“Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” by Lanyer

Biography

     Aemelia Lanyer was born in 1569 to an Italian Family of court musicians. She was a mistress to Lord Hunsdon in her young adulthood and received an education from the Countess of Kent during this time. However, after becoming pregnant by Lord Hunsdon, Aemelia was married off to Alfonso Lanyer, a court musician. Aemelia lost her luxurious lifestyle and possibly resided with the Countess of Cumberland, her patron. Aemelia received encouragement in her writing and education from the Countess and her daughter, and she became the first woman in England to vie for patronage and the first woman to publish a large collection of poetry. This collection was titled “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum” and was a strong feminist work.

Summary

     Lanyer’s “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” seeks to redefine Eve and her role in the fall. In it, Lanyer describes the trial of Pilate through the perspective of Pilate’s wife, drawing parallels between Pilate and Adam and between Pilate’s wife and Eve. She describes Eve as only offering the apple to Adam out of love as a gift and lies blame on Adam because he is the ruler of all. She also notes that Pilate and the other men killing Jesus would be a far graver sin than Eve sharing the apple and portrays Pilate’s wife as pleading him to not kill Jesus.

Analysis

     In “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women,” published as part of Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum in 1611, Aemelia Lanyer tells the story of Pilate and his wife at the trial of Jesus. Pilate’s wife pleads for Pilate to spare Jesus while reminding him the gravity of this sin would far outweigh Eve’s sin. Additionally, she retells the story of Adam and Eve, painting Adam as the true cause of the fall of man because of his great power and responsibility. Throughout the poem, Lanyer uses irony while dealing with the story of Adam and Eve and of Jesus’s trial to challenge the misogynistic standards of her time.

     Lanyer uses irony in her contrast of the responsibility and power given to Adam over Eve with the blame and shame placed on Eve. Lanyer writes, “Her fault though great, yet he was most to blame; / What weakness offered, strength might have refused, / Being lord of all, the greater was his shame.” (34-36). Here, Lanyer ostensibly accepts the claim that women are weak, but she proceeds to draw from this claim that men’s greater power therefore makes them more responsible. Through this, Lanyer highlights the incongruity of ideas: Women cannot be weak and lorded over while still maintaining full responsibility for their actions. Men must either relinquish their control over women, or men must take responsibility for women’s actions. Continuing with this idea, Lanyer describes Adam as the “perfectest man,” being designed and commanded by God, yet he still eats the apple, “bringing us all in danger and disgrace” (41-48). Lanyer fully inverts the structure she is rebelling against, blaming men for the fall of man in the same way women have been blamed. Lanyer clearly does not believe a single gender is to be blamed, given her rejection of the idea that a gender should be subjugated based on the story of Adam and Eve. By ironically positing this, however, Lanyer further points out the hypocrisy of blaming an entire gender and forces men to consider the opposite viewpoint. Lanyer’s use of irony powerfully challenges the common misogynistic conclusions drawn from the story of Adam and Eve.

     Lanyer extends this irony when contrasting responsibility versus blame in her parallel treatment of Pilate and Pilate’s wife. Pilate’s wife starts off by saying that because Eve came from Adam, any evil in her also came from Adam (65-67), and Lanyer further writes,  “If one of many worlds could lay a stain / Upon our sex, and work so great a fall / To wretched man by Satan’s subtle train, / What will so foul a fault amongst you all” (67-70). With the conditional clause “If one of many worlds could lay a stain,” Lanyer again affirms that this is not necessarily what she believes. Instead, she is using the same logic used by men to show that they can also be deemed the blameworthy and inferior sex. Lanyer also calls back to the relationship between responsibility and blame as Pilate’s wife says in regards to the execution of Jesus, “This sin of yours surmounts them all as far / As doth the sun another little star. / Then let us have our liberty again,” (79-81). Lanyer points out a contradiction in the treatment of women; if their responsibility over women is justified through Eve’s sin implicating all women, then what is to be said of a group of men killing Jesus? Men are responsible for the graver sin of killing Jesus, but Lanyer shows more directly this time that she does not genuinely believe this deserves subjugation. All she calls for is liberty for women, as men have shown they are as if not more blameworthy than women and undeserving of their responsibility. Lanyer more directly this time shows her support for neither gender being subjugated. She is ironical in the fact that she is using their logic of sin generalizing to a whole gender, but her plea to “let us have our liberty again” is entirely sincere. Lanyer again uses irony to invert the sexist standards of her time and make a genuine case for gender equality.

     Lanyer provides an alternative but equally valid commentary on the story of Adam and Eve and the trial of Jesus. She highlights Adam’s dominion over Eve and the world to show that his responsibility places more blame on him in the decision to eat the apple. She also contrasts the subjection of women for this sin with the liberty men still enjoy after killing Jesus. Lanyer does this not to suggest that men and women should switch power dynamics, but to show that each gender can be shown to be blameworthy. Ultimately, Lanyer calls for women and men to be equal by critiquing the generalizing commentaries made of the Bible.

Works Cited

Lanyer, Aemelia. “From Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature:                                   Core Selections. Available from: University of Alabama, (10th Edition), edited by
Stephen Grenblatt, W. W. Norton, 2021, 437-440.