Abstract:

In my research proposal, I had started out with the thesis of, “a women’s societal and gender role left little to no agency in medieval French literature, and because of the emphasis on courtly love, women were only represented at the expense of a man’s interest.” Since then, I have further analyzed my three resources and have decided to revise and specify my thesis more to focus generally on female agency portrayed in medieval literature.

My new thesis is how women in medieval literature, married or not, were represented at the expense of a man's interest or non-interest in them. They could only be seen or be given agency through their male counterpart which oftentimes gave them the role of a wife because of gendered norms as well as religious expectations. For example, I still plan to present my own annotated edition of Christine de Pizan’s, City of Ladies, focusing on chapters from part two where Pizan talks to Lady Rectitude about men’s claims about women only having bad qualities.

I have selected passages from chapters 13, 25, 44, and 53 because in each one, Lady Rectitude retells the narratives of famous women from the perspective of a woman rather than what a male perceives the situation to be. Especially in chapter 44, she explains how women don’t enjoy being rape, telling the story of Lucretia and Tarquin which made me think that again, a woman during this time have only ever been seen as a prize to be won or a conquest to be made from the opposite gender. However, I enjoyed annotating chapter 53 the most because Lady Rectitude gives a thoroughly complex answer to Pizan’s question of why women have to endure the criticism made by men when they know their worth. She explains that in the future, the power dynamics will change and for now, they must wait for the right timing because men during their time, don’t have the mental capacity to think of women being their equals. But she encourages Pizan to not give up hope because women in the future must carry on their early stages of feminism and activism.

Moreover, the slides about female literacy from class and the resource I found, Representations of Female Agency in Medieval French Literature, have given me new insight about not only Pizan’s personal life but also the different ways that agency was given to female protagonists in medieval literature. The aspect of gender and religion also factored into the account of women living in this era and it was reflected in female portrayals of fiction, but Pizan wanted to break the stereotypical role of what a woman should look like and how they should act. This stems from her background of living a non-traditional lifestyle as she was educated and gained privileges that were typically given to men. The bibliography I will present below is the same one from my initial research proposal; I found them sufficient enough for my project.

Thesis

Women in medieval literature, married or not, were represented at the expense of a man's interest or non-interest in them. They could only be seen or be given agency through their male counterpart which oftentimes gave them the role of a wife because of gendered norms as well as religious expectations.

Part II, chapter 13

But could you please explain and con- firm for me something that really troubles my mind: is it true what men claim and many authors say, that married life is filled with hardship because of women's impetuosity and their constant nagging? As many authors assert and many men claim, women have so little love for their husbands and their com- pany that nothing irritates them more. To avoid such misery, several authors have said that if men are wise, they should not marry at all, claiming that few, if any, women are faithful to their husbands."

Part II, chapter 25

If a man has any sense, he must assure himself that his wife is sensible and trustworthy enough before he tells her anything he wants kept confidential, because if she doesn't, he may be courting trouble. But when a man feels that his wife is wise and discreet, there is no one in the world he can trust more and who can lend him greater support than his wife.

Part II, chapter 44

"My dear friend, don't believe for a minute that chaste, respectable women take any pleasure whatsoever in being raped. Indeed, it is an ordeal that is worse than anything else, and some women have demon- strated this by their own example. Take Lucretia, for example, a high-born woman from Rome who was more faithful to her husband than anyone else. She was married to a nobleman by the name of Tarquinius Collatinus. Then Tarquin the Proud, son of King Tarquinius, fell deeply in love with the noble Lucretia and was afraid to tell her, because he knew how chaste she was. Enter- taining little hope of achieving his goal by offering gifts or making entreaties, he thought of a ruse to bend her to his will. He pretended to be a close friend of her husband's, thus assuring himself of access to her house at all times. This proved to Tarquin that all his efforts were fruitless, so he had another hei- nous idea, telling her that he would publicly announce that he had found her with one of his servants. To make a long story short, the thought that people would believe his words so appalled her that she finally submitted to him. "Lucretia, however, did not have the fortitude to endure this great shame, so when morning came, she sent for her husband, her father, and her closest relatives, who were among the most powerful people in Rome, and confessed to them what had happened to her, weeping and wailing. Seeing her so dis- traught, her husband and relatives tried to comfort her, but she pulled out a knife that she had kept hidden under her robe and said: 'Even if I absolve myself from my sin and show my innocence, I still cannot free myself from my torment or escape my punishment, and no other woman will ever be shamed and dishonored by following Lucretia's example.' Having said these words, she plunged the knife into her breast and collapsed, fatally injured, in front of her husband and friends.

