Amelia Lanyer

Aemilia Lanyer is considered one of the earliest feminists because she not only defended Eve, but all of womankind as well. In her poem, Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women, Lanyer clearly represents her viewpoint of the fall of Eden and Christ’s crucifixion. Instead of putting the entire blame on Eve, Lanyer defends her by stating that Adam was just as guilty as she was, “Her fault though great, yet he was most to blame/What weakness offered, strength might have refused/Being lord of all, the greater was his shame” (34-36).   If anything, Adam was more responsible for the fall into pain and suffering because he should have been strong enough to resist Eve’s impulse. Although she does acknowledge Eve’s guilt, she noticeably supports her blame of Adam by stating that since it was he who “…from God’s great mouth received that strait command” (43), therefore he should have known better than to disobey God’s commands.   Also, in her defense, Lanyer expresses that “If any evil did in her remain/Being made of him, he was the ground of it all”(65-66), meaning that if Eve had any evil in her whatsoever, it originated from Adam because God made her from Adam’s rib.
It is accurate to regard Aemilia Lanyer as an early feminist because she not only defends Eve and women, but provides evidence that supports her argument. In her poem she says, “You came not in the world without our pain” (83), implying that if Eve had not committed this sin, men would not exist without the consequence of childbirth. Also, in lines 63-64 Lanyer states “Yet men will boast of knowledge, which he took/From Eve’s fair hand, as from a learned book”, meaning all the knowledge that men brag about came from when Adam’s weakness overcame him and took the apple from Eve. Lanyer’s defense of Eve and women is worthy of a feministic view because she clearly believes that women should be treated as equals and Adam should be held accountable as well for the fall of man, “Your fault being greater, why should you...