Miguel De Cervantes and Christine de Pizan through their writings condemn the way writers and society viewed women, opposing such writing by pointing out that women possess attributes that stem further than their beauty or connection with men. If women are depicted one way in written text, those ideas will then transfer into society. Specifically, chivalric tales had this effect because at this point in time, the idea of chivalry was well respected and so were the tales that told of chivalric actions. The two authors presented the idea that readers were reading these tales incorrectly and in doing so assumed women to be the downfall of men, but that is incorrect. While their methods differ, both Christine De Pizan in “The Book of the City of
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In Don Quixote, Marcela brings up “[her] natural understanding that God has given [her]” (Cervantes Pg.445). By natural understanding she means her intelligence, something that she holds at a higher esteem than her beauty. The reason being that because of her intelligence, she is able to recognize the inconsistencies in the ideas of the men that admire her and her right to be a free person. Meanwhile in “the Book of the City of Ladies”, the ladies offer Christine examples of women who employing their intelligence brought many improvements to mankind. Pizan presents, Minerva who “ invented various Greek letters,” Carmentis who “[invented]...the Latin alphabet” Queen Ceres and Isis who taught men how to grow, in order to present to the audience examples of women whose intelligence brought them merit (De Pizan Pg.800-802). In her presenting these women, she presents a different side to women and also introduces how women are not the downfall of men but instead have helped men multiple times in history. By both authors presenting the intelligence of a women as something greater than their beauty, they present people whose merits come from their thoughts and actions. The audience can see that the way women were portrayed was dreadful, but now they can recognize that they are able to take these poor female roles and read them differently in order to have a better understanding of
In Don Quixote, Marcela brings up “[her] natural understanding that God has given [her]” (Cervantes Pg.445). By natural understanding she means her intelligence, something that she holds at a higher esteem than her beauty. The reason being that because of her intelligence, she is able to recognize the inconsistencies in the ideas of the men that admire her and her right to be a free person. Meanwhile in “the Book of the City of Ladies”, the ladies offer Christine examples of women who employing their intelligence brought many improvements to mankind. Pizan presents, Minerva who “ invented various Greek letters,” Carmentis who “[invented]...the Latin alphabet” Queen Ceres and Isis who taught men how to grow, in order to present to the audience examples of women whose intelligence brought them merit (De Pizan Pg.800-802). In her presenting these women, she presents a different side to women and also introduces how women are not the downfall of men but instead have helped men multiple times in history. By both authors presenting the intelligence of a women as something greater than their beauty, they present people whose merits come from their thoughts and actions. The audience can see that the way women were portrayed was dreadful, but now they can recognize that they are able to take these poor female roles and read them differently in order to have a better understanding of