Female Dignity in The Knight in the Panther Skin Anonymous College

Studying literature from across the world has many merits, including seeing the vast scope of how people thought about the world around them and what it meant to live and be human. In many of these stories, women tend to get the short end of the stick in one way or another, whether they are seen only as objects for pleasure and procreation or as being more weak-minded and vulnerable than men. Judging by modern standards of feminism, which hold men and women to be equal in dignity and capacity for good, these works of literature fall short of having good, relatable female characters. The Knight in the Panther Skin displays a true feminism in its respect for the female characters throughout by showing them as dignified people with equal capacity for good.

The first woman in the poem is actually the historical figure to whom the work is dedicated: King Tamar. Despite the word "King," she is actually a woman - the ruler of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, her title of "King" shows the reverence she was given by her people (Rustaveli 346). However, though they refer to her in a masculine term of respect, she is seen as no less feminine or less worthy in her femininity. In fact, the poem begins with a prologue in which Rustaveli says that...