Rhetorical figure Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan was a French writer born in 1364 in Venice, Italy, and died in 1430 (Smith, 2008). She was an author and poet whose works include numerous poems of courtly love, different works championing women, and a biography of Charles V. She was married at 15 and widowed after ten years, where she took writing to support herself and her three children.
Canonical rhetorical history has offered an opportunity to represent the experience of powerful males and males, with no place for women. However, the current study of rhetoricians provides an opportunity for the contributions of women to participate in the development of their culture even when they were denied the opportunity to speak (Brabant, 2019). Christine de Pizan is essential in the history of rhetoric because she cultivated rhetorical skills, which offered her the chance to talk about cultural concerns as well as the presentation of ideas for altering the interests (Smith, 2008). Besides, she contributed to the understanding of agency and women majorly in the medieval era. First, she was able to act as a scribe for her texts, unlike other women in her times that needed a scribe. Therefore, she did not allow a male scribe to filter her work or even take over the process of composing the text. Also, she knew how to craft the manuscript
Christine was undeniably a great rhetor because of her ability to control the production of her manuscripts. She can choose the materials to use for her manuscript, utilizing both verbal and visual texts for creating meaning. She was able to use her art to communicate her concerns about the place of women the society. Christine, in her famous work, the book of the city of ladies and the treasure of the city of ladies shows the importance of women in society and teaching women how to create useful skills (Smith, 2008). She indicates ways in which women can use in promoting peace in the society.
She made significant contributions to our understanding of rhetoric. As a woman, she occupied the main position of both writing and creating her manuscripts, which gave her power over her work (Brabant, 2019). Scholars have been able to study her persuasive strategies and successfully forged her own rhetorical identity. She either called women to embrace misogynist thinking using the persuasive dialogue strategy.
Christine de Pizan’s rhetorical legacy is her various writing forms focusing primarily on feminist topics. Some topics she covered include lack of education for women, women’s rights and achievements, sources of women’s oppression, visions for an equal world, and compacting of misogynistic society (Brabant, 2019). Besides, her works were based on Christian morality and virtue.
Christine had to bring together paratext and text to create meaning in their social and cultural significance. Her work is shaped and reshaped by the audience, which also places cultural significance in the manuscript medium (Brabant, 2019). Her relationship with rhetoric was, therefore, through the authority of her audience. She indicated this by pointing at her consultation with other women, such as great ladies, princesses, and women from both the middle and lower classes.
References
Smith, J. M. (2008). ” Fortify the City with Your Tempered Pen”: Building Agency in the” City of Ladies” Through Text, Paratext, and Media.
Brabant, M. (2019). Politics, gender, and genre: the political thought of Christine de Pizan. Routledge.