Focus Fall 1998.tif ( " \ \ "', Christianopolis: A Woman's Dystopia? Jennifer L. Creech [\X']omen's issues are absorbed into the overriding concerns o f traditional utopias. . .. Because the problem of female subjectivity has not been addressed, women remain merely objects within the utopian space. (Burwell 63,65) U ohann Valentin Andreae's Chrislianopolis is an attempt to de­ piCl a C hrist ian utopia. Because ev.ery utopia "relies upon and fosters the creation of a 'devalued other' against which UlOp ia defines itSelf," it is imponant to understand what that "devalued other" is (Burwell 51). For Andreae, the "other" may he defined most gener­ ally as early-modem society. More specifically, the "'othe r" includes, bUl is not limited to the nonchristian , i.c. lIon patriarchal aspects o f m onarchy, pre-capitalist economy, and educatio n. However honest Andreae's altempl may be to produce a utopian Chrislian commu­ nity, it is clear that Christianopolis more closely resembles a dystopia than a utopia when examined from the position of the early-modern woman. Respectfully recognizing woman as western civilization's quimessential "other," the educated reader musllake into consider­ auon woman's role in this new society which atlemptS to champion earl y-modern Europe. In analyzin g Christianopolis, the reader must begin wirh the most obvious: the concept of religion, namely, Christianity. Within t he confines of Christianity, man and woman's secular and religious roles are dearly defined, most commonly assigning precedency to the male and a secondary status to the female. It is imponant to stress the words "most commonly," however, because this hierarchical system o f male and female roles was and still is often debated in relation to the Genesis creation myth: Genesis in fact recounts two distinct creation stories, distin­ guished by Biblical scholars since the late nineteemh centu ry, as belonging t o tlu; separate source traditions which lie F(Xu! on LiUrat ur Vol. 5, No.2 (1998) 74 Focus on Liceralltr behind the writings which came LO fo rm the Pentateuch .... TheP(or Priestly) narrative ... is a good deal less discrimina­ tory than the second .. . J Qalwisl or Yahwis[ ... ) narrat ive. Like their predecessors, however. seventeenth-century COO1- memators paid far more anemian to the creation o f Eve from Adams's rib in the laner than they did to the simultaneous creation of male and female in the former ("male and female he created them") which grants apparently equal authority to man and to woman ("let them have dominion over the fish o f ,he sea ... "). (Keeble 1) It is dearto the reader of Omslumopolu that Andreae, similar to m llny seventeenth-century C h ristians,l suppons the Jahvist narra t ive. And reae alludes to this adherence in the chapter entitled "Die Frauen:" ~as die Tatsache betrifh, daB es viele herrschslich tige Frauen g,bt, so muB bemerkt werden, daB es allein die Schuld der Minner ist . . .. Nichts ist gefahrlicher, als wenn die Frauen i~sge~eim regieren und die Manner offensichtlich gehorchen; I1lcht 1St dagegen mehr geraten, als wenn jenes Geschlech t das Seine rut. (125) ~learl.y, Andreae suppons the creatio n SlOry o f the Jahvist narrative, ill ~hlch ~he woman is assigned a lesser, secondary status to the man . !his version of the Genesis, most commonly accepted by C hristians III western civilization, suppons man 's subjugation o f woman. Un­ derstanding A ndreae's traditional, patriarchal view of woman one may begin examining how Chrislianopolis presents itself as a dys~opia fo r the early-modern woman . .Beginning with the ~orm of government, one may draw some conduslons as to the dystoplan nature o f A ndreae's text. By consider. ing the concept of the female monarch , one takes tbe most extreme and excep~ional example ~f female empowerment. Doi.ng so, how. ever, best d lustrates how httle Christianopolis o ffered the early-mod­ ~m woman along the lines o f equality. "W oman was natulOlolly su b-­ J~t, but not all f~ales were subject to all males. No one thought E.li~beth I was subject to her stable-boy" (Sommerville 51). The tfa­ diuon of the female monarch in England is something that challenges Chnsltanopo/u: A Woman's DYStopia? 