Eve's Apology

Aemilia Lanyer uses irony and sarcasm in her poem, "Eve's Apology in Defense of Women". She uses sarcasm to address the issue of female inequality, and uses imagery and ironic undertones to make the poem effective. In the first stanza, Lanyer begins the poem with an image of women being equal with men and at times even better. She states that Pilate should have listened to his wife when she asked him to spare her …

…have always been condescending to women is illegitimate because men are actually more at fault for the fall of humankind and for the condemnation of Jesus. Lanyer confidently makes her point of female inequality and female injustice through the use of these examples and her continued use of irony in her statements that men are strong and women are weak, whereas she is clearly trying to make a point that women are equal to men.