Women's Roles

[Waragu Samuel]

The way the author has apportioned roles to different female characters is quite OK. I feel that there is a good balance. There is no unrealistic overdoing.

[Dusamae]

I loved the way the author portrayed the women as strong and independent. I do think the Celtic system promoted gender equality given that Catrin was a great warrior and so was her sister Vala.

According to Queen Rhiannon, there is a big difference between the Celtics and Romans in how they see women. She said the Roman father has complete control over his family – wife, children, and slaves.

[Sharill Rasowo]

I found the portrayal of women in these two societies interesting. However, I had to remind myself that this was more fiction than history so I read it with a pinch of salt. I would be curious to find out what research the author did for these particular portrayals.

[Kgaelsdottir]

Is there any difference between the way Celts and Romans saw women and their roles?
Was the Celtic system genuinely promoting gender equality or not?

There is definitely a difference; on a pragmatic level Celts (like many northern Europeans, where the standard of living was more rural, harder in terms of actual natural environment, etc., than in Rome) had to have a greater respect for the strength of women, because actual physical necessity demanded it. The physical effort and labor necessary for survival demanded a more robust system of equality. The spirituality of the Celts, like the Vikings, also favored this greater role, as Rome was more urbane, and less dependent upon Nature to be kind than in the harsher physical environment of much of northern Europe at the time. The Romans considered these areas "barbaric"--but ironically, they were actually more equal--in terms of leadership, spirituality, and even in war, where women went to war alongside their husbands or families. In Rome, a woman's power came from her family position and her "political" role via the power of her husband, and in manipulation of forces around her. But she was at the mercy of her husband, or if not married, her father. Her power was secondary, still, legally, and not equal.

[420waystoreachthesun]

I was quite ambivalent about the projection of women's roles. I always feel that something is left out in the translation of this in any book, for no fault of the writer.

[gfowle]

I think that one of the strengths of this book is that it does not try to paint either the Celts or the Romans as one-dimensional. While it does portray the reality that Roman culture placed less value than Celtic culture on the role of women within political society, there are characters from both groups that defy the norm. (Marcellus and Amren both come to mind as examples of men who do not hold to the main view about women's roles.)

[CommMayo]

Can anyone give really specific examples of when Catrin demonstrated any serious level of strength? I think that she was a rather week personality who let life happen to her.

[HRichards]

Considering this was fiction, I didn't put a lot of stock in the role portrayal. Yes, Celts tended to be a bit more freehanded with women's roles, but so were a lot of Northern tribes and the Norse. I often felt Marcellus's father was over the top in his misogyny, mainly because in negotiations, his attitude towards a queen was not only bad for negotiations, but foolhardy. Granted that type of behavior wasn't completely without precedent, look at the situation with Boadicea, but wandering into enemy territory and insulting them while you're outnumbered just seems ridiculous.

[Katherine Smith]

I liked the promotion of strong female leads considering the time period that this novel was set in. I think that when we look back we see things as being not as gender equal, but for the Celts that is being gender equal. I think that the strengthening of political alliances through forced marriage was a way to keep their tribes together against invasion. I agree that we are about as far as the Celts which is sad, to say the least.

[KRay93]

This novel left me with a certain feeling that the Celtic women had more participation and power than the Romans (always within the fictional world). Now, to speak of gender equity at the time of the novel seems a bit off for quite obvious sociocultural reasons. As for their roles, they all fall within typical stereotypes of classic/medieval fantasy novels (this is not necessarily a bad thing), although I did like Agrona's development as a seemly neutral adviser, then revealed to be an evil manipulative sorcerer. Also, although Catrin looks strong at first, she turns out to be quite fragile when it comes to love and Marcellus...

[K Geisinger]

I think there was more equality amongst the Celts than the was with the Romans but I certainly wouldn’t split it 50/50. Having said that, I don’t think we are any further ahead today than the Celts were all those years ago.

There has never been a truer statement than this! I do think we are still really far off, especially since nowadays the obstacles are generally not tangible.

We are far off from true equality but I think saying we are no further is an exaggeration. Forced marriage is not commonplace and society would be appalled by the idea that someone needed to wed a different tribe to avoid war. In this story's version of history, I don't know any modern woman who would want to change how she was treated to Catrin's life.

[K Geisinger]

I found the portrayal of women in these two societies interesting. However, I had to remind myself that this was more fiction than history so I read it with a pinch of salt. I would be curious to find out what research the author did for these particular portrayals.

A large pinch of salt. It's a fiction story for a reason. Additionally the roles of men are very different. Marcellus has significantly less autonomy than Cynwrig and his father controls his entire life.

[BookDragon100]

I loved the strong women characters in the book. I especially liked that for Catrin's people woman were considered equal to men. It was obvious that the Roman's didn't share their views, so the equality wasn't everywhere. However, to see it somewhere was nice.

[CommMayo]

I loved the strong women characters in the book. I especially liked that for Catrin's people woman were considered equal to men. It was obvious that the Roman's didn't share their views, so the equality wasn't everywhere. However, to see it somewhere was nice.

Can you give any examples of Catrin being strong? I never really saw her do anything but react to what what happening to her. I can't really think of anything she did to exhibit strength throughout the whole novel.

[CommMayo]

We are far off from true equality but I think saying we are no further is an exaggeration. Forced marriage is not commonplace and society would be appalled by the idea that someone needed to wed a different tribe to avoid war. In this story's version of history, I don't know any modern woman who would want to change how she was treated to Catrin's life.

Unfortunately, forced marriage is still going on across the world. Even in the United States, there are very few laws that prevent child brides from being forced to marry their rapists.