Ladies is an argument in favor of the abilities of women, or
rather ladies (those who earn the title not through blood, but through their own
merits and virtue) and against the condemnation of women by men. She uses the
rhetorical device of a conversation, held in a vision, between herself and
three ladies, by whom she was appointed to help build a city for ladies. The
three ladies are Reason, Rectitude and Justice. Christine de Pizan uses her own
voice as one of doubt and curiosity and one of the ladies replies with evidence
of the “truth” of the nature of women while refuting the position of current
male thought or previous male philosophical tenants on the nature of women. For
her support against female misconceptions, Christine de Pizan uses Christian
and pagan women throughout history and myths. She cites such women as the
Sarah, Rebecca, and Ruth but also uses examples such as the Amazons, Penelope (wife
of Odysseus) and gods, Ceres, Isis, and Minerva, to illustrate her opinions on
the nature and role of women.
The
following commentary will focus on selected portions of the book: the
introduction, Reason and her final address to all ladies; further analysis for
the remaining portions will be posted shortly. This book can be considered
feminist for many reasons and for the this same reason it cannot adequately be
categorized in another theme; in Christine’s rhetoric for the abilities and contributions
of women, she considers all aspects and spheres of women’s lives, especially
those spheres which men do not consider appropriate for women to inhabit. She
discusses politics and governance with the lady, Reason. And her discussions
range from women’s contribution to war by Minerva to the theological premise of
women’s creation. Reason, posits, “Was it vile matter? No, it was the noblest
substance which had ever been created: it was from the body of man from which
God made women” (24). Christine turns what could be a negative argument against
her cause in her favor. While misogynists might claim women were created second
after men and thus make women more under men’s subjugation, Christine realizes
that men were created from matter which is an imperfect substance but Adam and
Eve were in more perfect state in the Garden of Eden and Eve was created from
Adam’s rib and according to Reason, thus more noble.
Christine advocates on all areas
of life for women, which makes this reading feminist in nature because it is
not only in contemplation of marriage or education but in all aspects of
women’s lives. Even further, she believes in the capacity of improvement and
achievement of all women: “whether noble, bourgeois, or lower-class—be
well-informed in all things” (256), is how Christine addresses ladies in the
last section of her book. Christine was a revolutionary lady of her day. More
educated than most, instead of remarrying after her husband’s death, she was
able to support herself through writing when that was not a popular, or rather
even, established profession, and especially not one available to women. Though
some of her views are not as transcendent as others, for instance her
admonition that, “you ladies who are married, do not scorn being subject to
your husbands, for sometimes it is not the best thing for a creature to be
independent,” may seem obsequious for modern-day women, Christine must be
judged in her own time against her contemporaries. Against these individuals,
Christine and her advanced and revolutionary arguments in The Book of the City of Ladies, soars far above perhaps typically
suppressed women’s beliefs (which can be seen in the opening as she asks God
why “so many abominations abound in the female sex” (5), according to learned men?)
and instead propounds women’s nobility of soul and capacity of mind.
As I have concluded in this post
how this book falls under a feminist theme, my next post (after completely
finishing the book) will more fully analyze the arguments and evidence Christine utilizes.
