Dr. Elissa B. Weaver’s lecture “Giovanni Francesco Loredano’s Adam and Arcangela Tarabotti’s Defense of Eve” was one of many events during the Global Women’s Studies’ (GWS) Women’s Voices of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: A Symposium.
PROVO, Utah (March 12, 2020)—Dr. Elissa B. Weaver, a professor of Italian literature at the University of Chicago, visited BYU to speak as a part of the two-day GWS symposium. She extensively studies writings of women, mostly Italian, during the 16th and 17th centuries; Weaver’s research has uncovered many works written by nuns at the time.
Her lecture centered on the relationship and correspondence between Giovanni Francesco Loredano, a prominent member of Venetian society, and Arcangela Tarabotti, a nun and dedicated writer. A known misogynist and an enthusiastic feminist, respectively, the pair often disputed the role and treatment of women in society. Specifically, they quarreled over who was responsible for the Fall: Adam or Eve.
As a response to the original biblical account and brief elaborative writings about it, Loredano penned a piece called The Life of Adam which became his most popular work. Weaver explains that in it, he imagines the details of Adam’s life, following what is recorded in Genesis from the man’s creation until his death.
Paternal Tyranny was the original title of Tarabotti’s most influential piece, according to Weaver, but after her death the controversial title was changed to Innocence Deceived. In her writing, she condemned the Catholic church for the continual societal mistreatment of women and responded to Loredano’s defense of Adam and criticism of Eve in The Life of Adam.
Loredano finds Eve “responsible for the punishment unleashed on the human race that made life difficult and death inevitable,” Weaver summarized. Eve was a secondary, imperfect creation. As a result, he says, all women follow Eve’s example and are guilty of gullibility, excessive curiosity, deception, etc. and are the inferior sex. Eve eats the forbidden fruit and attacks Adam and his virtue with her “tender caresses and passionate embraces” that held such power he could not possibly resist.
Tarabotti disagrees with Loredano on all counts. Weaver digested Tarabotti’s thoughts about the famous story by stating that “the creation of Eve from the rib of Adam gave perfection to man. Woman is a compendium of all perfections—Eve existed in God’s mind even before creation.” Adam, not Eve, was commanded to avoid the forbidden fruit, and thus his sin was greater than hers.
Although the two never reached an agreement on who is to blame for the first sin, their biting published works and heated correspondence were not detrimental to their friendship. The two shared many ideas, visited each other, participated in the development of each other’s published works, and were quick to praise the other’s intellect. Weaver praised their honest communication and Tarabotti’s example of true, unwavering feminism at a time when such ideas were not valued. According to Weaver, Tarabotti “helped with her arguments to change the minds and the condition of women.”
—Tori Hamilton (Editing & Publishing, ‘20)