Home > Feminism > Women and Women's Writings from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages - Christa GröSsinger (Essay Date 1997)
Women and Women's Writings from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages - Christa GröSsinger (Essay Date 1997)
CHRISTA GRÖSSINGER (ESSAY DATE 1997)
SOURCE: Grössinger, Christa. “The History of Misogyny.” In Picturing Women in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art, pp. 1-19. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1997.
In the following excerpt, Grössinger examines depictions of women in the visual arts from the fourth to early sixteenth centuries, noting that these portrayals suggest the strong presence of misogynistic thought in the Christian world.
From the beginning, the image of woman was created by man and in the Christian Middle Ages this was the image of Eve. Eve, born from Adam’s rib, was tempted by the devil and persuaded Adam to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit, resulting in the expulsion from paradise, mortality, and life on earth in hardship, tears and sorrow. Since then, female descendants of Eve were held responsible for this loss of paradise and castigated as temptresses and...
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- Introduction
- Representative Works
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Primary Sources
- Pan Chao (Poem Date C. 1St Century)
- Yu Xuanji (Lyric Date C. 9Th Century)
- Three Beautiful Sisters, Orphaned Young
- Izumi Shikibu (Diary Date C. Early 11Th Century)
- Marie De France (Poem Date C. 12Th Century)
- Heloise (Letter Date C. 1163/64)
- Catherine Of Siena (Essay Date 1370)
- Birgitta Of Sweden (Essay Date C. 1377)
- Women In The Ancient World
- Women In The Medieval World
- Women In Classical Art And Literature
- Women In Medieval Art And Literature
- Classical And Medieval Women Writers
- Further Reading
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