1. EN6016 Presentation
“The Figure of the Female”
23 Jan. 2012
Megan Ryan
MA Medieval to Renaissance: Texts and Contexts

2. “Books are so full of voices of the wise, so full
of lessons from antiquity [. . .] so great is the
power of books [. . .] that without them we
would all be rude and ignorant. Without
books, we should have almost no memory of
the past, no examples to follow.” Cardinal
Bessarion

3. The Female in Classical Antiquity
•Aphrodite
•Cleopatra
•Helen of Troy

4. The Female in Classical Antiquity
“If women are expected to do the same work as
men, we must teach them the same things.” Plato
The Republic
AGAMEMNON. I will tell thee, lady, what to do;
so obey me now. Euripides Iphigenia at Aulis
IPHIGENIA. Better a single man should see the
light than ten thousand women. Euripides
Iphigenia at Aulis

5. The Female and Christianity
•Eve •Virgin Mary
Whore/virgin dichotomy

6. The Female and the Bible
“The woman which thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree and I did eat [. . .] Unto
the woman he said [. . .] thy desire shall be
subject to thy husband, and he shall rule over
thee.” Genesis 3.12-6
“Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, [. . .]
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ
is the head of the church [. . .] let wives also be
subject in everything to their husbands.” Ephesians
5.22-5

7. The Female and the Middle Ages

8. Christine de Pisan
“If it were customary to send
little girls to school, and
teach them the same
subjects as are taught to
buys, they would learn just as
fully and would understand
the subtleties of all arts and
sciences.”

9. The Figure of the Female and Chaucer
“To take a wife is a glorious thing” The Merchant’s Tale
“Women desire to have mastery, over their
husbands, as their love, and to dominant over him”
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
“He freely swore upon his knighthood, never in all his
life, either day or night, would he command
mastery” The Franklin’s Tale
“Woman is man’s joy and all his bliss” The Nun’s Priest’s
Tale

10. “Men, beware of your wooing,
For wedding is the longest woe.”
B.M. Sloane 2593
“This is not the first time”, said Sir
Lancelot, “that ye have been displeased with
me causeless, but madam, ever I must suffer
you.” Malory Le Morte Darthur

11. The Female and Early Modern Society

12. “This Foul Leprosy of Nature”
“by her aspiring mind and wanton will she quickly
procured man’s fall” Swetnam The Arraignment of Lewd,
Idle, Froward and Unconstant Women
“amongst the things which change the nature and
conditions of men, women and wine are set in
the forefront as the chief causes of their
calamity” Thomas Nashe The Anatomy of Absurdities
“I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble
woman; but I have the heart of a king” Elizabeth I

13. “Beware of making too great a fire, lest the
surplus of that fire’s effect - which you
intended for others - singe yourself”
“man was as an unperfect building before woman
was made” Rachel Speght
“all women deserve not to be blamed” Aemilia Lanyer
“The sincerity of our lives and quietness of
conscience is a wall of brass to beat back the bullets
of your vituperative scandals in your own face.”
Constantia Munda

14. The Tragedy of Mariam
CONSTABARUS. Your best are worse than men:
your worst than devils.
CHORUS. In a wife it is no worse to find,
A common body than a common mind.
MARIAM. They can but my life destroy,
My soul is free from adversary’s power.
SALOME. My will shall be to me instead of Law

15. The Tragedy of Mariam
CONSTABARUS. Your best are worse than men:
your worst than devils.
CHORUS. In a wife it is no worse to find,
A common body than a common mind.
MARIAM. They can but my life destroy,
My soul is free from adversary’s power.
SALOME. My will shall be to me instead of Law

16. Beyond the Early Modern Female
• Hannah More
Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education
• Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication on the Rights of Woman
Maria

17. Beyond the Early Modern Female

18. The Female Today
“The day will come when men will recognise
women as his peer, not only at his fireside, but
in the councils of the nation. Then, and not until
then, will there be perfect comradeship, the
ideal union between the sexes that shall result
in the highest development of the race.” Susan B.
Anthony

19. The Female Today
• “The day will come when men will recognise
women as his peer, not only at his fireside, but
in the councils of the nation. Then, and not
until then, will there be perfect
comradeship, the ideal union between the
sexes that shall result in the highest
development of the race.” Susan B. Anthony