What’s the difference between historical and religious literature? Well, what’s the difference between just literature and religious literature? Now – in today - there’s a gap between the two; there’s secular and the sacred. The line isn’t quite so blurred any longer like it was all those years ago when literature was just evolving. Religion then was a big part of the population’s life, and because of that, it played a major role in literature. That, however, is quite an odd concept – most of the population was illiterate. But that doesn’t exactly mean that people still couldn’t enjoy the literature. Most of it – until the invention of the printing press, at least – was orally passed around between people. There’s one thing that remained the same in that old literature. Women were portrayed one of two ways: there was the woman as the incarnation of evil and sin, and then there was the woman as the pure essence of beauty.
Probably the most well defined example of something like that distinction happening is taken from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. He draws a definitive line between those to whom he gives an Eve-complex – those whom he blames for the “Fall” of humanity into the present state; those whom represent the incarnation of evil and sin – and then there are those to whom he give the Beata-Maria-complex – those women who are great and good and sinless in every way; those who are pure and beautiful. And the women to whom he gave the Eve-complex to, he does portray as ugly, both physically, emotionally, and mentally. The women who represent Beata Maria are the complete opposite – esthetically pleasing in every way.
Spenser uses two characters to illustrate his point. One of them is called Una, and she is the “One True Faith”. It is because Spenser chooses to have her represent the Protestant faith that she is as beautiful as she is. “A lovely Ladie rode him faire beside,/… Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide,/ Under a vale, that wimpled was full low/… So pure and innocent, as that same lambe,/ She was in life and every vertuous lore,/ And by descent from Royall lynage came/ Of ancient Kings and Queenes, that had of yore… (Spenser, stanzas 4&5).” Una is the essence of purity, much like what most Christian religions view Mary as. There are no bad thoughts when thinking of Beata Maria, for she is everything that is pure and right with the world. She is beautiful, and is often painted as such.
But Duessa – the real Duessa – is the very inspiration for a Frat Boy’s nightmare. “A filthy foule old woman I did vew,/ That ever to have toucht her, I did deadly rew./ Her neather partes misshapen, monstruous,/ Were hidd in water, that I could not see,/ But they did seeme more foule and hideous,/ Then womans shape man would beleeve to bee./… But at her rompe she growing had behind/ A foxes taile, with dong and fowly dight…/ (Spenser stanzas 40-41&48).” Spenser seems to harbor some – quite a lot – of disdain and daresay animosity towards this figure that he made up. This is the figure that represents Eve, and the probable reason that he holds such harsh feelings towards the figure of Eve is because she is the hypothetical reason for the Fall of Humanity in the dawn of time.
But is Eve really that bad? Did she really do something so terrible as to inspire the hatred of men around the world? After all, all she did was take a bite of some fruit. Thousands of people eat some sort of fruit every day. Those men – but especially those women – don’t commit any sin. They aren’t obliterated in fiction for all of eternity. So what makes Eve so different? Was it because she was the first to take a bite of that sweet, forbidden fruit?
What if there was a man who – through his condemnation – actually showed what could have been a pretty accurate portrayal of the events that transpired that day? In the time that this particular epic was written, women were still pretty much second class citizens. It gets worse as a person travels back through history. Once, women were used as a means to “keep the peace” between warring nations. They were basically a mix between currency and property. Why wouldn’t Eve be treated like some silly little girl, not yet old enough to play with the big boys?
In a way, even though he condemns her, Milton, in his own epic Paradise Lost, paints a picture that is almost exactly like that aforementioned scenario. Perhaps, because Eve is kept out of the circle of information, because she is forced to remain ignorant by her Adam – whom is informed of much by the angels – perhaps she is a little jealous of her human counterpart and that leads to a little bit of internal sin (Milton, 1895). Perhaps that is why she leaves such a bad taste in the mouths of authors.
But Eve isn’t ugly; she’s nothing like Duessa. In fact, she’s usually painted like a regular person – an everyday woman. She’s not some neather-reigned-diseased freak – neither is she something as great and spectacular as Una. It’s true that Satan makes her feel beautiful by calling her things like “goddess” and “adored and served” (Milton 1985). But really, Eve is just a free spirited girl. “She as a veil down to the slender waist/ Her unadorned golden tresses wore/ Disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved/ As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied/ Subjection, but required with gentle sway…(Milton 1894).” Her hair is the biggest indicator of her hippy-esque disposition. It’s wild and free, and she’s like that too. Could it be that, because she is so free, that that’s why authors feed off of her and beat her down? Because she didn’t conform to standards of proper women?
It’s true that in literature women have been portrayed two different ways. One is like the Virgin Mary – wholesome and pure – and the other is like Eve – wanton and recklessly wild. Nowadays, there is a definition between the profane and the sacred unlike in yesteryear when the lines were much more blurry. Today, women aren’t dumped upon so harshly as if they were Eve. But does Eve really deserve such harsh treatment? Whether or not she deserved it, the fact remains the same that either a woman was the Blessed Mother or the harlot Eve.
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