Thursday, April 9, 2015
Letters 2-5
Many times in both of my semesters of Search and in my first year writing seminar people have questioned why we don't read more stories written by women. Now we finally have something from a woman's perspective, but I don't know if it's the best representation of women during this time. Heloise was a nun, but is remembered more for her affair with Abelard instead of what she did with her life beyond her love life. I don't feel that Heloise was necessarily depicted in a bad light, of course she did a lot of good, but in a class based on the search for values in western culture, there should be more literature with a stronger female lead. How do you think Heloise was depicted in these letters and do you think this is a good choice for this class?
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ReplyDeleteI think that much of what is important about Heloise is that we are left to wonder what she could have accomplished had her affair with Abelard not gone awry. She is described as the intellectual equal of Abelard but she is never able to expound on her education because she is caught up in this affair with Abelard, and later caught up in trying to hide her pregnancy, this is why she ended up as a nun, it was not her choice but part of Abelard's plan to save his own reputation. I believe this says a lot about what control women had over their lives at this point in time. Eloise was a brilliant young woman who could have accomplished great things, but she was never able to because she had to give up her studies to protect the career and reputation of Abelard.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading these letters because it was a nice change of pace from the heavily philosophic/ religious texts we read. I think Heloise can be easily identified with especially because she has very human desires even though she is supposed to be the Abyss in charge of other nuns. She doubts her leadership because she knows she doesn't believe in what she's doing. The only reason she's there, like Christian said, is because of her tragic affair with Abelard. Although Heloise's views annoy me sometimes, I did enjoy reading these letters and broadening my knowledge of Medieval times.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I too enjoyed reading these letters. It was a breathe of fresh air, from the normal readings which I oftentimes find confined to a man's point of view or limited in that they were trying to appeal to a certain group of people. I agree with Sarah, in that I think Heloise was a much more relatable character. Her desires which constitute a big part of her flaws are something we all can relate to. In addition, the position of power she held as abyss did in my opinion portray her in a more positive light, even after her affair with Abelard. It still showed the results of her dedication to her studies and her achievement of a highly regarded position as a woman.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Max. It's sad that this is the main female author we'll get to read this year, and her sexuality is the only thing she's remembered for. Sure, for students it might be a nice change of tone, but that doesn't make it any less depressing that, until maybe the past 100 years, women (with very few exceptions) were only given a voice when they were having sex with men.
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