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A review by bluereen
The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan
3.0
"Drive back these treacherous liars who use nothing but tricks and honeyed words to steal from you that which you should keep safe above all else: your chastity and your glorious good name."
***
The book is divided into three parts and chronicles Christine's encounters with the three blessed ladies: Rectitude, Justice, and Reason. It provides a lengthy account disputing all the falsehoods purported by men against women—e.g., they are gossipers, unfaithful, tactless... the list goes on. Basically every misogynistic remark one could think of. While I did enjoy reading through the stories of all these historical women and their valiant deeds, I felt the third part of the book was self-defeating. Pizan spent so much time proving how women were worth so much more than the men made them out to be, yet the ending gives way to her internalized misogyny.
One could read the City of Ladies as an early feminist piece yet it also lends itself to deconstruction. Because Pizan was a devout Catholic, her religious beliefs pervade the entire book. In the end, she upholds the tenets of traditional femininity—arguing that only the women who adhere to these qualities are deserving of a place inside the city. Pizan enjoins women to "be humble and long-suffering.... [for] patience is the key to paradise."
Around 300+ pages worth of buildup re feminine power only for wives to be advised in the end to remain long-suffering and tolerate their abusive husbands; for maidens to preserve their virtue and modesty. Quite a letdown—but I'm reading this for a class so I had no choice really.
***
The book is divided into three parts and chronicles Christine's encounters with the three blessed ladies: Rectitude, Justice, and Reason. It provides a lengthy account disputing all the falsehoods purported by men against women—e.g., they are gossipers, unfaithful, tactless... the list goes on. Basically every misogynistic remark one could think of. While I did enjoy reading through the stories of all these historical women and their valiant deeds, I felt the third part of the book was self-defeating. Pizan spent so much time proving how women were worth so much more than the men made them out to be, yet the ending gives way to her internalized misogyny.
One could read the City of Ladies as an early feminist piece yet it also lends itself to deconstruction. Because Pizan was a devout Catholic, her religious beliefs pervade the entire book. In the end, she upholds the tenets of traditional femininity—arguing that only the women who adhere to these qualities are deserving of a place inside the city. Pizan enjoins women to "be humble and long-suffering.... [for] patience is the key to paradise."
Around 300+ pages worth of buildup re feminine power only for wives to be advised in the end to remain long-suffering and tolerate their abusive husbands; for maidens to preserve their virtue and modesty. Quite a letdown—but I'm reading this for a class so I had no choice really.