Religion in Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies Anonymous College

Religion plays a huge role in many of the works of the Middle Ages. This is certainly true in Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies. De Pizan knew that in order to get through to men, using God and the Bible was the best way. Through her reading of Adam and Eve, her use of the Virgin Mary, her placement of the three women, and her belief that God loves all humans equally, de Pizan shows how Christianity has influenced gender roles in her time and how men have been wrongly interpreting the Bible. De Pizan shows in her writings that women were made as equal and not as inferior beings. Although there are other interpretations, de Pizan uses religion to prove to women of her own time that women are not evil and to appeal to many readers because women's role in society was so massive.

When talking about Christianity and gender roles, one is inclined to say that, historically, men are construed as superior to women. The story of Adam and Eve is sometimes seen as God saying that women must be slaves to men. Many see the way Eve was created as clear evidence of this. De Pizan uses the creation story to show that God wants women to be at men’s side, as equals: “there Adam slept, and God formed the body of woman from one of...