Foolish Men by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
"Foolish Men," also known as "Hombres necios," is a notable poem by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a prominent figure in early feminist literature. Through a modern and candid tone, the poem advocates for women's perspectives in a society that often blames them for the failings of romantic relationships. Sor Juana's work reveals her struggles with the societal roles imposed on women during the 17th century, presenting a world where love is fraught with tension and misunderstanding. The poem employs a structured format of redondillas, or four-line stanzas, to deliver a logical critique of male behavior, highlighting the hypocrisy of men who pursue women and then castigate them for being unworthy. Sor Juana powerfully argues that if men instigate sinful situations, they must also bear the guilt for the outcomes. By questioning the societal norms that vilify women, she asserts her voice and intellect in a time when such expressions were rare for women. "Foolish Men" serves as both a critique of gender dynamics and a significant work within the Baroque literary tradition, illustrating the complexities of love and relationships while championing the rights of women.
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Foolish Men by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: “Hombres necios,” 1700 (collected in The Answer: Including a Selection of Poems, 1994)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
Sor Juana’s reputation as an early feminist rests upon The Poet’s Answer to the Most Illustrious Sister Filotea de la Cruz and upon the poem “Foolish Men.” The poem is commonly known by its first two words, “Hombres necios,” which translate as “Foolish Men,” or by its first line, which translates as “foolish men, who accuse. . . . ” “Foolish Men,” a poem in defense of women, is among her best-known works. Written in a relatively frank and idiomatic tone, the verses seem strikingly modern. Clearly, Sor Juana had difficulty in her own life with the role assigned to women. Sor Juana’s poetry often portrays women as the more logical partners in battles of love with men. Her view of love is certainly not idealized; relationships between men and women are necessarily problematic, and love itself is an unreasonable emotion filled with tension and strife.
“Foolish Men” opens with a blunt accusation against men who are very good at blaming women for faults that men themselves have caused. Sor Juana argues for women, although she never refers to women as “we.” Her short verses, in the form of redondillas—stanzas of four lines rhyming abba—move forcefully through her logical argument. The content is easy enough to follow, and Sor Juana repeats her view in various forms of rephrasing. Men win over women’s resistance and then, becoming self-righteous, blame them for feminine frivolity. Furthermore, a woman cannot win. If she refuses her suitor, she is ungrateful and cold; if she gives in, she is lewd.
After establishing the problem, Sor Juana poses the question: Who is guiltier if their passion leads to sin? Her implicit answer is obvious. Her concluding verses challenge men to either love women as they have made them, or make them into whatever they would prefer. It is, after all, men’s pursuit that leads to women’s fall. Her final stanza speaks by her personal authority (“I well know . . . ”) of men’s arrogance. Contrary to the male view of women as the occasion of sin, she presents her own view of men as allied with the devil, the flesh, and the world.
While Sor Juana was not a feminist in the sense of an activist fighting in the public sphere for women’s rights, she was conscious of her position as a woman writer, and she did assert her right to develop her intellectual ability. “Foolish Men” confronts prejudice against women directly, but the logical and witty form of the poem puts it in the tradition of seventeenth century Baroque literature.
Bibliography
Flynn, Gerard. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Boston: Twayne, 1971.
Gonzalez, Michelle A. Sor Juana: Beauty and Justice in the Americas. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2003.
Hill, Ruth. Sceptres and Sciences in the Spains: Four Humanists and the New Philosophy, c. 1680-1740. Liverpool, England: Liverpool University Press, 2000.
Kirk, Pamela. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Religion, Art, and Feminism. New York: Continum, 1998.
Luciani, Frederick. Literary Self-Fashioning in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 2004.
Merrim, Stephanie, ed. Feminist Perspectives on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991.
Montross, Constance M. Virtue or Vice? Sor Juana’s Use of Thomistic Thought. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1981.
Paz, Octavio. Sor Juana: Or, The Traps of Faith. Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988.