Part II, chapter 44 Cont.

Enraged, they all rushed at Tarquin. The event caused turmoil in all of Rome: they chased out the king and would have killed his son if they could have found him. There would never again be a king ruling Rome. And some claim that because of Lucretia's rape, a law was enacted stipulating that if a man committed rape, he would be executed. That is an appropriate, just, and holy law."36

Part II, chapter 53

That is why I am surprised that so many meritorious ladies who possessed great wisdom and a thorough education, ladies who composed beautiful books and poems, kept enduring the devastating criticisms leveled against them by various men without contradicting them, when they were well aware that those criticisms were completely unwarranted."

Answer: "My dear friend, that question is quite easy to answer. Based on what I have told you before, it will be clear to you that the ladies whose outstanding virtues I have described all used their intellectual capacities in different fields, without ever devoting themselves to the same subject. The writing of this book has been reserved for you and not for them, because they gained great respect from intelligent and discerning people without the need to write more books about their accomplishments. As to the length of time that has passed without them contradicting their accusers and slanderers, let me tell you that in the eternal scheme of things, there is a time and a place for all things to come to a good end. How else could God have tolerated for so long the heresies against His holy faith? They were very difficult to eradicate and would still exist today if they had not been challenged. So it is with many other things that were tolerated for a long time before they were contested and refuted.

Part II, chapter 53 Cont.

It's just not true that the majority of women lack virtue. This is amply proven by what I have told you before about the everyday experience of women's piety, their acts of charity, and their other virtues, no less than by the fact that the terrible things and the evil that keeps occurring in this world are not committed by women. But the statement that not all women are virtuous is hardly surprising. In all of Nineveh, a big and densely populated city, not a single good man could be found when our Lord ordered the prophet Jonah to go there and destroy it unless it turned away from evil. It was even worse in the city of Sodom, as evidenced by the fact that it was destroyed by fire sent down from heaven after Lot's departure. You should also note that the company of Jesus Christ, which numbered only twelve men, still included one evil member. To think that men have the nerve to say that all women must be good and that those who aren't should be stoned! I would ask them to first look to themselves and let he who is without sin cast the first stone. In other words, they should first examine their own conduct. I tell you, when men become perfect, women will follow their example.

Conclusion

After reading my annotated edition of Christine de Pizan’s, City of Ladies, I hope readers are able to make meaningful connections between the evidence I presented, such as feminine resources examining gender roles in medieval literature, and the passages I have selected from chapters 13, 25, 44, and 53. It may seem overlooked but I think it's important to study the early feminist works like City of Ladies because we not only understand what society was like during the medieval times, but we can understand how certain societal norms were reflected in media and how they have been passed onto our generation today.

Particularly for women, I found it insightful to learn how agency was written differently for female protagonists because I never thought about giving or withholding agency from a literature perspective. And I’m also an English: Creative Writing major, so it makes me become more aware of how I want to portray my female characters in the stories I write.

Moreover, I can’t imagine how much male criticism Christine de Pizan faced when writing this book since she was trying to write something that was so ahead of her time. It’s like she had said in chapter 53, there is a time and place for everything and sadly during the time she lived she didn’t get to see women be treated equally, but for women like me in today’s time, we have reaped the benefits of her early feminine works. We still have a long way to go for the equality of women, but it’s amazing to have read her book and see her hopes and dreams for women become a reality in the society we live in today.