Beauty seems to play a large role in what 'makes' a woman. In The Book of the Courtier, the importance of a woman's looks is brought up on many occasions. Most notably is Magnificio Giuliano's comment "...for truly that a woman lacks much who lacks beauty (3.4)". A statement that bold shows that a woman's worth theoretically can be determined in one glance. For an ugly woman could not possibly have anything to offer. The Old Arcadia refers countless times to the beauty of the princesses. The story itself is based on two princesses so beautiful; their looks inspired two princes to dress below their station to be near them. It is all because they are in love with the physical attributes of the women.

The king in The Old Arcadia falls in love with the Amazon, who is actually a man. It was not u

Even in The Old Arcadia, a prince takes this virtue away from the one he loves (Sydney p 205). He knew that death could be a result of her infidelity, but he pursued her anyway (Sydney p 251). In the end he feels guilty enough to try to kill himself, leaving Philoclea to try to defend her actions all by herself.

Another confusing part of what men think that makes a woman perfect is giving her the ability to tell the difference between the truths and lies than men may tell her (Castiglione p 190). In The Old Arcadia, there is a beautiful passage in which Dorus is describing the beauty of Princess Pamela. Reading the passage could make one think that he truly loves her. With further reading, and with the help of a footnote, the reader is told that if the villains did not arrive, Dorus would have raped Princess Pamela. This seeming upright person also uses deception to get what he wants including feigning love for Mopsa.

It is also confusing that with such a great importance placed on being beautiful, they constantly refer to beautiful women being cruel. Beauty is at the top of the list, but beauty leads to pride, and pride leads to cruelty (Castiglione p 247). Messer Federico also stated "...for women's beauty is often the cause of countless evils, hatreds, wars, deaths, and destructions in the world" (Castiglione p 247). It makes sense then to think that all of the leading ladies should not be beautiful, because then they would be wicked. With this kind of thinking it would make more sense for a man to want an ugly woman because she should not be cruel. Why put up with getting hurt, just to look at an attractive woman?

Some of the thoughts of these men against women are very confusing. Today there are a few men supporters, who realize that they would not be here without women. In The Book of the Courtier, Magnificia Guiliano is an example of one of those men. He seems to be greatly appreciative of women, and shows this by defending women's' honour against the opinions of Signor Garparo. Magnifico Guiliano makes comments like "...women have often corrected many of the errors of men (Castiglione 3.31)", and he argues a philosophy proposal, that " ...those weak in body are able in mind, [Therefore] women being weaker in body, are abler in mind (Castiglione p3.13)". He sounds like he is a strong supporter of woman, and could not possibly be one of the many people oppressing women in his time. Unfortunately, he is the same man who said "that a woman lacks much who lacks beauty (Castiglione 3.4)". It is hard to take his defences seriously when he can have an opinion that shallow, but argue that women are just as capable of doing everything men do. Is he talking only about beautiful women, or every woman in general?

Another issue that is still just as prevalent today is th

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mopsa Gaparo, Apollo Dorus, Magnifico Guiliano, Magnificio Giuliano's, Messer Federico, Dametas Sydney, Cleophila Miso's, Messer Frederico, Sydney's Arcadia, Messer Cesare, book courtier, beautiful women, perfect woman, truths lies tell, castiglione 247, woman lacks, lacks beauty, lacks lacks, jealousy envy, woman falls, beautiful women cruel, woman lacks lacks, lacks lacks beauty, fourteenth century,
Approximate Word count = 1885
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)