Re-writing Giacomo Casanova: Libertine or Proto-Femist ?
Whilst writing a book on medical practice in the 18th century, using Casanova’s extensive memoirs as primary source material, I was struck at how his behaviour and attitudes towards women were at variance with the stereotypical image of him. Thanks to numerous TV serials and films dating back to the early 19th century, in which he was portrayed as a feckless womaniser his very name now means a ‘promiscuous and unscrupulous lover’. Fellini even demonised him by filing Donald Sutherland’s teeth when he played the role. I think it is time to rewrite his image.
Casanova, the Intellectual
Casanova was a prolific writer of scholarly texts that include forty-two books and plays, philosophical and satirical treatises, operatic libretti, poetry, writings on canon law, geometry and calendars, a translation of Homer’s Iliad to Venetian and Tuscan and five volumes of a science fiction novel. Apart from Latin and Greek he was proficient in French to the extent that he wrote his Memoirs in the language and knew some Russian, German and English. Count Max de Lamberg described him as ‘ a man of letters, a man of profound knowledge’ and continued a correspondence with him for 25 years. The Prince of Ligne wrote that ‘ Casanova has a mind without an equal, from which each word is extraordinary and each thought a book’.
In more recent years many of Casanova’s essays and dialogues have come to light and have been edited in their original languages. As a result scholars like Fredericho Di Trocchio have researched Casanova’s philosophy and how it stood in relation to the French Enlightenment. Essentially he was man of his times. Like many other intellectuals he believed in an Epicurean philosophy where virtue and happiness are tied to sensual pleasure. Despite all his doubts about the existence of an immortal soul he was a believer in God. His God was a benevolent being who had given man the potential for pleasure in order to make use of it:
‘God can only demand from His creatures the practice of virtues the seed of which He has sown in their soul, and all He has given unto us has been intended for our happiness’. (1797 Preface, History of my life).
Casanova believed that to deny one’s quest for sensual pleasure and happiness was against Nature and God. This attitude underpinned the libertinism seen in eighteenth-century France, and in some individuals went to extremes, notoriously in the case of the Marquis de Sade. But as I will argue below, Casanova was not of that extreme egoistical ilk. On the contrary, he writes:
‘… he enjoys himself with the object of his love only when he is certain that she will share his enjoyment’. (1797 Preface, History of my life)
Libertine?
In the 18th century a libertine was defined as a person, usually male, who embraced not only a sexually unrestrained life, indifferent to causing harm to others but also a freer and less respectful attitude towards politics and religion. Although Casanova was relentlessly anti-clerical and enjoyed an active sexual life, he drew the line at harming his lovers.
Casanova desisted from sex or took precautions when he knew he was infected. He used the ‘Letters’ (condoms) as primarily a contraceptive, rather than to protect himself, even though some of his lovers considered them undignified and risible. He looked after women who were in difficult circumstances such as Charlotte Lamont whose lover had abandoned her in a pregnant state. Sadly she died of puerperal fever leaving Casanova distraught. He even offered to look after the baby. He risked his own reputation to help an old friend, who had become pregnant by someone else, to secretly procure an abortion, an illegal act. He was quick to defend wronged and naïve women such as Betty, seduced and abandoned by a Frenchman. He looks after her and facilitates her reconciliation with her husband. On another occasion he protects a young woman fleeing her incestuous father who has just wounded her fiancé. During his own amorous relationships he remained faithful and took care that his lover enjoyed the sexual act as much as he did. When an affair was concluded he did his best to ensure his ex-mistresses were settled with a husband and/or a financial means. And finally, he deplored coercive sex. When he resorted to violence in the case of the courtesan La Charpillon, who had teased, frustrated and cuckolded him, he was so remorseful that laden with lead balls in his pockets, he went to Westminster bridge with the intent of killing himself.
Casanova wanted his lovers to love him and to be happy. During a liaison he did all he could to achieve this through showering them with sumptuous clothes or arranging delightful surprises. It might be argued that he used his power to achieve his ends. However he did not abuse that power. Had he done so then a past mistress would not have said: ‘My dear and tender friend, I owe you all my good fortune and peace of mind’. Nor would one of his greatest loves have declared him as ‘the most honourable man I have known in this world’.
The appellation of libertine sits poorly on someone who claimed disgust at an English Captain who no longer bothered to treat his venereal diseases, thereby infecting his lovers. Or who recoiled from an aristocrat’s orgy in Rome saying he had never seen such excesses, vowing never to return. And similarly condemned ‘the shameful excesses’ of a fourteen year old boy whom he had paid to have cured of venereal disease even though the boy’s mother had given up trying.
Proto -Feminist?
A proto -feminist is a person who respected women and endorsed or anticipated personal and social equality.
Casanova often revealed his respect for women, especially those who were intelligent and curious. Although of course entranced by beauty, ‘the surface is always the first to interest” he was impressed by intellect.
‘The man who confines himself to superficial charms, is superficial himself…’and ‘… it has always been my opinion that mere beauty does not go for much…’.
On being introduced to two sisters at a meeting of literati in Siena he comments how ugly the elder sister seemed until she read some of her poetry when ‘…all her plainness vanished..’ . As he grew older the more attached he became ‘to the intellectual charms of women’. However, he lamented how little education women received. Whilst trying to direct a play with the high society ladies of Trieste, frustration overcomes him, as they seem to be unable to learn by heart their lines: ‘It is a well known fact that the revolution which is really wanted in Italy is in female education.’ He goes onto describe how the best families shut up their daughters in convents where they learn ‘many useless accomplishments.. no history, no geography or mythology, hardly any mathematics, and nothing to make a girl a good wife and a good mother’. In his eyes, the commonly held belief that an educated woman was not marriageable was nonsense. Just as it was nonsense that women were ruled by an ‘active womb’. Perhaps it is not entirely surprising then that on meeting the daughter of a minor and impoverished aristocrat he gifts her with a library on realising how hungry she is for good reading material. Yes, he is attracted to her too.
Comments
. This is not to say that Casanova was an angel. Nor would his behaviour meet the moral standards of today. But it is a mistake to judge from a temporal distance of over 250 years. In order to evaluate fairly we have to put him in his social context. Casanova lived during the height of the Enlightenment and subscribed to the ideals of his era such as individualism, the power of Reason, the pursuit of happiness, personal liberty and sexual license. His life is full of episodes that reflect these beliefs. We know about them because he chose to write with candour about both his amorous encounters and his other escapades. And the reason he did so was due to the advice of his physician who thought the distraction would control his depression. When he wrote the Memoirs he was living on the generosity of Count Waldstein who had appointed him as his librarian at his castle in Dux.
Although even Casanova refers to himself on a few occasions as a libertine, his libertinism is more refined and restrained than that of some of his well-known contemporaries. He displays no misogyny or wish to exploit women. He respects female intelligence and sees women as his equal. He deplores unbridled, predatory sexual seeking for self-gratification.
Casanova was a proto feminist. He may have shared some characteristics of contemporary libertines but his love and respect for women made him condemn those who abused them. His respect for them was one reason he could never bring himself to marry although he deluded himself into thinking this was the course he wanted to follow on a few occasions. At heart, he knew he was not the marrying type and that taking his marriage vows would disrespect both the institution and the woman.
As a product of 1970s’ feminism my views may seem surprising and especially unwelcome in the context of the Me Too movement. However I think it is time for a rational, balanced re-evaluation of this complex man.
