Another Perspective: Responding to Abelard and Heloise

In a response to the Abelard and Heloise article, Patricia Hamill writes: "I wanted to write to you regarding your comment that this is 'one of the greatest love stories of all time.' I think this is a misleading statement and grievous misrepresentation of their history."

Hamill further writes: "Two people in a relationship, tragic or triumphant, does not make a love story. A close reading of these letters and the political and religious climate in which they lived, tells us that, although they had been in a relationship that even produced a child, their story is more about patriarchal prerogatives of the time and the victimization and marginalization of women, rather than two lovers torn apart. Abelard was willing to shun her. She spent her years chiding him in her letters for his faults. Her successes as an abbess were conducted under duress, not in willing servitude. It is a tragic relationship, but it is not a love story. I think their letters should be read to supplement studies in the history of patriarchy, given a feminist reading as well, and included in studies of the history of religion, rather than being headlined as a romance where the substance of this woman and the utter self absorption of the scholar are overlooked in favor of a sigh."



This response was written by Patricia Hamill, Assistant Editorial Coordinator, Educational Testing Services. This response is reprinted, with permission from Patricia Hamill.

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