Sor Juana Day III

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Sor Juana's poetry. In a way I find it much more clear than her letters. It is ironic because generally poetry is viewed as being a more difficult style of writing to interpret, but I found hers to be very articulate and almost blunt.

In Poem 145 she explains the satirical tone in her letters to the bishop. Sor Juana is brilliant and her writing reflects this. She is very much aware of her intelligence but also of her cleverness and points this out to the reader in her poem. Yet it does not come across as self praise. It also does not read as a simple statement of facts. It is almost as if she is critiquing another writers work and praising it justly. She refers to the letters as “a painted snare exhibiting the subtleties of art with clever arguments of tone and hue-” which is completely accurate. She could not word it better, explaining that she uses flattery as a way to “overlook the horrors of the years”. When reading her letters, one is not depressed at the thought of how women have been and are oppressed though this is part of what she addresses. She writes of these things with such sharp wit that though they are in fact depressing, the reader is enthused by her intellect into feeling hopeful for the fate of women.

I was especially moved by Poem 174 in which she addresses the subject of jealousy. I have never read anything which so succinctly describes the effect of such intangible forces as Fate and Love. The idea that love is not eternal is key. That what pleasure we gain from these experiences are not to be expected to last forever. That to attempt to hold onto such gifts is “abuse”. The idea is that we must enjoy them as they come, and allow them to go when it is time. Often the best experiences are short lived and it is the memory of them which drives us forward to further attempts. The difference between ownership and use is very important. The concept of ownership is what leads to jealousy, a useless emotion. Jealousy is base and petty and shows insecurity rather than love. In the last verse I misread the first line “Your ignorance or your error I accuse” as “Your ignorance OF your error I accuse” which I think also works in the context of the poem. Alcino must recognize the error of his jealousy as making the mistake of attempting to gain “ownership” of love.

Sor Juana Day II

"But in truth, my Lady, what can we women know, save philosophies of the kitchen? It was well put by Lupercio Leonardo that one can philosophize quite well while preparing supper... Had Aristotle cooked, he would have written a great deal more."75

Above are a combination of quotations concerning whether women should study or not. I found this to be a very interesting way of showing that women should have the same opportunity to study as men. Sor Juana says that she had a mother superior who forbade them from studying, but she points out that reading books is not the only way to study. Whenever she observes anything around her and draws conclusions from her observations she is studying. She gives us some insight into the way her mind works when she notes all of these things like the way the human eye sees things curved or how a spinning top does not go in circles but spirals as it looses momentum. She is clearly always thinking and learning from her surroundings even when she is forbidden to read. THis shows ignorance on the part of those who would teach women not to read because they cannot study.

"And so just is this distinction that not only women, who are held to be so incompetent, but also men, who simply because they are men think themselves wise, are to be prohibited from the interpretation of the Sacred World, save when they are most learned, virtous, of amenable intellect and inclined to the good."

This quote essentially argues Sor Juana's entire point, that she should not be persecuted for studying and interpreting the Bible because she is a woman. She does not argue that all women should be allowed to because some do not have the proper skill etc. But this holds true for men as well. She makes an excellent point by saying that men assume they are wise simply because they are men. This is obviously not the case because there are stupid people everywhere, men and women alike.

Sor Juana Day I

Sor Juana uses flattery to appeal to “the most illustrious lady”. She sings her praises and thanks her endlessly for having her work published. But perhaps the greatest compliment she gives her is to compare her to God Himself. She uses examples of characters in the Bible such as Moses speaking to God because God favored him which made him worthy. The fact that the lady favors Sor Juana validates her in writing this letter and approaching her. “O venerable Lady, whence comes such a favor to me? By chance, am I something more than a poor nun, the slightest creature on earth and the least worthy of drawing your attention?” She also uses this fact to indicate to the readers that she is a credible source as she is favored by the Lady. She is intensely modest while at the same time showing her talent as a writer and scholar.

I found her discourse on education very interesting. She claims, “I do not study in order to write, nor far less in order to teach (which would be boundless arrogance in me), but simply to see whether by studying I may become less ignorant.” In theory, this is the real reason to study anything, to enlighten oneself. As Sor Juana points out however, usually people study things so that they can enlighten others about what they study either through writing or teaching (or both). She humbles herself by saying she is not so “arrogant” to do either of these.

Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Break Down

I enjoyed Women on the Verge of a Nervous Break Down and found it very funny. I thought that the comedic effect was necessary because all the characters have issues which women deal with on a more or less constant basis. Granted, most women don't get involved with Shiite terrorists unknowingly but the basic idea that you don't really know the person you think you are in love with is relatable. All of these women show extreme versions of what average women are like. Pepa is sort of like what most women would like to be like if they could stop restraining themselves. She has reached a tipping point and refuses to be stopped by anyone. The comedic effect makes the movie bearable because otherwise it would be terribly depressing.

The telephone in the movie represents the lack of communication between the characters. It is largely due to the lack of communication or misunderstood communication that most disagreements arise. If Pepa had been able to tell Ivan that she was pregnant at the beginning maybe things would have turned out differently, but probably not considering Ivan's character.

