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Michael Miller

Dr. Jeffrey W. Timmons

ENG400 - 29120

March 15, 2016

Plato and Pizan Make Peace

Although Plato and Christine de Pizan stood worlds apart on their views of women as

equal human beings, members of society, and contributors to the discussion of philosophy and

literature, they both agreed on the danger of representation, or, more accurately,

misrepresentation that floods the history of literature. Plato believed that artistic representation

was the lowest version of reality, and Pizan argued that literature, philosophy, and historys

representation of women was also the lowest form of reality. There are three areas where Platos

ideology of representation erupt in Pizans defense of womankind: first, the question of the

author as a subject-matter expert, second, the belief that an artists representation should serve

virtuous ends, and, lastly, Platos three versions of reality.

Plato critiqued Homer in the Republic by stating, . . . we do have a right to ask Homer

about the most important and glorious areas he undertakes to expound warfare, tactics, politics,

and human education (Leitch, 68), supposing that an artist ust be a subject-matter expert or else

the representation should not be trusted. Pizan continues this argument in her Treatise on the

Roman de la Rose when she states that, he1 cannot know about the married state from

experience, and thus can only speak about it in general terms, and that, he accuses them all2,

1 Jean de Montreuil, a celibate priest

2 Virtuous and un-virtuous women
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without exception. Since he thinks they are deprived of reason and accuses them wrongfully, he

himself should be blamed instead because he is so far from the truth (Leitch, 207). Plato and

Pizan both agree that the writer or artist should neither proclaim nor defame unless the artist is a

subject-matter expert on what he or she is presenting.

Their second point of agreement is that literature should serve a moral purpose. As Plato

sought to build his Academy to train the next generation of great statesmen, he only wanted the

most virtuous literature to be available to his philosopher-kings. Pizan, taking a slightly

different approach, offered that literature should at least be useful and not harmful to the

common good (Leitch, 209). In her Treatise, Pizan seeks to discourage her male peers from

encouraging the misogynistic language so highly praised in Roman de le Rose by arguing that

women are aware of their natural short-comings, and, like a person with a limp, do not need to be

reminded of their particular weaknesses (Leitch, 309).

The most compelling link between Plato and Pizan is her embrace of Platos three forms

of reality: truth (the original), copy, and representation (an artists interpretation). Pizan points

back to womans origin at creation, questioning whether a God in infinite wisdom and

perfectness, could make anything that wasnt good (Leitch, 211). She then asks God, and her

male peers undoubtably, why women have forever stood not simply accursed, but already

judged, sentenced and condemned? (Leitch, 211). Circling back to Platos second version of

reality, Pizan questions mens quick leap to assign the qualities of a few bad women to

womankind in general and argues that it is man who should be blamed since he is so far from

the truth; and his lie is not credible (Leitch, 207). Lastly, Plato believed that an artists

representation of a copy of a reality is the lowest form possible, and Pizan agreed in her

critique on her male contemporaries representation of women: why on earth it was that so
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many men, both clerks and others, have said and continue to say and write such awful, damning

things about women and their ways (Leitch, 210).

Pizan wasnt just a woman defending other women against a long line of patriarchy that

viewed her gender as evil distractions or, at best, servants; she cared about the ultimate pursuit of

truth. Like Plato, Pizan thought literature should serve noble purposes and, most importantly,

should represent her gender truthfully. Although not a feminist by contemporary standards, Pizan

stands out as the first Medieval womens rights activist committed to using logic to defend

herself and her gender against a long-standing history of misogyny.

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Works Cited

Leitch, Vincent B. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: W.W.

Norton & Co, 2010. Print.