Character Analysis
Just Desserts
The last of the three magical ladies to speak is Lady Justice. But she might also be the most important, since she considers herself to be the direct representative of God. She introduces herself by saying,
"My friend Christine, I am Justice, the most singular daughter of God, and my nature proceeds purely from His person." (1.6.1)
Lady Justice even goes so far as to say, "I am in God and God is in me, and we are as one and the same" (1.6.1). To claim that God has this kind of intimate bond with a female figure would have been a really radical thing to say in Christine de Pizan's time. Then again, most of the stuff contained in The Book of the City of Ladies is pretty revolutionary stuff.
Justice is even today portrayed as a female figure—think of the blindfolded woman holding the scales that we see outside of courthouses—but this tradition goes back a long ways. Justice was actually a Roman goddess (her Greek name was Themis) and she had the superpower of seeing the future.
But what does justice mean to de Pizan, really? Well according to Lady Justice herself, the concept of justice boils down to making sure that each person gets exactly what she or he deserves out of life. As she says at one point,
"This vessel of fine gold which you see me hold in my right hand, made like a generous measure, God, my Father, gave me, and it serves to measure out to each his rightful portion." (1.6.1)
In the end, this is exactly what Christine de Pizan wants: for each person to get what they deserve based on their personal merits and not on their gender. And Lady Justice is the ultimate character for showing why this should be the case.