The Battle between the Sexes in the middle Ages
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The battle of sexes which started out in the Middle Ages favored men greatly when compared to women. However, women on their part did not take this subject silently. These paper aims at showing how men and women have perceived women in writing in the medieval ages and even today. The discussion follows preempted questions according to their numbering in the assignment.
2.0 During the medieval times, male writers portrayed women in less than positive lights, with their perceived character and structural flaws exaggerated for the reader. This meant that women were often, presented in less capacity than men. However, this is not to state that none of the male authors painted women in a different light, some did only that they failed in weighing the goods vs. what was bad equally. In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the poet presents women in both good light and bad light. Keeping the positive aspect in mind Gawain positions women as representations of spiritual love, chastity, obedience, and life. In keeping with Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (2264), the man who makes the entreaty and the woman who is entreated are equally wrong for their deed.
“In a passion that is guilty,
Who bears the greater blame:
She who falls on being entreated,
Or he who falls on making the entreaty” (2264)
Not all portrayals of women in medieval literature are negative; however, portrayals of the day are quite different than modern considerations of women. For instance, de Pizan writes: “Rest assured, dear friend, chaste ladies who live honestly take absolutely no pleasure in being raped. Indeed, rape is the greatest possible sorrow for them” (de Pizan). While this may not be a statement that is considered particularly forward-thinking for today, the understanding that some women-- any women-- could have emotions about rape and the aftermath of rape was something unusual for the time.
Unfortunately, Gawain poet uses Bertilak’s wife Morgan as platform for showing women as representatives of death, lust disobedience, and courtly love. Women get blamed to be the cause of men downfall from Adam to Solomon. However, in doing these the author presents women to be more powerful. Morgan orders Bertilak’s around in his own castle causing him to talk and walk with severed head, besides turning him green. Despite the fact, the author does not intend to show women as powerful the poem brings them out as powerful. In the case of the Green knight, women relationship to men shows them having power, which cause men to succeed. According to the cautious knight by, just beholding the queen’s image, it made him courageous and caused his heart not to fail. However, to a careful observer it can be, seen that Gawain representation of power in women only fosters negativity. In the first case women are only shown to use power for control and manipulation even further the power women have, as in the case of the queen is only there to support men and not women. Gawain 1637 notes that;
“Her body thick and short
Her hips were round and wide
One of more pleasant sorts
She led there by her side” 970
In the medieval ages, men dominated writing as they dominated most things. However, Chaucer in the Canterbury tales portrays women to be in need. During those times, the women as portrayed by Chaucer had only two choices the church or trade. The wife of Bath was among the few who had trade skills and thus could stand on her own to succeed. Chaucer (1475) further shows how women have only grown rich by marrying rich men; these types of stories further portray the mentality towards women of the era. Chaucer tells of a time in pilgrimage where little birds take advantage of drunken sleepy men. Chaucer indicates how liquor spring flowers, when zephyr breaths gently. Chaucer negatively shows women as plunders ready to take advantage by mating with men.
Chaucer also represents positive image of women on occaision. He writes that women were successful people in the fields of trade and in the church. He uses a woman, the wife of Bath, who has a number of marketable skills like weaving. These skills that the woman has gives her financial authority and independence. The characters that were used by Chaucer, to a large extent, however, show that these women had become wealthy because they married rich men. All in all, the women are also given an active representation.
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Women have a long history of oppression and repression, and thus also have a deep desire to be independent but they also remain trapped in societal constraints, even during the Middle Ages. The story of the City of Ladies shows how success limbers on men and despite women success, they continuously need men to come in feel places they cannot themselves. Female writers in a way seem to say that men are responsible for how far they have fallen. These unfortunately portray women as weak and unable to create their own destinies in the absence of men.
“So how could she be born
How would you gain your love
If an ungrateful woman displeases
And a complaisant one you scorn” (Juana Ines de la Cruz 2264)
De La Cruz depicts women frustrations comparing the world around her as thorns aimed for the head. She compares he own frustrations and pain to that of Christ. She draws similarities between her oppressors and the crown of thorns, used by the Romans. By expressing these parallels, De La Cruz shows how the archbishop as a representative of many other men repress her desire for knowledge she shows how men come in to destroy her chance for intellectual enrichment. That position of women in the medieval society is apparent in Juana Ines de la Cruz (2264):
“To them no longer urge your suite
And then with much more reason
You c an blame their affection
When they are in pursuit”45
In these lines, De La Cruz shows female frustration-- rich, learned or poor females-- with men. This can be, expected from female writers considering that men control much of the existing economy, education, and political power.
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Compared to the Middle Ages, women today can be described as much more free and equal. Most women are rising up to the same heights as men with some women proving to be even better. Unlike the women of the middle ages, women today are more educated and more skillful in relation to men. Like most men, women in equal measure have left their homely duties to become breadwinners. Today’s women are more like partners in looking for wealth and less like properties or ornaments as depicted in the Middle Ages. Unlike the former medieval society the modern society has left open the role of women in society allowing each woman to choose where she wants to fit. In comparison to the medieval age’s women were confined not only to certain duties but even confined to certain behavioral characteristics.
Women in the modern era remain second-class in the society managed by men. Women continue to work underpaid in most cases treated differently in places of work. Men on the other hand still view women as weak and in need of protection from men, even in advent of civilization which moved protective roles to the state and not individuals. Men continue to hold positions of power and women continue to be the happy couple standing by their men. Like before, men continue to be, in charge of major corporations, and only a few women are elected as heads of multinationals. In relationships men in the medieval time as it is in the contemporary society would pursue women for relationship and emotion and physical desire.
“You seek with stupid presumption,
And lucretia in your possession” (Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz 2264).
In regards to art media, little has changed; while men fill the seats of power, survival, success, and achievement, women continue to be presented as artifacts, and reflections of beauty. Most magazines, paintings, films all come together to only show women in the perspective of sex. Like in the Middle Ages, women represent motherliness care or contextual love and where these, is absent women become representative of careless sex, lust and even death. If a woman chose freedom over marrying, she often found that a free woman’s place during this time was defined as prostitutes or worse.
While in the medieval times women were given options to decide who they were, in today’s situation, things are a little different. The world is no longer confined in home and bedrooms instead the world is one and every bit of perception is magnified. Women are now depicted on billboards not as bosses and powerful but as sexual beauties for advertisement. In music videos, women are mostly presented nude and in films, they are always supporting male characters to achieve important goals .Where women get accorded the main character, they usually are presented with men for support with few going through to show women as independent.
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Conclusions
Both men and women writers show a society where women are less in comparison to men. Men continuously dominate and control not only the society as a whole but also women. Different writers of the medieval times show a society where women had to fit in to defined boundaries. Women who tried to deviate got portrayed as social misfits while their counterparts were portrayed as "gems" or “things”. Unfortunately tod women remain portrayed and the difference despite the great changes in societal attitude the existent problems have only been sexualized and magnified.
Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. Divine Comedy. 1555. Print.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. 1475. Print.
De La Cruz, Juana Ines. Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz. 1690. Print.
De Pizan, Christian. The Book of the City of Ladies. 1766. Print.
James Hurt. Literature of the Western World, Volume I: The Ancient World Through the Renaissance. Longman Publishing Group. 2000 print
Poet, Pearl. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 1973. Print.
