HSTEU 40i   SECOND PAPER 

 Part I:  Topics on Women, Men and Family

LENGTH: 8 page-10 paper, typed, double spaced, no extra covers (just a title page)

DUE DATE: Monday Dec. 7th in class. I’m glad to look at rough drafts. (This is revised from syllabus)

Course Readings on Women and Family:

David Herhily, The Family in Renaissance Italy (xerox packet)
Salutati, The Declamation of Lucretia  (xerox packet)
Letters of Alessandra Strozzi (xerox packet)
Lauro Martines, “Ricciarda” and “Giacopo” in Renaissance Sextet
Leon Battista Alberti, On the Family,  Book 3
Boccaccio, Nastagio degli Onesti (web page link), Griselda  (xerox packet)
Gregorio Dati, Memoir (sections on his wives)
Extra reading:  Sermon by Fra Bernardino of Siena,
           On the Vanity of the World, and Especially of Women

General approach: 
           From the above readings, certain questions emerge: what were the range and limitations of women’s roles in the social world of Renaissance Italy, and how did literary images of women relate to social reality.  Several of the readings hold up images of what women
should be like, or instruct men on how to instruct women in correct behavior.  Others are more concrete sources providing evidence about women’s actual historical experience. Looking at these various readings, can you distinguish between: 
1) male perceptions of women  and  2)  women’s perception of themselves? 

You are free to formulate your own paper topic on the general theme of women and the family, drawing on these readings.  Check with Professor O’Neil aboutyour topic if you have any questions.

Suggested paper topics:

1.   Drawing on the assigned readings, discuss the image of women in Renaissance Italy.  What should women be like, and how does this compare with how they actually behave? (Sermon by Bernardino of Siena, Salutati's Lucretia and some of Boccaccio’s stories could be useful here.)

2. How does the role of the widow differ from that of the young wife as presented by Alberti in Bk 3 of On the Family ?  Does Alessandra Strozzi fit Alberti’s view of a good wife, or does her status as a widow cause her to deviate from the model he sets out?  You may also want to include Ricciarda, another widow, in this comparison.

3.  How does political exile affect the relationship between the family and the state in Renaissance Italy?  Discuss this question with reference to Letters of Alessandra Strozzi and Alberti’s On the Family. (A useful article on Alberti's illegitimacy will be posted as optional reading.)

4.  What view of women emerges from the stories we have read such as Lorenzo di Medici’s Giacopo and those in Boccaccio’s Decameron (such as Nastagio degli Onesti and Griselda)?  How does this “literary” view  compare to the role of women in Alberti’s On the Family ?   

5. While the Renaissance is famous for its many examples of powerful and talented "Renaissance men," the literature of the period shows men in a range of role that are not uniformly positive. In addition to the positive and dominant roles of men in the family and political world (such as Biography of Cosimo or career of Machiavelli), be sure to include the negative images of men that emerge in the novelle -- such as Bianco Alfani, Giacopo and The Fat Woodcarver. Some of Boccaccio's stories in Decameron could also be of use here.