The Book of the City of Ladies

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Characters

Justice

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Characters Justice

The hard work of building and partially populating the city completed, Justice comes to sanctify the proceedings. She represents herself as the daughter of God, a direct descendant and representative. In this sense, the City of Ladies and Christine’s project are being given a final divine endorsement and blessing. By completing the roofs of the city, Justice symbolically links the community of women directly to the kingdom of Heaven. There is a direct correlation established in conjoining two metaphorical, abstract realms. In addition, Justice’s tales assume a darker, more violent character representing women’s bodies as the target of severe physical abuse and degradation. But the extremity of the aggressor’s actions toward these women is met with retribution that is equally cruel and forbidding. For their sin and idolatry, men are burned to ash and set to consuming their own flesh. Justice represents the darker side of divine love and the unyielding judgment that is meted out to those whose perversions and propensity for sin win out over their capacity for love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Justice’s presence serves as an absolute if not terrifying reminder of the fate awaiting those ruled by their cruelty and misogynistic acts.

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