No matter where Christine de Pizan goes, no matter what she
reads, misogyny greets her, degrading her self-worth and tormenting her spirit.
Trapped in the darkness of misconception, she has no faith in herself, and this
prevents her from having complete faith in her creator. As a result, she
identifies herself as utterly lost. This all changes, however, upon the
establishment of the City of Ladies, a metaphysical gathering-place for
virtuous women. In curating examples of feminine greatness, the City serves as
a visual defense of womankind. More than that, however, its construction
represents the process of elucidation that de Pizan undergoes, which leads not
only to her revitalized self-esteem, but also to her revitalized understanding
of God.
In the
beginning, de Pizan is misguided by the opinions of male scholars, who define
women as weak and corrupt. They convince
her to the point where she “argues strongly against women, saying that it would
be unlikely that so many famous men…could have lied in so many places” (120).
Accordingly, she “considers [herself] unworthy” and “despises [herself] and the
entire feminine sex” (120). In renouncing her faith in herself, she experiences
“great unhappiness and sadness,” but worse, she finds herself distrusting God
(120). After all, she questions, if women are so terrible, why did God create
them as such? How could God “have stooped to make such an abominable piece of
work which is the vessel…of evil and vice?” (120). Is God capable of making
mistakes? Is God legitimate as a creator?
Such questions torment de Pizan’s conscience. This turmoil sets
the stage for the rhetorical journey that will be embodied in the construction
of the City of Ladies, whose formation takes place in question-and-answer
format. Here, common misconceptions about women are deconstructed and
refuted. For example, the builders
(three visiting ladies) argue that women are, in fact, just as intelligent as
men (137). They also establish that women are not inferior, just different
(135). With each new refutation, the City grows stronger, a development
embodied in the concrete imagery of foundations and walls. This mirrors de
Pizan’s own transformation as she is “awakened from sleep,” indicating that the
City is really just an allegory for her realization of her “honors and beauty”
(155).
With this realization comes her
renewed faith in God’s perfection. Now that she understands that the case
against women is false, and now that she has a solid basis for her
self-respect, she knows that God did not create something useless. As she tells
her listeners, “thus, you have reason to rejoice virtuously in God and in good
comportment when you see this new city perfected” (155). The construction of
the City, then, symbolizes how the process of building self-worth must precede
complete confidence in God.
While reading Emily's post and the text, I found it interesting that there were many similarities within Christine de Pizan's writings and Augustine's. Both present their argument in a question format, beginning first with their past insurrections and moving into their discoveries. On another note, I liked that Emily's post detailed the inner transformation within de Pizan as her allegorical city grew. The City, she says, "increas[ed] and mulipl[ied]...through the adherence to virtues," which in effect makes her a better person as well (155).
ReplyDeleteIn terms of its metaphorical significance, I found it interesting that the city has a wall around it. A woman's natural condition is described as being "simple, quiet and honest"(128), so I am curious as to whether the wall is an extra measure of protection for something described several times throughout the text as delicate. In any case, the wall implies fragility of its inhabitants and is perhaps a comment on how easily this view of women can be corrupted.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of the wall that Kyra proposed interested me a lot. I would just like to add that even though walls protect what is held with in them, they also keep things out. Could it be reasonable to suggest that the walls were built to keep things out rather than keep the women in? Perhaps to keep out the ideas of the male's philosophy that women are "weak and corrupt" as Emily put it.
ReplyDeleteRemember, though, that the material the Ladies grant Pizan is strong enough to outshine any monument previously built like the city of Troy. I think the walls are a metaphor of Pizan's arguments, constructed of permanent material the Ladies provide, against the othering of women. As Iska mentions, these walls, her arguments, are meant to protect women from dangerous and unjustified slander that her logical and indestructible wall-arguments refute.
ReplyDeleteEmily does a great job interpreting the symbolic significance of the City of the Ladies. I notice too that there is a structure in how this part of the text was written with the 3 ladies of Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. For the first part of the construction of the city, Lady Reason states " It seems to me that I have produced enough proofs for my points: namely to show you, by quick reasoning and example, that god has never had, nor has, any objections to the feminine sex, or to that of men, as it has become clear and will become even clearer in the deposttions of my two sisters who are here. For it seems to me that for now the walls I have built for you as the enclousre of the city of Ladies must suffice..." (141). After Chritine's worries and concerns have left, the beginning of the construction of this city happens. The walls of the city are the first of the construction process, where possibly it represents the complete confidence in God that these reasons are solid and true. The reasons can withstand all the corrupted ideas that have distorted society. This construction of the city plays an important role in answering her questions about women and society's distortion of their true meaning and building the relationship with God.
ReplyDeleteLike Lauren, I was struck by the similarities in Augustine and de Pizan's writings. One point I found especially interesting was that the "daughters of God" (123) choose to speak to de Pizan because of "the great love you have for inquiring into the truth of things through long continuous study, for which reason you [de Pizan] are here along and separated from the world" (123). Augustine views separating oneself from the physical world as the ultimate goal, as the physical world is impermanent and flawed, leading humans into sin and away from God. It is this very trait of removal from the physical realm which leads to de Pizan being chosen as the founder of the sacred City of Women.
ReplyDeleteLike Lachlan I saw a correlation between Augustine and de Pizan but rather than within the content of the text itself, I see a similarity in the projection of the author's self into the text. Each of the author's is inspired to share their inspiration, both similarly claim authority on the subject based on this inspiration and relate that their authority should be assured by the nature of this inspiration from God (where she is more literally a "daughter of God").
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