Christine De Pizan Essay Research Paper Christine

Christine De Pizan Essay, Research Paper

Christine de Pizan

An unlikely candidate to dispute the unfair, misogynistic treatment of women by men and society, Christine de Pizan successfully challenged the accepted negative views that were being expressed about women by the all-male literary world of her era. Part of Christine’s uniqueness stems from the time in which she lived, the middle to late 1300’s. The lack of a positive female role model to pattern herself after made Christine a true visionary in the fight for the equal rights of women. Her original ideas and insight provided a new and more intelligent way to view females. Pizan’s work, The Book of the City of Ladies, provided women much needed guidance in how to survive without the support of a man.

Born in Venice around 1364, Christine was the first professional woman writer in Europe. Her father, Thomas of Pizan, was a famous astrologer and physician who took Christine as an infant to France. His fame as an astrologer allowed him to be appointed to the court of the French King Charles V (Kosinski xi).

Depending on her father for the majority of her education, Christine’s great love as a child was learning; however, Christine’s mother felt that educating Christine was inappropriate, which led to a premature halt in her instruction. (Kosinski xi). Christine’s accomplishments and her mothers views that “ladies should not be educated” (Kosinski xi) show the contrast between mother and daughter. Although she is said to have described her education as “nothing but picking up the crumbs of learning that fell from her father’s table” (Kosinski 299), Christine’s writing is filled with allusions to “classical authors, church fathers, poets, and historical writers” – -revealing intellect greater than table scraps (Kosinski 299).

At the age of fifteen, Christine married Etienne de Castel, a notary and secretary of the royal court (Kosinski xi). Just as her writing reflected her uniqueness, so did her marriage which was evidently a “love match,” something remarkable in the medieval days of arranged marriages (Kosinski xi). Christine spoke of a loving relationship by describing her marriage to Etienne as, “a sweet thing” and her husband as “kind and considerate” on their wedding night (Kosinski xi ).

Christine’s family relied on the charity of Charles V for their livelihood; therefore, his death in 1380 proved detrimental to Christine and her family. The successor to the throne, King Charles VI, was not as generous toward the Pizan family, and both Christine’s father and husband lost most of their pay. Between 1384 and 1389, Thomas de Pizan died leaving little inheritance for his young daughter (Kosinski xi). Christine was left to depend entirely on her husband for financial security. Christine and her husband would have three children together before his death due to a 1389 epidemic (Leon 214).

At the age of 25, Christine was a widow with three small children and her mother to support (Kosinski xii). Christine describes this period of her life as a time when she was “forced to become a man,” as she began to seek out patrons for her writing (Kosinski xii). Although Christine was obviously a brilliant and talented writer, necessity was her true inspiration, as she literally had to write in order to feed her family.

Christine’s first literary endeavors were the highly demanded love poems of the 14th century, as well as devotional texts that emphasized her strong Christian faith (Kosinski xii). However, it is Christine’s literary work The Book of the City of Ladies, that is most intriguing to contemporary readers. Christine was the first woman writer to possess the ability to identify and address the issues of misogyny in the literature of her time, as well as society (Kosinski xii). This characteristic made her a champion of the feminist movement that was yet to come. Although Christine never addressed the issue of “changing the structures of her society” (Kosinski xiii), her ability to identify misogyny during a time when it was a normal aspect of women’s lives, reveals the insight of the young woman.

The beginning scene of The Book of the City of Ladies describes Christine looking at a book by Matheolus:

When I held it open and saw from its title that it was by Matheolus, I smiled, for though I had never seen it before, I had often heard that like other books it discussed respect for women. (de Pizan 3)

Christine’s belief in intellectual equality is found in the theme of this story with a young lady reading for pleasure. 14th century women were rarely literate. Choosing reading as a pleasurable activity would have been uncommon. What Christine discovers upon reading this text is just the opposite of her expectations. She realizes that Matheolus is not respectful toward women, but just the opposite. His work represents women as “devilish and wicked.” However, she uses her wit to describe her displeasure in the text:

Because the subject seemed to me not very pleasant for people who do not enjoy lies, and of no use in developing virtue or manners, given its lack of integrity in diction and theme, and after browsing here and there and reading the end, I put it down in order to turn my attention to more elevated and useful study. (de Pizan 3)

Christine’s remarks here criticize the subject of Matheolus text, and also his choice