Dangerous Beauty: Gender and Social Structure

By Karen Sternheimer

I recently had the pleasure of seeing Dangerous Beauty, a musical based on the book The Honest Courtesan: Veronica Franco, Citizen and Writer in Sixteenth Century Venice (there was also a film version of the book released in 1998). I hadn’t read the book before seeing the play, and knew very little about courtesans, other than thinking that the name was a fancy word for a high-end prostitute of the past.

At its core, the play is a love story between a senator’s son and a young woman of modest means in sixteenth century Venice. Her father had died and the family fortune had disappeared, so she had no dowry to offer in marriage. With few other choices outside of marriage, her mother encouraged her to take up her own former profession and become a courtesan.

Without knowing more about the social structure of sixteenth century Venice, it is tempting to react from a twenty-first century place of judgment: who would encourage her daughter to sell her body? Both the play and the book help us answer this question and offer us a better understanding of the context of gender during that place and time.

Veronica Franco was a poet living during the Counter Reformation, a time when the Catholic Church sought to regain dominance after the Protestant Reformation. Women in sixteenth century Venice would likely receive little education, no matter how wealthy their family. Families often arranged marriages for political expediency or to consolidate wealth, and women were expected to be subservient to their husbands—many of whom were practically strangers by contemporary western standards.

For women from families without wealth, power, or prestige, marriage could be difficult to arrange. But becoming a courtesan was more than just a way to make money. As we learn in the play, courtesans were allowed to be educated and to enter libraries, unlike their married counterparts.

Just as Franco was a poet, many courtesans were artists, musicians, and writers. They could essentially live independently and have careers of their own despite tight restrictions on women’s lives during the time. As in the play, courtesans often knew as much about politics world affairs as the powerful men they served, and were valued for their wit and knowledge as well as for their sexual services.

Of course it is important not to glamorize courtesans. In a poignant moment in the play a woman of means asks if Franco would teach her daughter to be a courtesan so that she might have more freedom someday. Franco responds that although she appears to be free, she too is confined, although her cage might be a bit bigger.

Courtesans—just like other women living independently throughout history—were likely to be accused of witchcraft during periods of heightened social control. Franco herself was arrested during the Inquisition. (I won’t spoil the ending in case you see the play someday too).

After the play, I attended a small gathering that included the author of The Honest Courtesan, Margaret F. Rosenthal, professor of Italian at the University of Southern California. Along with other faculty members and students, we talked about her research on Franco’s life and the lives of women during sixteenth century Venice. Despite the tendency to look back and think that people just accepted—or even embraced—the proscribed roles of women in the past, she noted how many women like Franco resisted as best they could.

Franco had published her poetry, no small feat for any writer at the time. Here are a few lines of one of her poems, translated from Italian:

“When we women, too, have weapons and training,
we will be able to prove to all men
that we have hands and feet and hearts like yours.”
(capitolo 16, lines 64-66)

The group toasted Veronica Franco, and the freedom to be educated women in western societies enjoy today. I thought about what my life might have been like had I lived in that place and time, and I thought about other parts of the world that today are not that different than Venice was in the sixteenth century—where girls and women receive little education and often have few options to support themselves financially.

Comments

[Behrouz]

Even more tragic is the life of the women of my country -iran. There are a lot of highly educated women with modern ideas who are obliged to suffer the religious-traditional situation of the society.

[Mallorie]

Even though the lady in the play did sell her body to get more freedoms than most sixteenth century women, she did it to conform to the society of that time period. Every woman did not have the freedoms we have today that those women yearned for back then which in turn made them feel like they needed to sell their bodies.

[firephoenix456]

Interesting how roles shift like that over time. I'm glad many women resented their roles because only by challenging assigned roles can one overcome the many negative obligations the role carries with it

[morgan]

Interesting how a role like that was a way for women to escape back then, unlike now how it is a way to get sucked into a lifestyle just so you can survive. I like how women weren't afraid to do what they had to do to be who they wanted to be. I would like to see how a women like that from that time period and and women today would react to eachother.

[Adrienne Watts]

Being a women who thinks it is a man's world, I really support and appreciate what all the women before me did so i could have as many rights as I do now. its shocking to me as well that her mother proposed that she become a courtesan, and sell her body. In modern times, being a even a "high-end" prostitute is completely frowned upon. Seeing how different the social structure was is quite shocking, and it is vital information to asses certain events in history.

[mexican]

It's fascinating how roles change over time. I'm glad women rebeled against society and resented their roles because only by demanding changes can one overcome the negative obligations that past roles present.

[ben]

This is a really interesting story. I will have to go to this when or if it comes in the nearest city. But we are learning about different social levels in my sociology class. And being a prostitute is definitely a low level that women might be put in. this shows another gender level because it is showing that women can't do anything.

