HIST 129T: Women, Sex, and Power in Early Modern Europe
Spring 2004
Dr. López
2nd term exam
Choose one (1) of the following questions and write a 5-6 page (1250-1500 words)
paper in response. Your answer must be in the form of a well thought-out and
organized essay, with a thesis, body, and conclusion. Use all the required
sources, and remember to annotate where necessary. Your essays are due
IN PERSON (not electronically) no later than Thursday, May 20 by the
close of business. This means that you may turn the essay in early if
you will not be here the 20th.
- Using T.E.’s
Law's Resolutions of Women's Rights AND the secondary sources we
talked about in class ("Women 'Working' the Law: Gender, Authority, and Legal
Process in Early Modern France” and "Women, Legal Rights, and Law Courts"),
discuss Early Modern definitions of women’s legal personhood and roles. What
limitations did the legal establishment set upon women? How did these legal
definitions and limitations shape women’s lives during this period? How do
these definitions mirror Roman legal traditions? Finally, were women able
and/or likely to “manipulate” the legal system? If so, how?
- The history of
women in Early Modern Europe was shaped, in great part, by the intellectual
and cultural influence of “the old voice.” The phrase inherently implies
the development of a “new voice” which questioned and, in some cases,
challenged Western misogyny. Using at least two (2) of the primary
sources we have discussed in class (Pizan’s City of Ladies, Tarabotti’s
Paternal Tyranny, and the excerpts from "Proto-Feminisms," in Kate
Aughterson's Renaissance Woman: Constructions of Femininity in England),
discuss the issues which the new voice raised. To what do these authors
object? How do they engage the old voice? What do their writings tell us
about Early Modern consciousness and understanding of misogyny and its effects
upon society?