Amelia Lanyer: Eve's Apology in Defense of Women
While reading Lanyer’s Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women, there is a clear explanation of how women as a whole are profiled as sinful. The first quote that represents this idea from the excerpt states, “Yet Men will boast of Knowledge, which he took From Eve's fair hand, as from a learned Book.” Adam, representing men as a whole, acts like he knows more when in reality, what he knows he learned from Eve. The idea that women take on more of a challenge in their everyday life because men act as though they are better is represented through this quote. Not only does this make women look non-intelligent, but it relates back to how they are depicted as more sinful than men.
The second quote that represented the idea of women’s overall standing stated, “And then to lay the fault on Patience' back, That we (poor women) must endure it all.” Women as a whole took the fault for things even when they did nothing wrong. People, specifically women, just accepted that that’s just how life was and didn’t know any better. From a religious standpoint, the idea of a double-standard is put to work. Everybody who studies the bible preaches this type of inequality, which is most likely how gender inequality began in the first place. Fortunately today, this is no longer an issue since feminism blew up. But, throughout the majority of history, women were looked at as less than men, in addition to being more sinful.
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ReplyDeleteIt is extremely stunning to see just how unfairly women were treated throughout the duration of this time period. The two quotes you chose accurately depict the various forms in which women were not treated as equally as men such as being deemed to be non-intelligent as well as being put at fault for everything. I also like the point you made about Adam and Eve in your first quote. Not only did you describe what the two of them represented, but you also made it clear that Adam actually learned more from Eve and that's what helped him gain knowledge. Men were always viewed as very superior and intelligent during this time, but one may assume that the women actually played a big part in helping the men develop these intellectual skills. It is something that I feel as though is not thoroughly underscored enough even today, but your analysis of it was the exact same one I had, so it thrills me that you also think women were smarter than they actually were and helped men out in more ways than one.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I respect how you tied in both religion and the present with your second quote. There is no doubt that women were constantly blamed back then and it hurt them immensely. I found it interesting however, how you mentioned that women just got used to the norms. That is something I never really thought about considering how much they would end up fighting for it, but your analysis on that was spot on. Amazing job on this blog! From start to finish there was a clear sense of the message you were trying to convey to your audience which made it much easier for me to interpret and appreciate this blog post!!