The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 61

es of Quattrocento Venice:
arola’s Humanist Career
7
for centuries. However, Isotta quickly
defended Eve, saying that “Adam must
be judged more guilty than Eve because
God commanded him not to eat the
fruit, and he, in greater attempt, broke
this command.” 66 In other words, according
to the story in Genesis, God
created man to be perfect and rational;
therefore, Adam was the guiltiest. Conversely,
Ludovico countered that Eve
was the guiltiest because of her pride.
Throughout the dialogue, however,
Isotta interwove the traditional gender
polarity texts of Aristotle with classical
text references and scriptural texts to
prove that man was guiltier of original
sin, due to his moral inferiority. 67 Isotta
successfully used centuries of Aristotelian
theories against Ludovico and won
the debate. 68 Although that was controversial
to conclude in the quattrocento,
Isotta was not criticized or condemned
for it. She earned praise and recognition
as a learned lady by Venetian and
Veronese societies and was even called
a saint by Ermolao Barbaro. 69 The Dialogue
on Adam and Eve was arguably
Isotta’s best and most important literary
work, as it challenged her culture’s misogyny.
Despite the praise and admiration,
Isotta was unhappy. She had to
sacrifice bodily comforts and live in
isolation, prove that she had conformed
to the Aristotelian gender ideals of her
society, and prove that she was chaste
and wholly devoted to God in order to
be a learned lady and humanist scholar.
King alleges that it was plausible that
Isotta was chronically ill and suffered
from “pains in the stomach and body”
as she succumbed to the prejudices of