Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women PDF

Description

Paper-VII: British & Poetry Drama–17th & 18th Centuries

Unit-2b

Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women Aemilia Lanyer Meenakshi Sharma

1. Learning Objectives This unit aims to:    

Familiarize the reader with some of the works of the poet and writer Aemilia Lanyer Discuss in detail, a section of her poem titled Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, called Eve's Apology in Defense of Women Enumerate the various ways in which the writer, Aemilia Lanyer grapples with the issues related to women’s position in society, especially vis-a-vis the men. Elucidate the religious and theological themes in the poetry of Lanyer and how they correspond with the religious attitudes of her time

2. Aemilia Lanyer: A Biographical Note Aemilia Lanyer is the first female professional poet in the English language and the first woman to produce and publish a volume of poetry to garner patronage. She is also credited as one of the first feminist writers of England and her volume of poetry, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum is arguably the first feminist publication in England. It is believed that Aemilia Lanyer was born sometime in 1569. The exact date of her birth is unknown. However, according to the Church records, she was baptized on 27 th January 1569. She was born to Margaret Johnson, aunt of the court composer Robert Johnson and Baptiste Bassano, an Italian composer and musician of Queen Elizabeth I. Her father, Baptiste Bassano died on 11 th April 1576 when Aemilia Lanyer was just seven. She was then brought up at the house of Susan Bertie, the Countess of Kent. Bertie was keen on Lanyer’s education and emphasised that men and women receive the same education. It is possible that many of the ideas Lanyer developed in her poems found their seeds in her time with Bertie. Lanyer’s mother died around 1587, when Lanyer was eighteen. Aemilia Lanyer served as the mistress of Henry Carey, Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth and the first Baron of Hunsdon for several years. However, her time with Lord Chamberlain, which she remembers fondly, was cut short by her pregnancy. She was then married off to the court musician, Alphonso Lanyer in 1592. She gave birth to her son, Henry, in 1593. Her daughter by Alphonso, named Odillya was born in 1598 but survived only ten months. Much of what is known about Aemilia Lanyer comes from the diary entries of the astrologer and fortune-teller Dr Simmon Foreman whom Lanyer consulted in around 1597. He provides the only available physical description of the poetess. He is also credited for the unhappy details of her married life riddled with miscarriages and a longing for the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Lanyer also lived with Margaret Clifford, the Countess of Cumberland, and her daughter Lady Anne Clifford. These two women had a major influence on Aemilia Lanyer’s writings. 1

