This paper examines Castiglione’s observations of Queen Alexandra and a peasant girl from Gazuolo, and relates them to the debate about women in Book III. (4+ pages; 1 source; MLA citation style.
IIntroduction
Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier is a sort of guide to the qualities expected of ladies and gentlemen of the court. Book III of the work is a long discourse on the proper station of the court ladies. The book is similar to Plato’s Discourses, in that it takes the form of a series of speeches that friends make to one another at a gathering.
This paper examines Castiglione’s remarks about Alexandra and the peasant girl of Gazuolo, and relates them to the debate about women that is the subject of the book.
IIDiscussion
The conversation begins generally, but then Sir Frederick begins to discuss Persia, and the place of women at the court. Lord Gaspar says that the rules that apply to the courtier should also apply to the woman; Lord Julian disagrees.
This leads to the Duchess’s comment that perhaps Lord Julian would like to tell the court about his “ideal woman.” He responds that he will speak his mind, but “with verie great doubt to satisfie.” (PG).
He then begins a long discourse about the nature of women as he perceives them—and as he prefers them. He says that he will describe this woman, and then, in the manner of Pygmalion, “take her as mine owne.” (PG).
Lord Julian has very definite ideas of what activities and beliefs are “suitable” for women, and finds that these things are very different from those that are “suitable” for men. He believes it is “seemlye” for men to exhibit “manlinesse”, but a woman should show a “tenderness, soft and mild, with a kinde of womanlie sweetnes in everye gesture…” so that there is never any possibility that she will exhibit the slightest manly characteristics. (PG).
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He continues in this manner, stating that women should be beautiful, circumspect in their actions so that no one will have cause to gossip about them, that they should “order” the houses of their husbands and children, etc. Finally he says that above all other things, women that live at Court should be well-spoken, honest, well-mannered, witty and good.
Lord Gaspar goes even further, saying that men are perfect and that when a woman is born, she is a mistake of nature. He makes this audacious statement in the presence of the ladies, using the excuse that they’d rather hear truth than falsehood. (PG).
What we have, then, are definite opinions that women are really second-class citizens who should be well-spoken, well-mannered, witty, good and a solid support for their men, whom they obey in all things.
But then we come to Queen Alexandra. The wife of the tyrannical King Alexander, she knew very well that when he died, both she and her children were in danger from angry mobs. In order to deflect their rage, she took her husband’s dead body to the marketplace. There she addressed the angry crowds, saying that she understood how furious they were, and that she had tried to talk her husband out of his terrible ways, but had been unable to do so. She then offered his body to them, that it could be torn apart by dogs, but she begged them to spare her innocent children. The crowds were moved both by her words, and not only chose the children as their new rulers, but buried Alexander’s body with ceremony.
What Alexandra did exhibits a shrewd knowledge of human psychology. By offering the crowd her husband’s body, she disassociated herself and her children from him and his practices. In effect she became one of them, and in so doing, won their sympathy.
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In adopting this course of action, Alexandra showed behavior that Lord Julian would have considered reprehensible: she spoke harshly, criticized her husband instead of supporting him, and, in offering his body to the crowd for their dogs, endorsed violent action. In short, if we look at her actions as Lord Julian would, she did everything “wrong”; certainly she was not feminine or sweet. She turned into a screaming harpy, but she saved her life and the lives of her children with her crude measures.
At the other end of the spectrum is the young girl from Gazuolo, who drowned herself after she had been raped. It’s important to note that she fought her attacker as hard as she could; that she is a peasant and he of a higher station in life; and that she chose death rather than shame. But the most important point in this example is that the girl is a peasant, and yet she sacrifices herself rather than her honor. This would suggest that the sort of characteristics the others have been attributing to the ladies of the court can, in fact, be found in women of every class. And this in turn suggests that the character of an individual is far more important than his or her social status.
IIIConclusion
Castiglione’s book was one of the most influential works written at the time, and gives us an interesting glimpse into the attitudes of the courtiers in the 1500’s; attitudes which are not that different from many of our contemporary views.
IVReference
Castiglione, Baldessar. The Book of the Courtier. [On-line]. Trans. Thomas Hoby. (1561).
Undated. Accessed: 18 Nov 2003. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/courtier/courtier.html
