Week 14 Reading Diary: Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre

This week I chose to read the Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre unit.

In the story of the Boatwoman and the Monks, I was glad that the young lady was smart enough to save herself from being raped by the two monks. But even though this story is from the 1500s, I don't like the emphasis it places on how it is women's responsibility to protect their purity. It is always men's responsibility not to rape.

In The Lady From Milan and Her Lover, it seems crazy to me that the man would pursue her for three years with no reply. Like geez, take a hint. But the woman's test of his valor was pretty impressive.

The story of The Virgin with Child was a strange one. I was glad that the church realized that the girl couldn't have been pregnant without having sex because that would pretty much signify the second coming of Christ, and he isn't supposed to come as a baby again. I also liked the analysis that covering up a crime with religion was twice as bad. But the whole idea of a priest getting his thirteen year old sister pregnant and then lying about it was very strange.

The Monks and the Butcher has definitely been my favorite story so far because it had nothing at all to do with a woman's purity. This story is about two men who think they hear their future, and once they learn it, it changes. In the process of trying to outrun their future, one of them accidentally almost fulfills it.

I didn't much like The President of Grenoble's Revenge. There was one particularly sexist line: "The doctors say that such a sin is more pardonable because a man is not master of such emotions, and, consequently, the sin he commits in that state may be forgiven." And as usual, the man that the wife cheated with wasn't punished.

In the Brother and Brother-in-Law, the brother certainly acts foolishly. Even after his sister tells him that she is married to the man he is sleeping with, the brother still has him killed, and then he sends his sister off to cover up the mistake. It reminds me of the story of David and Bathsheba. 

At the end of The Woman and the Chanter, it definitely seemed like the storyteller was blaming the husband for not keeping a better eye on his wife. While I'm glad that the blame wasn't placed on the wife for being adulterous, it is certainly not the husband's responsibility to keep his wife from leaving him either.

Secrets Revealed is a 1500s example of rape culture. When the wife is retelling the story of her rape, the listener basically says that the wife enjoyed it.