Many of the female characters make the same mistake of allowing men to manipulate them and have such a crippling effect on their lives. It's one thing to be in love with someone but if you can't live with out them then you are hopeless. Pepa finally realizes this on some level at the end. She does not need Ivan in her life to be happy or to raise a baby. She is a strong and independent woman who can run her own life. Candela is quite the opposite. She complains of always being tricked by men but in fact she allows herself to be tricked. She is dependent on the men she gets involved with and unable to live by her own agency.

The Disenchantments of Love III

While dona Blanca's method of securing the Prince's love before marriage is well intentioned and reasonable, having him court her in the typical fashion of serenading her and praising her beauty and other virtues is a false love. Dona Blanca claims that "she wanted a love based on relationship and on her knowledge of her husband's intelligence, nature, and charms. But by instructing him to court her the way she believes is "proper" she prevents herself from truly knowing him. His gestures are purely ornamental as we have seen been the case in other disenchantments, except he is not putting on a show of courting her with the intention of later harming her, but rather because this is what he is expected to do and he also had the desire to go see Spain. This tradition of courting is really detrimental to most of these relationships because it sets a false precedent. The whole point is to flatter the woman and make her believe that the man is in love with her and consequently she with him. In this case it is a particularly false front as we learn later that the prince is homosexual.

( In the final story I was surprised by the commentary on how parents who remarry should treat the children of their spouses previous marriages.
Florentina speaks of how her stepmother loved her as her own and her father loved dona Magdalena as his own, "...which is what good spouses who wish to live in tranquility ought to do. A thousand regrets and feuds are born from husbands who don't like their wives' children and wives who reject their husbands'"
How progressive and insightful, unfortunately not practiced very often even today.)

To return to the question of Maria de Zayas being a true feminist or not, I believe that the roles of Florentina and Gaspar show her ability to set aside stereotypes against both men and women. While the stories are meant to "disenchant" women against the evils of men, Maria de Zayas is clearly not so ignorant as to say that all men are one way and all women another. Her characters make these generalizations about the sexes perhaps as a way of indicating how foolish feminism can be when it defaces all men absolutely. To say that all men are evil is the same as to say all women are inferior.
Really, de Zayas is the most perfect feminist because she shows how women have been abused due to their sex in the past and how history and society has been and continues to be extremely sexist against them, yet she does not allow herself to fall into the same categories as those who have committed these crimes. Through her characters she shows the necessity of giving all humans the opportunity to be the best they can be, free of stereotypes due to their sex.
The reader must look below the surface of these tales and the absolutes proclaimed by the characters to see that de Zayas is teaching a valuable lesson about the dangers of generalizations.
"To generalize is to be an idiot."
William Blake

The Disenchantments of Love II

Before the story of tale four begins, its narrator (Filis) has some opening remarks about men and women (pp. 139-40). How do you interpret these remarks? How do they serve as an introduction for what comes later in the story?

The fourth story is unique in comparison to the other stories because it raises the idea that both men and women are equally fallible. It shows that they can both be evil, although I think it would be foolish not to point out that the “evil” woman in this story is black, and is described negatively due to this fact before her character even comes into play. Don Jaime also mentions that he does not sleep with her though he has Elena believe that he does. This is clearly due to her race because if it were a white woman he would absolutely have done just as he said.

The story is also unique because it is told mainly from the point of view of a man. Don Jaime is evil and foolish for punishing Elena the way that he does and for believing the slave without getting solid evidence before rashly acting on rumor.

At the end however, the story is more sympathetic toward don Jaime. He is taken care of, though he has lost his mind. The slave woman however is dieing and then don Jaime stabs her to death. The narrator says that “her punishment was well deserved” however I cannot think that starting a rumor is deserving of being murdered. I'm not defending her actions but it should not be misunderstood that don Jaime is the real villain here.

What do you think is the significance of the skull in story four? Think about what a skull might mean in a variety of contexts (especially the skill as the remains of a head – what are the functions of a head?).

Elena is given her cousin's skull to drink out of because don Jaime thinks this will be further means of punishing her because he believed her to be having an affair with him. Since this was not the case, the skull must represent something more, though I am not sure what. Bone is the barest form of the human body, because everything else has been stripped away. This could be viewed as a symbol of truth, perhaps representing that Elena was true (a bit of a stretch, I know).

In both the 4^th and 5^th stories we have the theme of the “image of a woman.” We have spoken about this before, but what does this theme bring to these two stories? (An understanding of the myth of Pygmalion helps here.)

In both of these stories there are innocent women who are punished. They are both very beautiful and are both starved until they are emaciated and malnourished. Yet they stay 'beautiful' throughout the years of their torture. Dona Ines loses her eyesight but remains beautiful, as if this is the more important attribute. The description of dona Ines after she has been in the wall for 6 years is quite disgusting yet she is still considered beautiful. This shows that beauty is their most valued virtue (or at least what others value most in them, so while they are starved and lose weight they remain beautiful.