Petrarch's portrayal of women has been described as idealized, but also realistic. Some say that his portrayal of Laura is far from a "flesh and blood" woman.
Some say that Petrarchan sonnets and carpe diem poems problematize the representation of power dynamics between the male speaker and the lady or mistress of the poem. Some examples of Petrarchan cliches include:
Physiological excess
Rhetorical excess
The lover's heart is true, while the lady's is hard
The lover's heart is steel, while the lady's is flint