[gerson de lao]

these is a really good story. what surprise me was that fact that the lady had to sell her body to have some freedom she basically did it just for the society at that time period. they did not had no freedom like we do now.

[Danielle]

First of all, I enjoyed reading this post. It is extremely interesting, and the writing style is very fluent. As for the content, I think this idea sparks something in the core of my imagination. It's hard to believe that a women would voluntarily choose prostitution as a career choice, however, that comes from today's societal belief that prostitution is unethical. I find Veronica Franco to have been a very strong woman in her days--I'm not sure if she enjoyed being a "courtesan", but I believe that it was something she decided to suffer through in order to gain an intellectual, and educated mentality. In the end, woman (in practically any society) will do nearly anything to be accept and to gain an equal position compared to men.

[Lynnea Laessig]

It is miraculous that women have made such sociological changes regarding gender. Many important historical events became possible because of the female rebels throughout the past.

[Lauren Hurlburt]

Dangerous Beauty: Gender and Social Structure:

History never fails to amaze me! This play seems to be very interesting, it's crazy to think that woman didn't have as many rights as men back then...I feel proud to be a woman to see how woman have fought for equality and respect through out the years. It is shocking that gender roles have dramatically changed over time, and I think this story is a perfect example.

[Sarah Hadaway]

Dear Author,
In my sociology class we have been learning about different roles that gender plays in society and how society has changed within centuries, or even from country to country.
There was one instance during our study of this chapter that we learned about a man who traveled to an African tribe. He noticed the difference between their culture and the American culture (this is kind of in relation to the young women in the play's mom and her wanting to sell her daughters body, while our current century would find that totally absurd).
In his story he encountered a dying mother who only wanted to see her son in her death but he refused, it was just their culture.
Thanks for posting another good example between different roles within different times and societies.

[Aditya Voruganti]

I think it is interesting how social structures can change so easily for someone when they get a job. Even today it can be seen when someone starts a career in a professional field, they are automatically seen as a "higher class" than they were before they started their job. As for this article, it is even more amazing that a woman was able to jump so such a higher class with a job change, especially during a time were women had no rights and were seen as a lesser being than men.

[Stephanie]

It’s amazing how the times have changed. Although those women were prostitutes, they still had it better than a lot of women did freedom wise. How is it that someone like that could pretty much do as they please with their education, but the women who were getting married couldn’t be as educated too? It’s a very interesting subject. I think I may read this book.

[Lauren]

We are so fortunate now in the U.S.to have so many opportunites as women in the world. It's crazy to think how limited women such as Veronica were during this time in history. It was insprirational to me to read that even though Veronica was in such a position she was compelled to be creative though poetry. Through knowledge she gained power and perhaps didn't lose her self-worth entirely.

[Trisha]

I think you showed us how many centuries ago women were unuequal to men and still to this day we still have limitations. This shows that we still need to work for all our freedoms. We may have all the freedoms but what about other countries? We are all women and need to stick together. Thank you for showing me some of the history of the struggle of women .

[Caleb]

It is interesting to see even back centuries ago women were fighting to receive an education and equal rights. Even though selling their bodies may not seem as appealing to us today, the fact is they had little else to offer. Women such as Veronica, is an inspiration to all for the constant struggles we face each day for equal rights in every aspect of society. It was people like Veronica that helped change the way women are treated around the world.

[Taylor]

I think that the courtesans were just conforming to the norms of the time. They were not doing anything wrong even though today's standards are different. This story shows how much progress womens rights have made to this day, and hope that we can further progress.

[Bekah]

I feel like people in that time period were willing to do those things for education and equal rights. Most women didn't want to do those things which is somewhat how it is now. The women who are out there being prositutes probably would rather being working in a good job and not having to sell their bodies. I think that it is amazing how far women's rights have come, and that now we don't have to go to those standards to become educated and free.

[Adina]

I'm so glad that women now have rights and don't need to sell themselves to gain their family higher status and such. I think it's amazing that this women wrote poems about what it would be like when women are equal. I hope that us women have shown men that we can be equal to them now that we have the opportunity to show them.

[Gwen]

This was a very interesting post and I enjoyed reading it. The story of Veronica Franco is one that reminds women in America today how fortunate they are to have so many freedoms and rights. I found Veronica’s desire for freedom to be very inspirational. Thank you for sharing this!

[Marie]

This is probably one of the most educational posts I've read so far on here! I had no idea that's what it was like for woman back then as far as their education and decisions go! The gender rules back then are so much different. Yes, thank you for sharing this!

[Magdalene Mwangi]

Quite educational, thanks for sharing.