For someone who wants to emphasize the importance of people's minds, Christine de Pizan talks an awful lot about physical appearances in The Book of the City of Ladies. She'd grown up in the culture of the French royal court, so it's really not surprising that things like beauty and grace were on her mind. But there comes a point when her obsession with beauty and ugliness starts to undercut her argument that it's only people's minds that matter in the end. Take a look at some of the examples and you'll see what we mean.
Questions About Appearances
- Do you think that Christine de Pizan puts too much importance on people's appearances? Why or why not?
- Why do you think de Pizan always mentions physical beauty when talking about great women from history? Does this actually add anything to how much we should admire them?
- Do you think that Christine de Pizan helps her argument or hurts it by talking so much about appearances? Why?
Chew on This
In The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine de Pizan asks us to judge people by their minds, but then turns around and asks us to admire women from history because they were beautiful.
While it is true that many great women from history were beautiful, it was ultimately their actions that made them great and not their appearances.