75 the Christ ian patriarchal position. But because the queen is bel j e~ed to possess divine right to rule, is it possi?l~ fo r a Christ~an l,O questi on her right as a woman to ho ld such a pOSillon o f aut hOrity, I.e. author­ ity over every male in the k ingdom? Theorists mounted various arguments in defense of queens' rightS to accede and rule_ One was that God in His provi­ dence disposed of kingdoms and if H e saw fit to place a woman on t he throne it was not for mere mortals to resist His ruling .... It was by "God's w ill and o rder" that a woman was rightful h e ir , for " li e co uld ha ve prov ided o th er." (Sommerville 54) More than likely, Andreae was well a~are of the difficulties a C hris­ tian patriarch would have when coming to terms with the nOlion o f the female ruler. His cho ice o f government "von acht Mannern regiert" (40) allows him to avoid any such problems and remain true to his traditional interpretatio n o f status hierarchy. Indeed, women do D?l even have the ability to voice their religious or secular concerns In Chrisl ianopolis: " In Kirche und Rat sversammlung haben sie zu schweigen" (125). Should a woman gain the prestige to be the spouse o f an impo rtant religious or secular official, she is portrayed as the ideal woman after which every C hristianopolitan woman should model herself. The judge's wife, Reason, is blessed wilh a husband who ... scheut sic h nicht, mit ihr liber sc h werwiegende Angelegenheiten zu sprechen, und ho rt sic auch gern, hehah sich aber die Emscheidung vo r. Wenn sie [Reason] mit ih re r Wifibegier z.u hoch hinaus w ill , weist ~r sic in ihre Schranken zUrUck, gemahnt sie an den Himmel und e lll pfiehit ihr, ih ren Verstand besser heim Spinnen zu gebrauchen. So lehen beide umer seiner Herrschaft . .. ein ausgez.cichnetes Beispiel fUr diejen igen, di e entweder alles ode r ni c ht s ihren Fraue n mitteilen. (58) In fact some of these "first-ladies," "'lieb[en] ... das Schweigen" {55}. Even ';"omen in seemingly influential positions are unable to truly speak out, and is not "R eason" t he closest a woman may get to achiev- 76 Focus on Literalllr ing the ideal of maleness and empowerment in a patriarchal society? Andreae creates a male uwpia where even the m OSt virtuous and pow­ erful women are silenced by meir husbands. He leaves no room for female empowerment. \'(litboul a voice, the woman has no S3Y; she is poLiLicall y and religiously impotent. Of course, the female monarch is lhe most radical example of female st rength apparent in early-mod­ ern Europe, and it is clearly the exception to rhe nale. H owever, the av~rage early-modern woman was nOl completely without voice, and thiS was partly due to the fact that Europe showed the characteristics of a capitalistic society. Women were realized either as married or to be married. Though rhis type of characterization does not provide room for the concept of the woman alone, there were ways in which a woman could exercise cenain forms of independence. An upper class girl's dowry often consisted of money, furniture, and some form of eState. Although these kinds of material wealth immediately be­ came the property of her hwband upon marriage, she regained the use thereof should he pass away: In countries of both Roman and customary law the widow had a right [0 whatever she brought into marriage (the dowry) or, by agreement, she had a right to the income or wufruct of this sum. She could also claim the clothes, jewels and furni ­ ture she brought with her and whatever her husband had settled on her at marriage, a third or a half of what they had communally owned ... and anything else the hwband cared to bestow upon her in his will .... (Huhon 227-8) A husban.d's ?eath, th ough certainly not anticipated, was ulti mately empowenng 10 that rh e woman, becoming a widow, was then liber­ ated from her husband bot h in the physical and economic sense. She became autonomous and self-sufficient. If she had already borne chi l­ dren, her "natural" and religious duty as a woman, she was no longer burdened, should she so choose, by the expectation of procreating. She almost always remained the natural guardian of the children umil they were of age, "after which she was usually guaranteed houseroom and a small acreage of land on which to support herself, which should be tilled by the son" (Huhon 230-1). Such provisions were ohen con­ sidered. null and void shou1d sbe remarry, but she was at will to decide Chriszumopolu: A Woman's Dystopia? 77 her fate. Free from the mandate to procreate, free from economic dependence on a man, lhe widow is liberated al most completely from patriarchal subjugation. For the middle and lower class girls whose families could not provide them with a dowry for marriage, th is meant the opportunity to seek employment and earn money. one very imponam fonn of freedom. These girls were often taken on as servants of some son, be it on a farm , in a tradesman's shop or in a private residence. They learned various duties and acquired qualities which would also add to their wonh as wives: sobriety, industriousness, thrift and obedience. Of course, a woman in rhis position could always choose not to marry_ But, as a product of a patria rchal society whi ch values women accord­ ing to their fert ility, she more tha n likely would seek a mate