How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
Allas! unto the Barbre nacioun
I moste goon, syn that it is youre wille,
But Crist, that start for our savacioun,
So yeve me grace hise heestes to fulfille,—
I, wrecche womman, no fors though I spille!
Wommen are born to thraldom and penance,
And to been under mannes governance. (281-287)
Custance strengthens her assessment of women's position in her society by using her own plight as an example. This is the "thraldom" and "governance" to which she refers. When she says "penance" she could be referring to the Christian theology that says women's subjection to men is penance for Eve's role in the Fall.
Quote #5
O serpent under femynyntee,
Lik to the serpent depe in helle ybounde!
O feyned womman, al that may confounde
Vertue and innocence thurgh thy malice
Is bred in thee, as nest of every vice! (360-364)
The narrator calls the Sultan's mother a "feyned woman" because she is demonstrating traits that conflict with those that, in Custance, he's established as feminine. What are these traits? Well for one thing, the Sultaness does not sit passively by waiting for whatever fate overtakes her. Nope, she attempts to take her destiny into her own hands. Also, the violence she unleashes, and the murder of her own son, are decidedly un-feminine from the narrator's point of view. Which is another way of saying no good.
Quote #6
Wel knowestow to wommen the olde way!
Thou madest Eva brynge us in servage;
Thou wolt fordoon this Cristen mariage.
Thyn instrument, so weylawey the while!
Makestow of wommen, whan thou wolt bigile. (367-371)
Here the narrator links the Sultaness's moral failing to Eve's, saying that the Devil has a long tradition of ensnaring women. He's also saying that women have historically been more susceptible to being the devil's "instrument," perhaps because they are gullible (easily "bigiled"), or perhaps because they are not as smart as men.