She considers them her inspiration and her benefactors as well as patrons. They inspired several of her poems. For instance, The Description of Cookeham, which is regarded as the first published country-house poem, i.e. a poem dedicated to the description of a wealthy patron’s country-house, is an account of Lanyer’s time spent at the house of Margaret’s brother, William Russell. 3. About Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum Aemilia Lanyer’s only published volume of poems is titled Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum which means, Hail God, The King of Jews. This volume comprises of a series of ten short poems, each dedicated to a particular woman who Lanyer admires, is inspired or influenced by, or seeks as a potential patron. These poems are used to celebrate the greatness of all women and celebrates their achievements. These include: “To the Queenes most Excellent Majestie” (to James's consort, Anne of Denmark); “To the Lady Elizabeths Grace” (to Princess Elizabeth Stuart); “To all vertuous Ladies in generall”; “To the Ladie Arabella” (to Arabella Stuart, James's perceived rival for the throne—a poem missing from three of the four incomplete volumes); “To the Ladie Susan, Countess Dowager of Kent, and daughter to the Duchesse of Suffolke”; “The Authors Dreame to the Ladie Marie, the Countesse Dowager of Pembrooke” (Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, sister of Sir Philip Sidney, and a recognized author in her own right); “To the Ladie Lucie, Countesse of Bedford"; “To the Ladie Margaret Countesse Dowager of Cumberland” (in prose; Lanyer's principal dedicatee); “To the Ladie Katherine Countesse of Suffolke”; “To the Ladie Anne, Countesse of Dorcet” (Margaret's daughter, at the time fighting to inherit her late father's lands).” (Æmilia Lanyer) The dedicatory poems are followed by two prose pieces - To the Vertuous Reader and To the Doubtfull Reader where she extols the virtue of women as opposed to the vices of men and the first poem of country-house genre, The Description of Cooke-ham which presents Margaret Clifford’s estate as a lost Edenic paradise. The titular poem is significantly longer. It is a retelling of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion from a woman’s point of view and is therefore largely revolutionary for Lanyer’s time period. In this poem she contrasts the good women who stood by Christ to the weak and evil men who betrayed him. Eve's Apology in Defense of Women, which is discussed in greater detail in the later sections, is a part of this larger work. In this fragment, she presents a defense of Eve’s actions and argues against the understanding of Eve as the sole reason for the Fall of man that caused the expulsion of mankind from Eden (and the loss of paradise). 4. Bible’s The Book Of Genesis: Summary of the Fall The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible and the Old Testament. It gives an account of the creation of the world and the life that inhabits it. The book details how God creates the first ever human in the form of Adam along with the various living creatures and life in the Garden of Eden. He instructs Adam that all the pleasures in the Garden are his for the taking except he must not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God then creates the first woman, Eve, from Adam’s rib (in certain versions). She serves as Adam’s companion, subservient to him. She is informed of God’s instructions against eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. However, a jealous Satan in the form of a serpent tempts and tricks Eve into eating the forbidden fruit (which is often conflated with an apple, for example, 2

Lanyer calls the fruit an apple as well). She in turn offers the fruit to Adam who eats it too. Having thus disobeyed God, the two are now punished. God banishes them from Eden and brings death and misery to the world. Adam is further punished to toil for the sake of fulfilling his desires while Eve is punished to bear pains while giving birth. In this way, sin, despondence, greed, and suffering enter the world. This disobedience on the part of Adam and Eve is called the Original Sin and their subsequent punishment is referred to as The Fall of Humanity, or simply, The Fall. Traditionally, Eve is considered as primarily responsible for not being able to resist the deception of the serpent and therefore, all of womankind receives the blame for the Fall. 5. Renaissance Attitude towards Women Renaissance literally means re-birth. You have read about the English Renaissance movement in the previous units. It is a movement that began roughly in the 15 th century and ended around 17th century. The period of Renaissance is marked by a renewal of interest in Classical literature, philosophy, and art. This period in the British literary history saw a flourishing of classical arts, newer ideas towards established traditions, several critical innovations as well as scientific temperament. Even though Renaissance Age is defined by the huge advancements in myriad fields pertaining to arts, culture, and science, the position of women remained traditionally subservient to that of men. Women did not benefit from the cultural and political developments of the age and were relegated to the margins while men became inventors, explorers and flag bearers of the new era of discovery. While men’s roles within the society and community were defined by their social positions as peasants, merchants, knights, priests etc, women were better known through their relations with men such as daughters, wives, mothers, or widows etc. Thus, they were bound by the concept of honour of their male relatives which was tied to their bodies and their virginal status. This was even more pertinent as the Renaissance society followed strict and stringent class hierarchies where marriages were a means of social mobility within the classes. Women were thus raised to become ideal housewives and mothers. As wives, the role of women was to produce male heirs for the estate of her husband. Thus, women had very few legal and political rights compared to men who therefore regulated their behaviour and position in the society. 6. Title of the Poem Eve's Apology in Defense of Women The title of the poem sums up the two attitudes that Aemilia Lanyer presents about women – one of an apologetic Eve, another of all women who are considered subordinate to all men. In the title itself, she offers Eve as a representative of all women, who must ‘apologize’ for the crime against humanity on behalf of all women. On the other hand, the title highlights how unjustly and unfairly all women are punished for a sin they did not commit and how their oppression is justified by presenting them as the prime bearers of the burden of Original Sin and as fickle and weak-minded. Through her use of satire and irony, Lanyer turns this argument on its head by saying that if women are weaker and men stronger, why did Adam give into the temptation along with Eve? If he sins despite being stronger, his fault is bigger than Eve’s. The title suggests that Lanyer posits a difference between Eve and all the other women. While Eve must apologize for her actions, her apology is not necessarily meant for her sin of eating the forbidden fruit but as a means of defending all women and freeing them from her guilt. In doing so, Lanyer presents a sisterhood between all women and a sense of 3