o r be sought after. Women who married a merchant often had other duties be­ sides those of running the household . The woman was most ohen responsible for the bookkeeping of her husband's business. Doctors and veterinarians also left debt payi.ng and the managemem of credit to their wives and daugl1lers. "When merchants had to travel on busi­ ness far from home, th en l0C2i transactions, including new business, were left in the hands of the wife ... " (Huhon 153). Similarly, farm­ ers left rhe running of the dairy, including the overseeing of male dairy workers, as well as the sale of dai ry products to their wives. The guild masters' wives were also given a greal deal of responsibility: "Deciding who ran errands, delivered orders to lhe back doors of substantial houses, fetched new supplies of raw matc=riais when tbey ran OUl, could all be aspects of a wife's working day" (Huhon 166). Women also played an important role as market traders: "A glance around the markets of western Europe might reveal some in teresting variations on the range of goods on sale, but the preponderance of women as sellers is everywhe re remarkable" (H unan 167). Some tex­ tile industries involved a purely female workforce. "A lace-maker ... could continue her work after marriage, if on ly pan-time, as long as the husband's business did not make too many demands on her" (fiufton 169). The lower and middle class women o f the early-mod­ ern period also "enjoyed" the same aforementioned rights upon wid­ owhood, but during their marriages they were able to practice a great deal of autonomy and personal responsibility ou tside or the tradi- 78 Focus on Literalur tiona! maternal role. This variety of roles is not something offered to women in Andreae's ChrtSlumopoIis. The absence of the early modern market system with its capitalist ic characteristics removes the possibility for women to become financially and therefore physically independent of men. Similarly, because their is no market system, women are con­ fined to their homes within the traditional female role of homemaker; there are no male dairy workers or guild apprentices for these women to order about. The women in this dystopia "habell keine Verfi..igungsgewalt als iiber den Hausrat .. ," (125). The idea that a woman would expect or desire to do something else is barely hinted at: "Keine schamt sich der weibl ichen POichten oder wird mode darin, ihrem Mann zu dienen" (126). Because Andreae uses the verb "sich schiimen," however, it is clear that this tension between the patriar­ chal Christian view of the woman's role and the various role possi­ bilities o f the early-modem woman is a concern for him. True Chris­ tian women are nOt ashamed to stay within their -namral" female role; that is, a true Christian woman should and would do only that which is deemed womanly: "Der Frauen riihmlichste Eigenschaft ist ihre Fruchtbarkeit ... "(126). Deeming fruitfulness to be woman's most worthy characteristic insures her physical dependence on her husband. and conditions in her a burning desire [0 become a "true" instrument of God: a mother. Does this not doubly detract from her worth, being a person who may define herself through numerous other functions in early-modern Europe? However, o nce a woman living in Christianopolis has learned to define herself only through her position in the home, should her husband die, "veriaBt [sie] das Haus und begibt sich zu den \VI ohnsitzen der \VIitwen, wo sie dem Staat durch irgendeine Arbei t diem" (128). A widow in earl y-modern Europe more than likely would receive some form of estate in her husband 's will ; if not, at least she was guaranteed houseroom and some acres o f land thar her son would till for her. Furthermore, Chriscianopolitan widows are then given the responsi­ bility of raising and educating the youth; their greatest duty being, "Ruf und Ruhm des Fleisches bei den Unerfahrenen zu mindem und bei seineo unreinen Geniel3ern die Leidenschaft zu strafen" (128). In Chrislianopolis, 2 woman loses all sense of liberty and becomes, upon the death of her husband, a slave to the state. Having lost the mao Christianopolis: A Woman's Dystopill? 79 through whom she was defined, she being the "other," s.he .is only able to retain a sense of identity within society by conullumg her maternal role outside of the familial home. She, who must ignore any pass ions she might have La fulfill a role other than thal of virtuous wife and mother is then asked to punish those who come aner her, those who ane~pr to achieve those passions that fall outside 0.