From The "Heptameron" Of Marguerite De Navarre To Discuss The View On Femininity In Renaissance

Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549) is a representative of the well educated womenwith a humanistic education during the Renaissance. Her work "Heptameron" has deeplyinfluenced the European upper-class women at that time. Although her view onfemininity is the continuation of the conventional concept during the Middle Ages, in herworks you can already see the expression of women’s desire for love of that time and thegerm of the ideology of equality between men and women.This study uses Marguerite’s view on femininity as an entry point to describe andanalyze the characteristics of the view on femininity and the evolution of ideology duringthe Renaissance period. This study consists of three parts.In the first part, an overview is given of the characteristics of the view on femininityat different historical periods since ancient Greece.In the second part, the life and work of Marguerite de Navarre are introduced, andthe main aspects of Marguerite’s view on femininity are shown. In this way it is shownhow the change of the concept of femininity is influencing the behavior of individualwomen in the Renaissance.Marguerite’s view on femininity can be summarized in three points: first, a germ ofthe ideology of equality between men and women. This point is mainly discussed fromthe angle of family relationship. The second point is woman’s desire for love. Based onthe idea of human liberation and the constraints of religion, Marguerite proposed theconcept of ’perfect love’. Thirdly, there is the concern of female morality. Keepingvirginity is regarded as the greatest virtue.In the third part a comparison is made between Marguerite’s view on femininity anda humanistic view on femininity. The common point between the two is that they are to alarge extent based upon the concept of femininity of the Christian Church in the MiddleAges. Both criticize asceticism but to different degree. The difference between theMarguerite and most humanists is that in Marguerites views appears the germ of the ideaof equality between men and women.