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Women In Giovanni And Lusanna By Gene Brucker

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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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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Since the reader does not hear from Lusanna, many questions are left unanswered. For instance, we know that “the letter had been brought to the palace by Antonio di Benedetto” (Brucker, 13). This letter was the one to commence the long court case between Giovanni and Lusanna. Because Lusanna was not the one to initiate the case, firstly because women could only be represented by their legal guardians, and because we don’t hear her perspective on why it was initiated, it is unclear if Lusanna even wanted to appeal the marriage in the first place. From the accounts given by witnesses “nearly all eighteen witnesses called by Giovanni’s procurators reported, either as personal judgment or as public rumor, that Lusanna was a woman of low moral character” (Brucker 27).

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The values and traditions that women were expected to hold changed extravagantly in the 700 years between the deaths of Lucretia and Perpetua. Through their respective documents, “Rape of Lucretia,” and “The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas,” we can see the change of ideals in the form of expecting Roman women to do chores and stay at home, while the Roman/Christian women are expected to hold their faith and Christian values dear. Both of them are portrayed in different light, but in the end it is done to argue for a cause. Lucretia is portrayed as a humble individual who holds honor of the family higher than herself. Perpetua is demonstrated as a stubborn individual who won't turn her back on her faith, even for her family.

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In the book, Love and Marriage in Renaissance Europe, Giovanni and Lusanna, written by Gene Brucker, a historian who researched and studied about love and marriage during the Renaissance time period, analysis how social classes in marriage are defined by wealth. He also explains the treatment of men that has an upper class status and how bribery is utilized in the decision making process. Brucker presents an account of a marriage agreement that took place according to Lusanna, but Giovanni denied those claims. The city of Florence was ruled by the Medici family for generations, which held an enormous amount of power beginning with Cosimo, who “dispensed favors to his allies, clients, and creatures in the form of offices, loans, remission

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In the story of Giovanni and Lusanna Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence written and researched by Gene Brucker, Lusanna di Benneto a widow of the artisanal class, has taken her alleged husband Giovanni to court, due to their marriage’s circumstance. The story starts out with Lusanna being married to another man named Andrea Nucci who eventually grew interest in the wealthy young Giovanni who came from a noble social class. As time wore on they eventually fell in love with one another and enjoyed all of its pleasures for a couple of years. It was later claimed by Lusanna that Giovanni had promised to marry her in the event of her husband’s death.

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