Biblical models of womanhood: Rebecca and the salvation of the Jewish people

Abstract

The present work deals with the importance of the character of Rebecca. This importance is due to her role as a wife and as the mother of Isaac, Esau and Jacob, respectively. Thus, her biblical function consisted in supporting her husband, obeying him, and bearing him a son to continue his mission as a saviour of the Jewish people. For Christine de Pizan, as well as for La Tour Landry, her main virtue is humbleness, to the point that her husband sees her more as his maid than as his wife. The latter and the anonymous of Le Ménagier de Paris try to justify, with controversial arguments, Rebeccas’s preferences for one of her two sons. Along with these three texts, we will also analyse the role of this female character – as well as the development of her stereotype – from the beginning until becoming an example of virtue rooted in the Medieval society.