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Date: ca. 1324-1328 oRole of women: reproduction within confines of marriage (spear = penetration, when appropriate) Mary Magdalene•If the only valuable aspect of Virgin Mary is her purity, then what are we to make of sexuality? •Mary Magdalene by Donatello, 1453-1455, painted wood oReconciliation and forgiveness (Jesus forgave her for her sins) Andreas CapellanusThe Twelve Rules of Love •From The Art of Courtly Loveby Andreas Capellanus, 1170-1174 •Draws on what Ovid said 1.Thou shalt avoid avarice like the deadly pestilence and shalt embrace its opposite 2.Thou shalt keep thyself chaste for the sake of her whom thou lovest 3.Thou shalt not knowingly strive to break up a correct love affair that someone else is engaged in 4.Thou shalt not chose for thy love anyone whom a natural sense of shame forbids thee to marry 5.Be mindful completely to avoid falsehood 6.Thou shalt not have many who know of thy love affair 7.Being obedient in all things to the commands of ladies, thou shalt ever strive to ally thyself to the service of Love oWhere chivalry comes from 8.In giving and receiving love's solaces let modesty be ever present 9.Thou shalt speak no evil 10.Thou shalt not be a revealer of love affairs 11.Thou shalt be in all things polite and courteous 12.In practicing the solaces of love thou shalt not exceed the desires of thy lover
Results •Unrealistic •Adulterous (e.g. Tristan & Isolde), although this aspect bothers modern readers more than past readers •Put women on an inaccessible pedestal •In some situations, it kept the knight from reaching his full potential (e.g. Guinevere and Lancelot) Reality of Women as Property •Any moral dubiousness is not the violation of the sanctity of marriage so much as the other man’s affront to the husband’s ownership of the wife. The wife loses some culpability in wrongdoing because the primary grievance is between the two men. •It’s not about the wife; one of the men has taken away ownership from the other Hugo Beigel•Sociologist; founding member of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality •Courtly love is a ‘grant’ which the man concedes to woman. By attributing impossible virtues to women, courtly and romantic love confirms a woman’s narrow and conscribed sphere of behaviour. •Courtly love does the opposite of what it seems to do (that is empowering women) and, instead, confirms male authority and patriarchal expectations. oDetrimental effects Christina Hoff Sommers•A former philosophy professor who taught ethics; is probably best known for her critique of late-twentieth-century feminism •Creates controversy •Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women; The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men•Supporter of chivalry; believes women are their own worst enemies by wanting to be individuals Romance of the Rose•(Le Roman de la Rose) •The book describes the attempts of a courtier to woo his lady •Begun by Guillaume de Lorris ca. 1230 and completed, in a different style, ca. 1270-80, by