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Christine De Pizan Essay

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Christine De Pizan’s storied life laid the groundwork for her lasting works and strong opinions. Her father’s insistence on teaching her as much as his sons, although her mother objected to this, was a key factor in allowing Christine’s career to actually occur after her husband’s death. Her education pushed back against the norms of the time and allowed her to be extraordinary. Many of her works focus on wisdom and reason as a guiding source for not only Christine De Pizan the author, but also for Christine De Pizan the ‘character’. In Ancient Greece, they worshipped the goddess Athena, sometimes given the epithet Pallas, as the Goddess of Wisdom and War among other things. The Roman equivalent of Athena is Minerva. Minerva carries the same …show more content…

In this work, she describes Minerva as a lady who was called a goddess due to her intelligence and creation of armor crafting. The transition from speaking of her as a goddess to an actual human does not just show her progression as a thinker, but also highlights how she differentiates the two identities of the deity. On the subject of Minerva, Christine mentions that from “the mother who will deliver sufficient good and strong arms to the knight, we can understand the virtue of faith… faith is the light of the soul, the door of paradise, the window of life and the foundation of eternal salvation” (De Pizan, The Selected Writings of Christine De Pizan). By adapting this story and relating it to the Bible Christine is able to legitimize the goddess, but also the connection that she feels to her. Further in The Letter From Othea Christine mentions the story of Arachne and spins it in Athena’s favor. While this may just be due to the version of the story Christine was familiar with, it takes the blame off Athena and, in a roundabout way, Christine herself. By excusing this fault Christine almost makes an excuse for her own short comings as opposed to either owning up to them or differentiating herself from that particular defect. In addition to further validating her work through the Bible it also serves to boost her positive feelings and connection with

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