SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA
CRUZ, PIONEER FEMINIST OF THE NEW WORLD
Sor
Juana Inés de la Cruz, whose original name is Juana Ramírez de Asbaje, was an
outstanding seventeenth-century writer in what at the time was the Spanish
colonial empire and is today the United Mexican States (popularly, Mexico).
Sor
Juana is a notable figure of the Spanish Golden Age, which witnessed an
efflorescence of the arts—literature, the visual arts, architecture, and music.
She
has been described by Encyclopedia Britannica as “the last great writer of the
Hispanic Baroque and the first great exemplar of colonial Mexican culture.”
—Stephanie
Merrim, “Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Mexican Poet and Scholar,” Encyclopedia Britannica, August 1, 2017
Sor
Juana has been chosen as one of the top ten greatest women poets because of her
influence on the approximately 850 million people today who are the cultural
offspring of Spain and the Spanish colonial empire.
She
represents the rich, expansive culture and heritage of Spain and the colonies
of the former Spanish Empire in Central and South America, and if we add up the
various populations of this grouping of countries, excluding the 18 present-day
U.S. states that were formerly Spanish, the total equals approximately 850
million.
Although
Sor Juana was a highly accomplished poet in the Baroque style, it is not for
this reason that she has been selected as one of the top ten greatest women
poets. There are notables of the Baroque style, such as Miguel de
Cervantes or Lope de Vega, who outshine Sor Juana.
Sor
Juana has been selected because her influence extends beyond Hispanic culture and with
newfound relevance. This postmodern period in the West, she is celebrated as an
exemplar of nascent feminism. She is recognized as a pioneer feminist of the
New World.
Feminism
is a postmodern ideology of major and substantial influence today. It affects
not only women but also men and, to speak broadly, all possible categories of
gender. There are variants of this ideology so that it would be more accurate
to cite feminisms (plural) rather than feminism (singular).
Feminism
is defined by Lexico as “the advocacy
of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.”
More
nuanced and especially revealing of the charged, conflictive meanings residing
in the term is this discussion by Kathy Caprino in Forbes:
—Kathy
Caprino, “What Is Feminism, and Why Do So Many Women and Men Hate It?” Forbes, March 8, 2017
“There
are thousands who believe in equal rights but find ‘feminism’ a word and a
movement that doesn’t align with their personal beliefs or values,” the author underscores.
We will examine Sor Juana’s “You Foolish Men,” illustrating the underlying feminism.
We will examine Sor Juana’s “You Foolish Men,” illustrating the underlying feminism.
YOU
FOOLISH MEN by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
You
foolish men who lay
the
guilt on women,
not
seeing you’re the cause
of
the very thing you blame;
if
you invite their disdain
with
measureless desire
why
wish they well behave
if
you incite to ill.
You
fight their stubbornness,
then,
weightily,
you
say it was their lightness
when
it was your guile.
In
all your crazy shows
you
act just like a child
who
plays the bogeyman
of
which he’s then afraid.
With
foolish arrogance
you
hope to find a Thais
in
her you court, but a Lucretia
when
you’ve possessed her.
What
kind of mind is odder
than
his who mists
a
mirror and then complains
that
it’s not clear.
Their
favour and disdain
you
hold in equal state,
if
they mistreat, you complain,
you
mock if they treat you well.
No
woman wins esteem of you:
the
most modest is ungrateful
if
she refuses to admit you;
yet
if she does, she’s loose.
You
always are so foolish
your
censure is unfair;
one
you blame for cruelty
the
other for being easy.
What
must be her temper
who
offends when she’s
ungrateful
and wearies
when
compliant?
But
with the anger and the grief
that
your pleasure tells
good
luck to her who doesn’t love you
and
you go on and complain.
Your
lover’s moans give wings
to
women’s liberty:
and
having made them bad,
you
want to find them good.
Who
has embraced
the
greater blame in passion?
She
who, solicited, falls,
or
he who, fallen, pleads?
Who
is more to blame,
though
either should do wrong?
She
who sins for pay
or
he who pays to sin?
Why
be outraged at the guilt
that
is of your own doing?
Have
them as you make them
or
make them what you will.
Leave
off your wooing
and
then, with greater cause,
you
can blame the passion
of
her who comes to court?
Patent
is your arrogance
that
fights with many weapons
since
in promise and insistence
you
join world, flesh, and devil.
