The Book of the City of Ladies: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Book of the City of Ladies" is a pioneering literary work by Christine de Pizan, where the author creates an allegorical city to honor women and counter the misogynistic narratives prevalent in her time. Central to the narrative are three major allegorical characters: Lady Reason, Lady Rectitude, and Lady Justice, who guide Christine in constructing her city. Lady Reason emphasizes self-knowledge and logical arguments to challenge male biases, advocating for women's contributions in various fields. Lady Rectitude focuses on upholding virtues unique to women, defending the rights of the oppressed, and promoting ethical behavior. Lastly, Lady Justice represents fairness and moral order, rewarding women of faith and sacrifice with eternal recognition. Through these characters, Christine not only asserts her identity as a female author but also highlights the strength and significance of women's roles in society. The work serves as both a defense of women's dignity and an exploration of their historical and moral contributions, making it a vital text in feminist literature.
The Book of the City of Ladies: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Christine de Pizan
First published: Le Livre de la cité des dames, c. 1405 (The Book of the City of Ladies: A Fifteenth-Century Defense of Women, 1521; 1982)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Paris and the allegorical City of Ladies
Plot: Allegory
Time: Early fifteenth century
ChristinedePizan (pee-ZAWN), the narrator. Christine establishes herself as the author by placing herself in her study reading. She initiates the allegorical narrative by describing how three personified figures appear to help her construct the City of Ladies. The questions that Christine poses to her allegorical guides structure the work and connect the stories of women's lives. Christine ensures that her presence as author receives emphasis by her repetition of the phrase “I, Christine” as she takes up a new question or topic. Although Chris-tine's authorial stance is a strong element, she reveals little about her personality or character in a direct manner. Indirectly, however, the reader learns about Christine's studious habits, her relationship with her mother, her connections to French courtly circles, and her interests in women's issues. Most important, Christine's insertion of her name continuously reinforces her gender and thus her distinctiveness as a female author.
Lady Reason, Christine's first allegorical guide. As Christine contemplates how women have been maligned by the misogynistic attitudes of male authors, a vision of three ladies appears to her. These allegorical personifications are all female because in Latin the gender of the abstract words that they embody is feminine. The only indications about their physical appearance are that they wear crowns and that their faces shine with a brightness that illuminates the room. Reason speaks first to Christine. Reason indicates that she holds a mirror instead of a scepter as an aid to achieving self-knowledge. As with the other two guides, the primary knowledge about Reason's character and purpose is derived from her comments and speeches to Christine. Reason represents the reasonable. She presents logical arguments against the misogynistic viewpoints advanced by men. The foundations that she helps Christine lay for the City of Ladies are built with the contributions of women in specific realms of knowledge such as the arts and sciences.
Lady Rectitude, the second allegorical guide. When Reason finishes introducing herself to Christine, Lady Rectitude explains her presence. Her attribute is a ruler that separates right from wrong. She explains that she encourages people to follow the path of correct behavior and truth and to defend the rights of the oppressed and the innocent. The ruler, with its capacity for measurement, also reinforces the image of building the city. She is Christine's guide for the second book of the City of the Ladies. Rectitude is a more unusual allegorical figure. She is an advocate for female virtues that are unique to women and thus outside the areas of men's activity. She emphasizes women's prophetic powers, their faithfulness and devotion to their husbands and families, and their nurturing abilities.
Lady Justice, the third allegorical guide. Justice holds a golden vessel as her attribute; it signifies how she measures out the just rewards or punishments to individuals according to their behavior. Justice guides Christine in the third book, in which she fills the high towers of the city with the Virgin and female saints. Their sacrifices for God have earned them the ultimate reward that Justice can dispense: They have been accorded sainthood in heaven. Of the three allegorical figures, Justice is the most remote and ethereal.