Maybe Paglia's quote is bad. A few words in her defense:
Wuornos, if you look into the details of the murders, shot her victims. There is no indication that she tortured them, mutilated them, cannibalized them, took trophies from their bodies, etc. Wuornos was schizophrenic and claimed these men were trying to rape her and she killed them in self defense. Or, if we choose not to believe her, then she was getting revenge on men in general for her life experiences.
In either case, these murders did not contain any element of rape on the part of Wuornos, or desecration of the body, or any other kind of typical behavior of serial killers. Jack the Ripper might be semi-mythological, but he represents a type of man who enjoys hurting his victims, taking them apart, and getting a sexual thrill from the process. This is the classic serial killer profile that Paglia is pointing to as revealing the predatory nature of male genius. The genius is always in pursuit, and the non-serial killer image in Greek myth is that of Apollo pursuing Daphne. According to Paglia, the female psyche is passive, receptive, and solipsistic.
Very interesting! Regarding marriage, Héloïse's writings seem extremely modern.
In the 12th century, she essentially wrote "marriage is just a contract" and "marriage is just legal prostitution." If marriage is just an artificial concept and all that matters are individual, spontaneous emotions, then it make sense to just let these social structures wither away.
"You cannot but be entirely persuaded of this by the extreme unwillingness I showed to marry you: tho' I knew that the name of Wife was honourable in the world, and holy in religion, yet the name of your mistress had greater charms, because it was more free. The bonds of matrimony, however honourable, still bear with them a necessary engagement; and I was very unwilling to be necessitated to love always a man who, perhaps, would not always love me. I despised the name of Wife, that I might live happy with that of Mistress;"
"And if the name of wife appears more sacred and more valid, sweeter to me is ever the word friend, or, if thou be not ashamed, concubine or whore. To wit that the more I humbled myself before thee the fuller grace I might obtain from thee, and so also damage less the fame of thine excellence. And thou thyself wert not wholly unmindful of that kindness in the letter of which I have spoken, written to thy friend for his comfort. Wherein thou hast not disdained to set forth sundry reasons by which I tried to dissuade thee from our marriage, from an ill-starred bed; but wert silent as to many, in which I preferred to love to wedlock, freedom to a bond."
Thank you! It sounds to me less like she is attacking the institution of marriage from a societal / religious standpoint, but that she feels that a form of "courtly love" is more romantic. She feels that marriage is too conventional, and there is something exciting about being in love outside the bounds of marriage.
It's definitely a romantic sentiment, but in practice too, she didn't want to marry Abelard and purposefully gave birth to Astrolabe out of wedlock. Ultimately, she only married Abelard to placate her wrathful uncle.
She makes a strong association between the institution of marriage and bondage. Maybe this was because the church was uncomfortable with philosophers/clerics getting married, and that got in the way of her relationship with Abelard? But regardless, she treats marriage in general as a practical matter that isn't intrinsically tied to love.
There may have been a connection between her sense of intellectual independence and freedom and her aversion to the role of a wife; and as you say, she also wanted to protect Abelard's status as a celibate priest. Maybe things would have been easier if Pope Gregory VII didn't begin attacking clerical marriage in 1074, five years before Abelard was born.
Delightful read
Here’s the female Jack the Ripper:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileen_Wuornos
7 kills? Rookie numbers!
But Jack the Ripper himself only killed five women! Six if Martha Tabram is included.
Maybe Paglia's quote is bad. A few words in her defense:
Wuornos, if you look into the details of the murders, shot her victims. There is no indication that she tortured them, mutilated them, cannibalized them, took trophies from their bodies, etc. Wuornos was schizophrenic and claimed these men were trying to rape her and she killed them in self defense. Or, if we choose not to believe her, then she was getting revenge on men in general for her life experiences.
In either case, these murders did not contain any element of rape on the part of Wuornos, or desecration of the body, or any other kind of typical behavior of serial killers. Jack the Ripper might be semi-mythological, but he represents a type of man who enjoys hurting his victims, taking them apart, and getting a sexual thrill from the process. This is the classic serial killer profile that Paglia is pointing to as revealing the predatory nature of male genius. The genius is always in pursuit, and the non-serial killer image in Greek myth is that of Apollo pursuing Daphne. According to Paglia, the female psyche is passive, receptive, and solipsistic.
Interesting. Thank you.
BTW, interesting that Paglia xirself does not identify as a woman:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia
Very interesting! Regarding marriage, Héloïse's writings seem extremely modern.
In the 12th century, she essentially wrote "marriage is just a contract" and "marriage is just legal prostitution." If marriage is just an artificial concept and all that matters are individual, spontaneous emotions, then it make sense to just let these social structures wither away.
Source?
A few quotes from their letters:
"You cannot but be entirely persuaded of this by the extreme unwillingness I showed to marry you: tho' I knew that the name of Wife was honourable in the world, and holy in religion, yet the name of your mistress had greater charms, because it was more free. The bonds of matrimony, however honourable, still bear with them a necessary engagement; and I was very unwilling to be necessitated to love always a man who, perhaps, would not always love me. I despised the name of Wife, that I might live happy with that of Mistress;"
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Love_Letters_of_Abelard_and_Heloise/Letter_2
"And if the name of wife appears more sacred and more valid, sweeter to me is ever the word friend, or, if thou be not ashamed, concubine or whore. To wit that the more I humbled myself before thee the fuller grace I might obtain from thee, and so also damage less the fame of thine excellence. And thou thyself wert not wholly unmindful of that kindness in the letter of which I have spoken, written to thy friend for his comfort. Wherein thou hast not disdained to set forth sundry reasons by which I tried to dissuade thee from our marriage, from an ill-starred bed; but wert silent as to many, in which I preferred to love to wedlock, freedom to a bond."
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/heloise1.asp#first
Thank you! It sounds to me less like she is attacking the institution of marriage from a societal / religious standpoint, but that she feels that a form of "courtly love" is more romantic. She feels that marriage is too conventional, and there is something exciting about being in love outside the bounds of marriage.
It's definitely a romantic sentiment, but in practice too, she didn't want to marry Abelard and purposefully gave birth to Astrolabe out of wedlock. Ultimately, she only married Abelard to placate her wrathful uncle.
She makes a strong association between the institution of marriage and bondage. Maybe this was because the church was uncomfortable with philosophers/clerics getting married, and that got in the way of her relationship with Abelard? But regardless, she treats marriage in general as a practical matter that isn't intrinsically tied to love.
There may have been a connection between her sense of intellectual independence and freedom and her aversion to the role of a wife; and as you say, she also wanted to protect Abelard's status as a celibate priest. Maybe things would have been easier if Pope Gregory VII didn't begin attacking clerical marriage in 1074, five years before Abelard was born.