Isotta Nogarola's Interpretation
Isotta Nogarola lived from 1418-1466 and grew up throughout the late Middle Ages and Italian Renaissance. During this time in history, women were denied all political rights and were very much devoted to their husbands. A woman’s main priority during this time was to be a housewife; dedicated to their husband, children, and work around the house. Men ruled all political procession, and there was no place for women in public society. This time in history was also the birth of humanism, in which Nogarola wrote many classic humanist genres.
Humanism was a great intellectual movement of social and intellectual philosophies in which the beauty of the individual was elevated. Humanism one of the main reasons why the power of the Church began to decline, because people became less interested in God and more interested in thinking about themselves and the world. From this, humanism also later brought on what was called the Qurelle De Femmes, which was the women's rebuttal of the "humanistic" ideals that belittled the role and nature of women.
In Isotta Nogarola’s book, Complete writings: letterbook, dialogue on Adam and Eve, orations, she split St. Augustine’s teaching that the first man and woman were equally responsible for the “fall” into two opposing sides. She represented this by having two interlocutors; Isotta and Ludovico. The character of Isotta played the role of herself and also the female point of view, in which she argued that Eve was less guilty than Adam because she was weaker and intellectually inferior. On the other hand, Ludovico played the role of an advocate for Adam, in which he argued that Eve seduced Adam into disobeying God and therefore she was more guilty. This dialogue by Nogarola shows her interpretation and opinion about Eve and also who she thought was more responsible or guilty out of the two.
This interpretation relates to its time in history because women were looked at as being inferior to men and not as smart because all they did was work around the house and take care of the children. Nogarola’s interpretation was different from others because the typical interpretation was that Eve was portrayed as a temptress who corrupted Adam and brought condemnation upon all generations. Nogarola’s historical time period played a role in her interpretation because she looked at how women’s roles were at her time and related to the story of Adam and Eve.
