Sor Juana

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the depiction of Sor Juana this week in class in I, the Worst of All. Visualizing the time period can be difficult, so seeing someone’s take via film was quite interesting. Mostly due to my upbringing in the 21st century, I can have a biased viewpoint when discussing the women, in particular, during past times. When I say biased I mean that I always can’t imagine how women just accepted their roles in society without the options as most men did, but then again, I need to work on my historical viewpoint. Regardless, Sor Juana seemed to represent the “feminist” woman of the time, whether she meant to or not, by stepping outside the norm as much as possible with her love of knowledge and intelligence. Yes, she was a part of the church, one of the few choices women had in life during this time, the other being marriage, but even so , she utilized this position to her advantage. Clearly, the church was a place where women could get an education, and I would have to imagine I would have chosen the life of a nun if born during such times, as well. 

I found it difficult to accept that Sor Juana was such a threat to the church. I understand that her love of learning meant discussing theology possibly considered heretical to the church, but then again, I cannot imagine that men in other monasteries were not engaging in the same type of reading. It seems that Sor Juana in particular was just dealing with an Archbishop who was in particular not fond of women in general. Were they threatening to him?

It does seem that Sor Juana was a poineer for women’s rights although she probably had no intention of calling it that. It was very interesting to see nuns portrayed in more actual behavior as opposed to the idealized notions I think we tend to hear/read more about. They did have passions and feelings!

In regards to sexuality, there was definitely a portrayel of sexual tension between Sor Juana and the Vicereine. It seemed that the Vicereine, as portrayed in the film, had more intention than just a friendship with Sor Juana. Overall, though, I thought this depiction was a nice reflection of Sor Juana and her contributions to gaining equal status under such a patriarchical system.