£ ~~­ ceptable behavior. Ultimately, ChTtstlanopoiis removes all POSSibili­ ties for the woman to define herself as autonomouS, and then calls upon her to exact the same punishment on further generations; this, o ne asks, is utopia? . Of course, a woman during the early-modern period, no mal­ ter how much she sought autonomy, was usually conneeled to a man in some way. Because marriage was almost always considered the goal, the actual wedding ceremony was very important. Just as the v.:ed- ding ceremony in contemporary American society focuses 0.11 the bride, so did the nuptial celebrations of the early-modern penod see the woman as its focal point. In England, the wedding "was preceded by a bidding, or brideswain, wherein the wife-to-besat spinning. in a w~~on which was dragged round the village" (Hunon US). TIllS [~adlt1on physically raises the woman above the rest of t he tow n, w.luch one may see as ramer telling of her importance in tbe ceremoOlal proce­ dures. Although it is quite clear that she may be seen by the me~bers of the town as the groom's "prize," "gift; or "catch," her role 10 the ceremony itself is still emphasized and she enjoys her own "fifIeen minutes of fame." Certainly, her spi nning indicates performance of wifely duties, and signifies her biblically suppo rted sec~ndary status as man's helpmate. Bm it also illuslrates her skill, willch she more t han likely used at her place of employment before and, perhaps af­ ter, her marriage. Similarl y, In Lutheran Germany a bridal cart, in which the bride sat wreathed in flowers, circulated th e village or small town bear­ ing all the wedding gifts and crowned by t?e linen pre.pared collectively for the marriage by the unmarned women m her age cohort and by the bride herself. The linen was a symbol ... of the bride's industry .... (Huna n 139) In this German conjugal t radiaon, once again the bride is carted around 80 Foem on LiteralllY the village in an exalted physical position, and her skills "crown" her carriage. Although her role as the lesser, subjugated member of the marriage is generally accepted, her importance as a productive memo ber of the married coup le is strongly emphasized and pub licly glori. fied. For the woman marrying in Christianopolis, however, [his is not the case. Although Andreae continuously refers to needle work­ ing skill~ as ~Bereich.a~d Gegenstand weiblicher Kunst" (124), the woman In this dystopia IS never publicly lauded as an individual, or in regards to her own particular abi lities. "Die Hochzeiten gehen ganz ohoe Aufwand und Lirm ab," and the woman is given over to her pa~ner without the conventional fanfare afforded the early-modern bnde (123). For a woman about to be annexed to a man, it seems she wouJd choose the traditional marriage celebration over Andreae'S. f~r. tho.ug~ the former be but brief, it grants her adoration and recog­ nition 10 light of her talents as an individua1. A Woman, no marter how much she may buy into the patri­ archal concept of "femaJe," will always be aware not only of her physi­ cal tale~ts, but also of her mental capabilities. During the earl y-mod­ ern penod, many women began expressing their dissatisfaction with their educational exclusion, social marginalization, and political im­ pot~n~e. M~y critical, .dissident female voices openly repudiated the chLidish things" prescnbed for women, including ignorance and the "slavery» of marriage. One woman wrote: Shall none but the insulting sex be wise? Shall they be blest with intellectual light? Whilst we drudge on in ignorance's night? We've souls as noble, and as fine a clay, And parts as well compos'd to please as they. Men think perhaps we best obey, And best their servile business do, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We seem design'd alone for useful fools, And foils for their iU shapen sense, condem.n'd to prize And think 'em truly wise, Being not aUow'd their follies to despise. (T,;umph, I 6-12, n 9-13) Chmttanopolis: A Woman's Dystopia? 81 It is clear that man 's continua l insistence on the ignorance of women was slowly being questioned. Even Andreae seems to address th is so­ cietal faul l say lng, "kh weiR auch nicht, warum dieses Geschlecht [der Frauen], daB von NalUr aus nicht ungelehriger ist, anderswo vom Umerricht ausgesch lossen wird" (80). Andreae does not address this problem to its fullest, however, and females are rarely mentioned ex­ cept for in his first vague description of the style of education a Christianopolitan receives: "Erste und hocl1S[e Aufgabe ist es fur sie [aBe Schiller], Gatt mil reinem und demutigem Sinn:w vere hren; die zweite, die hesten und keuschesten Siuen zu erlangen; die driue, den Geist zu schulen" (79). Here, education does nOt step outside the realm of traditio nal religious instruction, an education that all early-modern C hristians were sure to receive at home from their parents. The early-modern woman was moSl concerned with her aca­ demic education: 'Tis hard we