female community who not only celebrate each other’s achievements but also defend each other’s actions. Self-check questions: 1. Comment upon the theme of religion in Aemilia Lanyer’s poetry. 2. How does Aemilia Lanyer question the Renaissance ideals of womanhood? 7. Summary of the Poem (Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women): In the given poem (Eve's Apology in Defense of Women), Aemilia Lanyer takes up the case of inequality of all womankind and their ill treatment by men. She refers to the Original Sin committed by Adam and Eve of eating the forbidden fruit and tries to prove that as opposed to Eve being blamed solely for the fall of Man, Adam’s fault was much greater compared to Eve. Lanyer presents her argument as an address to the Roman official Pontius Pilate who was responsible for authorizing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Prior to his judgement betraying Jesus, his wife had dreamt of Christ’s innocence and had tried to persuade him to not punish a good and harmless man unjustly. Here Lanyer presents Adam and Pilate as representatives of all men while Eve and Pilate’s wife represent all women. Below is a brief explanation of the stanzas: Lines 1-8 Now…Life :

Pontius Pilate is the Roman official responsible for hearing the case of Jesus and for ordering his execution. These lines begin with a plea to Pilate to not let an innocent man suffer and to listen to his wife, who had dreamt of Jesus’ innocence and consequently pleaded to save his life

Lines 9-16 Let…all :

Push barbaric cruelty away from you and instead indulge in true justice. Open your eyes and see the truth, don’t condemn him to crucifixion who is mankind’s savior. Here the fall of Pilate is compared to the fall of Adam

Lines 17 – 32 Till…wise :

Eve did not cause the fall of mankind out of any malice but simply through the goodness of her heart, which made her share the fruit, that she held most dear, with Adam. She could not have foreseen the consequences of her actions and how mankind would be cursed with death and made to leave Eden. Had she known of Satan’s trickery and what mankind would be deprived of, she would have never eaten the fruit. Her harmless heart did not intend to cause any damage.

Lines 33 – 48 But…disgrace :

Even though Eve was at greater fault, but Adam’s fault cannot be excused either. Eve cannot be solely blamed for Mankind’s fall because Adam was the “Lord of all” the Earth long before Eve was even born; he should have been strong where Eve was weak. While Satan as a serpent deceived Eve, God’s words should have guided Adam. He was the “perfectest man” and had received the direct command from God himself to not eat the fruit unless he wanted to incur death and suffering. 4

Lines 49 – 64 And…book :

Adam lacked discretion. While Eve’s fall was caused by deception of the serpent (Satan), Adam’s fall had no such excuse since he was not deceived at all. Eve’s only fault was her excessive love for Adam so that he could also experience what she experienced. If Eve sinned, it was for the sake of knowledge. She shared her knowledge with Adam and yet men now boast of gaining that knowledge, as if not from Eve but directly from a book itself.

Lines 65 – 80 If…Star :

If still there’s any evil that Eve has, she was made from the rib of Adam and therefore, that evil comes from Adam too. If Eve’s sin could stain the reputation of all womankind, as if they all have sinned, what would be the consequence of Pilate’s sentencing death to Christ? Eve at least sinned due to the serpent’s (Satan’s) deception while Pilate betrays God’s Son (Jesus Christ) out of pure malice. Thus, Eve’s sin was small compared to the sin Pilate commits. In fact, it is the biggest sin and all other sins are small in comparison. It eclipses all other sins like the Sun eclipses all the other stars (at the time, Sun was considered the biggest star).

