The legal fragmentation that dominated the states of the Italian peninsula in the eighteenth century allowed only limited female self-determination: matrimonial and family law remained firmly in the hands of the Church, shaped by the Tridentine conception of marriage as a sacrament and by patriarchal norms that largely excluded women from legal agency. Women were subject to male guardianship—first that of the father and later that of the husband—and their capacity to act was severely restricted, both in matters of inheritance and marriage. Succession law also structurally disadvantaged them: in many regions, such as the Papal States or Venice, daughters at most enjoyed limited rights of use or were excluded through testamentary provisions. Even where reformist impulses began to emerge, for example in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany under Pietro Leopoldo, the concrete improvements in women’s legal status remained marginal and largely symbolic. Within this historical context, the freedom of action and decision-making capacity that Goldoni attributes to his female characters, such as Corallina and Mirandolina, appear as a deliberate literary antithesis to social reality. The fact that both protagonists do not accept marriage as the result of a male-imposed arrangement but instead choose it as a strategic and self-determined act represents a gesture of subversion in a system in which marriages were essentially regulated by family interests, dowry logic, and confessional control. Their symbolic “dowries”—moral recognition for Corallina and economic independence for Mirandolina—replace the formal legal instrument with a literary concept of female autonomy. Goldoni thus uses the stage not only to reflect on the limits imposed on women’s condition by the law of his time, but also to consciously transcend them: his protagonists act in the theatrical space in ways that women, within the legal context of their era, were not authorized to do—namely, autonomously, consciously, and with self-determination.
Emancipazione attraverso la letteratura. L’immagine della donna nelle opere “La serva amorosa” (1752) e “La locandiera” (1753) di Carlo Goldoni / Polixeni Georgiadou. - (2025).
Emancipazione attraverso la letteratura. L’immagine della donna nelle opere “La serva amorosa” (1752) e “La locandiera” (1753) di Carlo Goldoni
Polixeni Georgiadou
2025
Abstract
The legal fragmentation that dominated the states of the Italian peninsula in the eighteenth century allowed only limited female self-determination: matrimonial and family law remained firmly in the hands of the Church, shaped by the Tridentine conception of marriage as a sacrament and by patriarchal norms that largely excluded women from legal agency. Women were subject to male guardianship—first that of the father and later that of the husband—and their capacity to act was severely restricted, both in matters of inheritance and marriage. Succession law also structurally disadvantaged them: in many regions, such as the Papal States or Venice, daughters at most enjoyed limited rights of use or were excluded through testamentary provisions. Even where reformist impulses began to emerge, for example in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany under Pietro Leopoldo, the concrete improvements in women’s legal status remained marginal and largely symbolic. Within this historical context, the freedom of action and decision-making capacity that Goldoni attributes to his female characters, such as Corallina and Mirandolina, appear as a deliberate literary antithesis to social reality. The fact that both protagonists do not accept marriage as the result of a male-imposed arrangement but instead choose it as a strategic and self-determined act represents a gesture of subversion in a system in which marriages were essentially regulated by family interests, dowry logic, and confessional control. Their symbolic “dowries”—moral recognition for Corallina and economic independence for Mirandolina—replace the formal legal instrument with a literary concept of female autonomy. Goldoni thus uses the stage not only to reflect on the limits imposed on women’s condition by the law of his time, but also to consciously transcend them: his protagonists act in the theatrical space in ways that women, within the legal context of their era, were not authorized to do—namely, autonomously, consciously, and with self-determination.
| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Publikation_Georgiadou-Hermann.pdf
accesso aperto
Descrizione: La frammentazione giuridica che dominava gli Stati della penisola italiana nel XVIII secolo consentiva solo in misura limitata l’autodeterminazione femminile: il diritto matrimoniale e familiare rimaneva saldamente nelle mani della Chiesa, segnato dalla concezione tridentina del sacramento e da norme patriarcali che escludevano in larga parte le donne dalla titolarità giuridica. Le donne erano sottoposte alla tutela maschile, prima del padre, poi del marito, e la loro capacità d’azione risultava fortemente limitata, sia in ambito ereditario sia in materia matrimoniale. Anche il diritto successorio le penalizzava strutturalmente: in molte regioni, come lo Stato della Chiesa o Venezia, le figlie godevano al massimo di diritti d’uso limitati o venivano escluse tramite disposizioni testamentarie. Anche laddove cominciavano ad emergere impulsi riformatori, ad esempio nel Granducato di Toscana sotto Pietro Leopoldo, i miglioramenti concreti della condizione giuridica femminile restavano marginali e soprattutto simbolici. In tale contesto storico, la libertà d’azione e la capacità decisionale che Goldoni attribuisce ai suoi personaggi femminili, come Corallina e Mirandolina, si configurano come una deliberata anti-tesi letteraria nei confronti della realtà sociale. Il fatto che entrambe le protagoniste non accettino il matrimonio come risultato di una disposizione maschile, ma lo scelgano invece come atto strategico e autodeterminato, rappresenta un gesto di sovversione rispetto a un sistema in cui le nozze erano regolate essenzialmente da interessi familiari, logiche di dote e controllo confessionale. Le loro doti simboliche, ovvero il riconoscimento morale per Corallina e l’indipendenza economica per Mirandolina, sostituiscono lo strumento giuridico formale con un concetto letterario di autonomia femminile. Goldoni utilizza così il palcoscenico non solo per riflettere sui limiti imposti alla condizione femminile dal diritto del tempo, ma anche per oltrepassarli consapevolmente: le sue protagoniste agiscono nello spazio teatrale come le donne, nel contesto giuridico della loro epoca, non erano autorizzate a fare, cioè in modo autonomo, consapevole e autodeterminato.
Tipologia:
Pdf editoriale (Version of record)
Licenza:
Open Access
Dimensione
2.32 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
2.32 MB | Adobe PDF |
I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