should be by we IDen despised, Yet kept from knowing what would make us prized; Debarred from knowledge, banished from the schools, And with tbe utmost industry bred fools; Laughed out of reason, jested out of sense, And nothing left but native innocence; Then told we are incapable of wit, And only for the meanest drudgeries fit; Made slaves to serve their luxury and pride .... (Chudl,;gb 1-9) Women spoke out about the ignorance inflicted upon them by the patriarchal society, and t hey used their talents to protest against such treatment. Mary Astell, in her SeriollS Proposal to the Ladies, points to the fac t that a woman's cerebra l incapacity, "i f there be any, is ac· quired and not natural. ... Women are from their very infancy de­ barred those advantages with the want of which they are afterward reproached, and nursed up in those vices which will hereafter be up­ braided them" (286). In her proposal, she funher argues for the estab­ lishment of residential female academies, which would give women a chance to study and meditate without hindrance. In Christianopolis, however, there is no room for women to 82 Focus on Literalltr receive any such scholaStic trainin g. After religious education has been provided mem, "'besteht die Aufgabe de, Knabenstufe darin, die VielIall def Dinge und Handlungen in den drei Sprachen HebriUsch, Griechisch und l ateinisch z.u benennen" (8 1). In th e auditorium of Dialectic, it is "die Knaben , die sch on fortgeschrinen sind" who are the ones to in· crease their academic knowledge (84). Ultimately. "was sie [die Frauen] an Bildung erlangt haben, sofern sie begabl sind, pflegen sie sorgfaitig, und zwar nieht so sehr urn des Wissens selbst willen, sondern vieLnehr, urn es eines Tages anderen mitt eilen zu konnen" (125). Andreae, surely aware of the mounting criticism directed at the lack of educational oppom mities for women, creates a society in which the women are content in their trad it ional ro le as the uneduca ted "other ." In ChnstiAnopolu, a woman's desire to learn for t he sake of lea rnin g, simply to acqu ire kn owledge, is not even recognized as feasible. If this desire does not exist as a possibil ity, it follows that the academic edu· calion of women would never become a reality . In Andreae's dystopia, the concerns voiced by writers such as Mary Astell would never be heard, let al one answered, because such expectations are complet ely eradicated from conceiva bil ity. Any attempt to create a utopia recognizes the need to defin e "otherness" in order to fo rm a basis for its existence and a model against which it can interpret itself. But because woman has been and continues to be seen as the "other" in all of western civilization, it also holds true that a utopia is created using the same guidelines as those of the patriarch y which attempts to set woman apan as the "non-ideal. " In essence, a utopia cannOt really include woman as an equal because she is the archetypal "other." Though this theory may be difficult to prove with some feminist texts, Andreae's Christ ianopoJis lends itself as t he perfect paradigm. In comparin g the woman 's position in Christianopolis to her role in earl y- modern Europ~an society, one can moSl easily demonstrate that utopia, for the woman, perperuaUy proves itself a dysto pia. University o/Cincinnati Cbmtianopolis: A Woman's Dystopia? 8; Notes 'The common suppo n of the JahvlSt narrative IS demonstr.ued in Turner as well as in Philips. Works Cited Andreae, Johann Valentin. ChriSllanopoJis. 16 19. T rans. Wolfgang Beisterfeld. Stuttgart; Redam, 1975. ASlel l, Mary. "Serious Proposal 10 the Ladies.~ The Cl/lwral ldelll UY 0/ Seventeenth-Cemllry Woman. Ed. N. H . Keeble. New York: Routledge, 1994.286-87. . Burwell Jennifer. NOleS 0 ' 1 Nowhere: femmlsm, Utopi3 r1 LogIC, and SoC/al 'TraIlS/ormat IO n. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1997. Chudleigh, Mary. ~The Ladies Defense" 71Je C'l/tllral Identity o/SnJen t.eenth-Century Woman. Ed. N. H. Keeble. New York: Routledge, 1994. 28 3-84. Huhon, Olwen. The Prospect Be/ore Her: A HUIOry a/Women In Western Europe. Vol. l. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. Keeble, N.H ., ed. Tht Cultural }dentiCY o/Sevtntetnth.Cenlllry \Voman. New York; Routledge, 199<1 . Philips, John A. Eve: The HIStory 0/ an Idea. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984. Sommerville, Margaret R. Sec and Subj«llOn: Awtluies to Women III Early­ Modem Society. New York; 51. Martin's. 1995. -Triumphs of Female Wil, in some Pindarick Odes." Tht Cultural Jderwty oJSevtnteellr.h-CelUury Woman. Ed. N. H. Keeble. New York: Routledge, 1994. 28 1·83 . T urner, James Grantham. One Fles/}: Paradisal Marriage and Sexual Relat ions in the Age 0/ MIlton. Oxford: Clarendon, 1987.