The
poem lists men’s faults, in synopsis, “You have contradictory expectations of
us. You are the cause of the lapses you lay upon us.”
Structured
as an argument, the opening salvo is the first stanza: “You foolish men who
lay / the guilt on women, / not seeing you’re the cause / of the very thing you
blame.”
The
succeeding seven stanzas cite instances of the opening charge—you seek to court
a Thais (Greek courtesan) but to marry a Lucretia (virtuous Roman noblewoman);
you complain if women treat you badly but mock them if they treat you well; you
say the modest woman is ungrateful, the one who entertains you, loose.
The
eighth stanza restates the charge—“You are always so foolish / your censure
is unfair,” after which the list resumes.
Throughout,
the poem composes memorable antitheses—“having made them bad, / you want
to find them good,” “Have them as you make them / or make them what you will.”
The
last three stanzas wrap up with stinging reproaches—“in promise and
insistence / you join world, flesh, and devil.”
Notably
Baroque qualities of the poem include moralizing and satire.
When
we consider that the poem was written in the context of Spanish patriarchal
society, it becomes readily apparent that the poem is feminist. The poem is not
simply an exposition about differences in the attitudes of the sexes. It is a
poem of protest against the bullying male attitudes the poet encountered that denigrate
and unfairly characterize women.
Sor
Juana had to struggle with the limited opportunities available to the women of
her time. Almost entirely self-educated, she entered a convent most likely because
she had been born out of wedlock to a family that was not wealthy so that the
nunnery presented the best option available for her to pursue her intellectual and literary
avocation.
As
explained by Encyclopedia Britannica:
“Convent
life afforded Sor Juana her own apartment, time to study and write, and the
opportunity to teach music and drama to the girls in Santa Paula’s school. She
also functioned as the convent’s archivist and accountant. In her convent cell,
Sor Juana amassed one of the largest private libraries in the New World,
together with a collection of musical and scientific instruments. She was able
to continue her contact with other scholars and powerful members of the court.
The patronage of the viceroy and vicereine of New Spain, notably that of the
marquis and marquise de la Laguna from 1680 to 1688, helped her maintain her
exceptional freedom. They visited her, favoured her, and had her works
published in Spain. For her part, Sor Juana, though cloistered, became the
unofficial court poet in the 1680s. Her plays in verse, occasional poetry,
commissioned religious services, and writings for state festivals all
contributed magnificently to the world outside the convent.”
A
great deal more can be said about this remarkable woman, but because this piece
is a blog post we will be economical in our treatment.
One
of Sor Juana’s most famous poems, “Love Opened a Mortal Wound,” wrestles with
the subject of romantic love. Hewing to the stylistic conventions of the Baroque,
its tightness, wit, vivid imagery, and lyrical flair speak to us from across
the centuries as a period masterpiece of a virtuoso, who, not incidentally, is
a woman.
LOVE
OPENED A MORTAL WOUND by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Love
opened a mortal wound.
In
agony, I worked the blade
to
make it deeper. Please,
I
begged, let death come quick.
Wild,
distracted, sick,
I
counted, counted
all
the ways love hurt me.
One
life, I thought—a thousand deaths.
Blow
after blow, my heart
couldn't
survive this beating.
Then—how
can I explain it?
I
came to my senses. I said,
Why
do I suffer? What lover
ever
had so much pleasure?
The
poem ends cleverly and paradoxically—the mortal wound elicits matchless
pleasure.
In
our post-Freudian world, we suggest that the poem borders on the pornographic.
No
wonder that upon the departure from Mexico of her aristocratic patrons, clerical
authorities quickly moved to curtail her objectionably worldly pursuits. She
was effectively silenced by the bishop of Puebla.
Today
Sor Juana is celebrated as a Mexican hero and a Mexican cultural archetype.
She
continues to influence modern and contemporary culture. Examples of her recent
legacy include the following.
-
Margaret Atwood composed “Sor Juana Works in the Garden,” publishing it in The Door (2007), a book of poetry.
-
Helen Edmundson wrote a play based on Sor Juana’s life, “The Heresy of Love,” staged
by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2012.
-
Google Doodle commemorated Sor Juana’s 366th birthday on November 12, 2017.
Her
continuing influence bespeaks her singular literary stature.
 |
| Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1981) by Enrique Fernandez Criach |
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The sculpture is located in Oeste Park, Madrid, Spain.
Gonzalinho