Lines 81 – 96 Then…Blood? : Since, Eve’s sin was not greater than Adam’s and Pilate’s sin was the greatest of all, women should get back their liberty and equality which was taken away by the tyranny of men who wish to be their ruler. Man cannot be born without a woman’s pain (labour pain during childbirth). If Eve did sin out of weakness, there’s no excuse at all for Pilate’s sin. Nor is there any end in sight to the sin of men of persecuting women and not considering them equals. Self-check questions: 1. 2. 3. 4.

What arguments does Lanyer present in defense of Eve? How does Lanyer prove Eve’s innocence? Who does Adam stand for? How does Aemilia Lanyer ascertain Adam’s guilt? Elaborate upon the feminist nature of Aemilia Lanyer’s poetry using the example of one poem in your course.

References 

“Remembering Aemilia Lanyer, www.northernrenaissance.org/remembering-aemilialanyer/.



“Renaissance and Reformation Reference Library. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Oct. 2020.” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 18 Oct. 2020, www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-andmaps/women-renaissance-and-reformation.



“Aemilia Lanyer - Aemilia Lanyer Biography - Poem Hunter.” PoemHunter.com, www.poemhunter.com/aemilia-lanyer/biography/. 5



“Aemilia Lanyer.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature : Volume I., by Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams, W.W. Norton and Company, 2012, pp. 1313– 1323.



“Emilia Lanier.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia_Lanier.



“Eve's Apology in Defense of Women.” Prezi.com, prezi.com/cpzeegq-afhi/evesapology-in-defense-of-women/.



Ferraro, Joanne M. “The Power to Decide: Battered Wives in Early Modern Venice*.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 3, 1995, pp. 492–512., doi:10.2307/2862872.



King, Margaret L. “Women's Voices, the Early Modern, and the Civilization of the West.” Shakespeare Studies, vol. 25, 1997, pp. 21–31.



Martin, John. “Inventing Sincerity, Refashioning Prudence: The Discovery of the Individual in Renaissance Europe.” The American Historical Review, vol. 102, no. 5, 1997, p. 1309, doi:10.2307/2171065.



McDermott, Mary. “Gender in the Renaissance.” Remembering the Renaissance, 5 Apr. 2018, rememberingtherenaissance.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/gender-in-therenaissance/.



Nash, Jerry C. “Renaissance Misogyny, Biblical Feminism, and Hélisenne De Crenne's Epistres Familieres Et Invectives.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 2, 1997, pp. 379–410., doi:10.2307/3039184.



Nkakimoto. “Eve's Apology in Defense of Women.” This Is Noelle, 30 Apr. 2019, thisisnoelle.com/eves-apology-in-defense-of-women/.



Oiewgjerger, Dianne. “Role of Women during the Renaissance Period.” Crystal Cave Chronicles, 24 Aug. 2017, crystalcavechronicles.com/2011/04/06/role-of-womenduring-the-renaissance-period/.



Roberts, Megan Leigh. “Lanyer 's Virtual Community: The Defense of Female Community in Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.” Clemson University, 2014.



Ryle, Herbert E. The Book of Genesis. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1921.



“Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salve_Deus_Rex_Judaeorum.



Simons, Walter. “Women and Religion in Medieval and Renaissance Italy.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 51, no. Autumn 1998, 1998.



Stuard, Susan Mosher. “A Swift Coming of Age: History of Medieval Women.” Journal of Women's History, vol. 8, no. 3, 1996, pp. 228–241., doi:10.1353/jowh.2010.0513.



“Æmilia Lanyer.” Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/aemilia-lanyer.

6

Foundation,

16

Poetry

Oct.

2020,

Foundation,...