For men have marble, women waxen, minds,
And therefore are they form'd as marble will;
The weak oppress'd, the impression of strange kinds
Is form'd in them by force, by fraud, or skill:
Then call them not the authors of their ill,
No more than wax shall be accounted evil
Wherein is stamp'd the semblance of a devil
(1240-1246)
The Role of the Renaissance Wife
The Renaissance was a time of re-birth, intelligence and progress, but for whom? It may have been a progressive time, but only for a select group of people, primarily men of a noble class. The time of the Renaissance for women was not so much a re-birth as a time of placement. Through education and studying the bible, the scholars (men) found that the right place for a creature so beautiful, yet inferior, was in the control of a man. Although it was a time for learning by classical means and valuing the discovering of ones self, the re-telling of the Renaissance era was characteristically told through a man’s perspective. The female assertion and opinion was considered to be disruptive and disgraceful. The ideal woman during the Renaissance was a woman who was obedient, silent and chaste. Women who lived during the Renaissance had one job, laid down by the Bible itself--to be an honorable and devoted wife (Brown).
A woman’s chastity was her ultimate power. Other than the minimal control over her virginity, she really had no other authority. During this time, the importance placed in chastity and virginity surpassed the religious and moral value of purity. It was ultimately a business transaction. Women during the Renaissance would usually get married in their teens to a man chosen by their parents. The parents arranged the marriages and they would usually seek a male suitor of a higher class to improve their own family’s status.
When a man agreed to marry a woman he received a large dowry. The dowry was usually made up of money or property. This would usually put a financial strain on the family so they would seek nobility to gain the financial support that came along with the new title. One of the most important stipulations for a man to choose a wife depended on her chastity. Her chastity, modesty and faithfulness reflected upon the woman and her family. If she was not believed to be a virtuous woman she would most likely not be asked for marriage and would bring shame to her family. (Huntley)
Before the marriage, the woman’s chastity was the property of the father. Afterwards, it was the property of the husbands. Once a woman was married she was expected to remain chaste. This meant that the wife would remain modest, virtuous and above all faithful to her husband. At this time adultery was a punishable crime and divorce was still not widely accepted (Huntley). The woman was seen as the property of the husband, therefore instances of rape were viewed as a crime of property and the rapist would be sued for trespassing. It was the common belief that “social, economic power, ownership and authority were in men’s regulation of female sexuality” (Brown 16).
The value of silence in the ideal woman went beyond the woman’s speech. The expectation of silence included written work, opinions and basically having any voice at all. There was much concern about female expression; it was feared for its uncertainty and equated to being unchaste. As the book Women in the Renaissance states, “an eloquent woman is an unchaste woman” (15). There was a taboo that equated women’s speech to their sexuality. This was used as a way to discourage women from expressing themselves verbally or textually for fear of an ill-fated reputation; some women writers were even condemned as whores. Women, especially aristocratic women at this time were usually educated in several languages, literacy and writing. These lessons were to be used for their face value and not to be used as career builders for women. There was concern that a woman with a voice could disrupt economic order and the organization of societal power.
A woman was not taught nor allowed to know the skills to “govern, teach or conduct business,” she was left to the mercy of the men who essentially owned her (4). A woman’s job was to be a devoted wife, and this meant to be a silent wife, letting her husband do all of the talking for her.
To be a devoted wife ultimately meant to be an obedient wife. Some of the greatest scholars of all time studied and attempted to justify the idea of the obedient wife. The great philosopher Aristotle claimed that a man and woman started out as the same, but because of the heat of the womb the male genitals are forced outside of the body, and therefore the male body is perfected. This perfection proposes dominance over the inferior, imperfect female body. This idea justifies that men, who are the far more superior species, are suited to take the natural role of dominance. He continues on to state, “a mans courage is shown in his commanding, while a woman’s is shown in obeying” (Brown 16).
Even greater than Aristotle, the Bible has also been used to justify and shape the role of women in society. In the work of some Hebrew writers, women are represented as “occasion of sin, sexual temptations, images of unfaithfulness, and inferior to man in every way” (Brown 18). Many scholars refer back to the first sin, which was acted on by the first female, Eve, to represent the inferiority of women. Paul, a figure from the bible, writes about a hierarchy of women subjecting to men in 1 Corinthians, most importantly in 1 Corinthians 11:3, which states, “The head of the woman is man” (Qtd. in Brown 19). These are also commonly used to justify the societal gender constructions (Brown19). Renaissance writers and thinkers would use Biblical passages to subject women in every sphere of their life, going beyond only the realm of marriage. They projected the ideas of control over women to justify complete dominance in every aspect of their life.
Women were at the mercy of their husbands will. They obeyed what their husbands expected and honored their husband’s wishes. They had to be subjected to his control and could never stray from their feminine duties. These duties depended on social class. Lower class women had full responsibility of domestic duties as well as birthing and raising children. Women of a higher class were expected to keep up modest appearances, birth male heirs, but not nurse them. They were expected to exercise their wifely duties through their servants and act as the overseers.
In an era known and revered for progression through the value of identity, education and personal voice, the women had none. They did not have a renaissance; they were the property of men, whom controlled everything. “Women were generally denied participation in government, universities, warfare, science, law, medicine, philosophy, banking, and navigation or exploration” (Brown 1). A woman’s existence was only recorded next to the name of her father, brother, or husband. A woman had no other identity besides daughter, sister or most importantly, wife. A Renaissance wife was silent, chaste and obedient. She honored her husband, sometimes at the expense of her own virtue, and she devotedly performed her duties as wife. She did not speak her mind and she did not write her opinions. The ideal wife was modest, virtuous and domestic. She valued her position of mother and tended to the needs of her family. The ideal Renaissance woman was strong willed, self confident and honorable in her role as wife.