The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity Constance E. McLeese Kate Cooper. The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996. Pp. xi + 180. $37.50. The meaning of ancient literature and its relationship to history is the fodder of many academic careers. When the literature pertains to women the interpreter faces the added difficulty of assessing how works produced by men influenced historical women’s lives. Kate Cooper proposes a novel theory concerning the meaning and purpose of Christian idealization of female virginity in its literature. She suggests that women functioned as a barometer for judging male moral character. This rhetorical strategy was common to many types of ancient literature. It is found in both the ancient Greek novel and the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. Cooper argues that the purpose of the ancient novel was to “mobilize . . . complicity in desire on behalf of the social order.” In other words the romance stories of the ancient novels were intended to promote the status quo in marriage and the city state. Romantic love is reconciled to the common good. [End Page 465] The Apocryphal Acts borrow types from the ancient novel, but invert the ideology. In this instance the common good is not the stability and fecundity of marriage but the apostle’s moral superiority. Cooper points out that the women such as Thecla recognize this, while their fiancées/husbands representing the status quo do not. Cooper devotes several chapters to the clash of ideologies between the ascetic movement and those who argued for the goodness of marriage. In both cases the common thread is the moral advantage. A virgin in the family added to its moral stature. Furthermore, by taking the veil a woman of low social status could claim a certain equality with even patrician virgins. Marriage, on the other hand, required alternative strategies of interpretation since woman bound in marriage had far less opportunity than virgins to accommodate a chosen religious identity. The Liber ad Gregoriam is an example of these alternative strategies. Marriage becomes a spiritual battle ground not unlike that of the ascetic or the martyr. The wife, through her spiritual superiority, manages to convert her husband. She is not only the instrument of his salvation but the preserver of the ancient Roman notion of concordia within the marriage, and therefore responsible for the preservation of conjugal unity. The implications of Cooper’s analysis for feminist history are as thought provoking as her initial theory. If female representations pertain to the moral stature of the male protagonist can the promotion of female virginity really be viewed as an improvement of women’s status? Cooper suggests that the ascetic movement allowed for shifts between various classes, while the relative status of women was not radically altered. As she points out, female sense of identity was probably more defined by social class than gender identification. Structually the book is divided by literary genres. The various chapters are devoted to particular literary genres and their representations of women. Cooper moves from the ancient Greek novel, to the apocryphal acts, the fourth- and fifth-century works promoting female virginity, the Liber ad Gregoriam and the Gesta. Underpinning her analysis is the continuity between Roman and later Christian rhetorical strategies, thinking patterns and values. Christian literature may modify more ancient forms but it does not alter them beyond recognition. Cooper provides some fascinating research to support her arguments. Her analysis of the Liber ad Gregoriam and her discussion of the Gesta of the Roman martyrs is lively and innovative. For anyone interested in gender issues the book is highly recommended. However the work is not only feminist in orientation. Cooper’s assessment of the Christian ascetic movement in particular invites a broader readership. Constance E. McLeese University of Montreal Copyright © 1997 The Johns Hopkins University Press