Women In Giovanni And Lusanna By Gene Brucker

Women From the Renaissance In the book Giovanni and Lusanna by Gene Brucker, the author portrays the life of a woman who is neglected in a male-dominated society. Women during the Renaissance were separate and unequal to men, especially when the woman was in a lower social class. Brucker shows the reader that in a woman’s family life, social life, and even romantic life during this time period it was difficult to be taken seriously. During the Renaissance, having a daughter was key to moving up in social class. Weddings at the time were considered a social contract between two different families. Marriage did not have to do with love, but rather with reproduction. It also had to do with the social status of whom you were marrying. To be

Men only had affairs with poor women, and never married them. In Giovanni and Lusanna, the two protagonists had an affair for 12 years that was kept a secret from most people. This was because Lusanna had a husband at the time she met Giovanni. She knew her husband at the time, Andrea, was going to die soon so she continued her relationship with Giovanni. Their relationship would have been looked down upon considering both their ages and social classes. Lusanna was a respected member of the working class and girls like her don’t marry men like Giovanni considering he was a member of the upper class. When Lusanna finds out Giovanni wants to marry another woman she begins to tell people that they were already married. Giovanni denies the accusation, and tells everyone his relationship with her was strictly sexual. This brings embarrassment and dishonor to not only Lusanna, but also her family. Giovanni was too ashamed to bring their relationship to light, and too ashamed to recognize their marriage. Giovanni could not let society know he once loved a woman who was in a lower class than

Considering the legislative system during the time tried its best to keep Florentine values alive, it neglected women in court. Upper class women did gain more rights and respect during the Renaissance but it is still not equivalent to the rights women have today. Also, men did not take women seriously because they weren’t supposed to have a spoken opinion about anything. The fact that Lusanna brought her issue to the court is appalling because Giovanni’s opinion is going to reign over hers. While the court was viewing Lusanna’s case, Giovanni attempted to accuse her of killing her late husband to try and get her to drop the case. The charges against her were eventually dropped; but even though all evidence concludes they were married, Giovanni still prolonged the case. Lusanna won because the court identified their marriage as valid, and found Giovanni guilty for breaking the law with his second marriage. But, because of his status he was only fined to pay for the court case’s fees and 1,000 florins.

Lusanna’s witnesses were not respected enough by society to have a valid and truthful opinion. Giovanni’s lawyer told the court that Lusanna is not a reliable person because of her class, and that Giovanni would never bother with her because he is aware of his social ranking. He also says that Giovanni would not risk his reputation for a girl like Lusanna. This shows that women do not