In the first stanza, Lanyer begins the poem with an image of women being equal with men and at times even better. She states that Pilate should have listened to his wife when she asked him to spare her savior, Jesus' life. Lanyer is establishing the theme of defending women because she is putting Pilate's wife in a holier and more esteemed position than him. She begged for "her Saviour's life" (8), and yet, Pilate did not take her advice, and opted instead to have nothing to do with it, which was more cowardly than what his wife would have done.

She continues this theme into the next stanzas using the fall of Adam and Eve to defend women. Lanyer plays on the age-old idea; men are stronger and superior to women. Therefore, if women are weak, she argues it is in fact men who are more at fault for the fall of humankind because it should have been expected for women to succumb to the power of temptation. Adam's acceptance of the fruit is inexcusable because he is supposedly stronger than Eve and should have been

Lanyer chooses to end the poem with a previously used example of Pilate's wife. She also compares the story of Adam and Eve to that of Pilate and his wife. She again says that it is the man at fault in this situation, who deserves more suffering for putting Jesus to death than women deserve for accepting the forbidden fruit. Lanyer declares that Pilate will be a "reprobate with Saul" (94) because he put Jesus to death when he had the power to save Jesus' life.

Throughout "Eve's Apology in Defense of Women" Lanyer continually keeps an ironic tone while telling her tale of why women should be considered equal to their male counterparts. She suggests that because Adam is a man, thus "stronger" than Eve, he should be held responsible for eating the forbidden fruit rather than the weaker Eve. Furthermore, she thinks that Pilate's condemnation of Jesus is another reason why women should certainly be equal with men. Pilate's wife begged him to save Jesus' life, but he neglected to take her advice. Because Pilate sentenced Jesus to death despite the pleas of his holy wife, men should not look down upon women as lesser and weaker than themselves. Lanyer effectively proves that women deserve an equal status with men. She also successfully makes the point that the reason that men have always been condescending to women is illegitimate because men are actually more at fault for the fall of humankind and for the condemnation of Jesus. Lanyer confidently makes her point of female inequality and female injustice through the use of these examples and her continued use of irony in her st

Some common words found in the essay are:
Adam Eve, Jesus Christ, Defense Women, Furthermore Pilate's, Eve Pilate, Women Lanyer, Jesus Lanyer, Aemilia Lanyer, women weak, jesus death, women equal, fall humankind, fault fall, condemnation jesus, adam eve, jesus' life, pilate's wife, Apology Defense, Eve's Apology, save jesus' life, pain mothers, fault fall humankind, pilate's condemnation jesus, eve's apology defense, apology defense women,
Approximate Word count = 1073
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)