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Toby Carlos English 430 Professor Kellogg April 10, 2004 Vice and Virgin This study will analyze men’s attitudes toward women portrayed in “The Romance of the Rose” by Guillame de Lorris and Jean de Meun. This will then be contrasted with “The City of Ladies” by Christine de Pizan. The reasons that men have contempt for women in the work by Jean and Guillame are complex and involve erotic as well as divine love. Pizan’s work elicits a complete reversal of the misogynistic trend and portrays women as glorious beings capable of noble deeds and saintly love. In “The Romance of the Rose”, the modern reader can hardly fail to grasp that the medieval author, as representative of the man of the Middle Ages, sees women not as equal human beings but as strange and threatening creatures of many different personalities. The love of which the authors write is an obsessive, romantic love which precludes realistic expectations of the woman. The woman is a potential savior and destroyer. The extreme nature of the expectations held by men toward the women is so great that it is impossible for the men to see the women as anything less than goddesses or witches. In contrast, Christine de Pizan portrays women in noble and inspiring ways. Her images of great women include queens, warriors, prophetesses, virgins, saints, and scholars. An emphasis on virtue, not of vice, impresses the power of women upon the reader. The irreverence shown towards women in Jean’s portion is in part because the Rose is by convention entitled to demand complete feudal obedience from the Lover as seen in Guillaume’s depiction of the courtly lover.
Approximate Word count = 1027
Approximate Pages = 4.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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