Heloise and Abelard: Who’s Right?
What can be dated as far back in history as Euripides’ Medea, there have always been arguments between men and women. These arguments are fueled by emotion; specifically love. As a result of the strong love and affection between Abelard and Heloise, their claims to each other are powerful and intelligently assembled. However, their argumentative styles are different from each other. Who has the better argument you might ask? While Heloise makes some excellent arguments in her letters, I find that Abelard has the more persuasive reasoning as a result of his clever retorts, powerful prose, and simple logic. He would also be most likely to accept Job’s attitude toward God in The Book of Job.
The argumentative styles of Abelard and Heloise differ because his arguments are more founded in logic while hers are more in emotion. The bulk of Abelard’s argumentative support…show more content… His clever retorts constantly leave Heloise in a defensive position. Since the gruesome night of his castration, Abelard has been put in more of a mellow mood towards Heloise and does not crave the affection he once did. He has also become very religious and uses the bible to help back his arguments. Heloise brings up many arguments that Abelard retorts right back with a straight forward powerful explanation. One of the arguments that Heloise makes in the third letter is that she is disturbed by the mentioning of Abelard’s possible dangers or the death he could face. Abelard in his counterargument, directly quotes a passage that proves that Heloise actually wanted to hear about his suffering and dangers. He concludes this by saying, “Then why do you object that I let you share my fear when in fact it was you who insisted on it” (Letters, pg. 91). His clever retorts back to Heloise that completely undermine her claims are the pivotal reason that Abelard provides such a better