Shepherd and Shepherdess Reposing par François Boucher, 1761 (wikiart.org)
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My last post did not contain a conclusion, but an earlier post did. I noted two themes to which I will add a third.
- love as jealousy.
- marriage as enslavement and death.
- galanterie.
Molière knew the condition of women and expressed it in a very direct yet discrete manner in his Amants magnifiques and Princesse d’Élide.
The manner in which Molière describes the condition of women does not separate men from women. Iphitas, the princess’ father reassures his daughter. He will not force her to marry a man she does not love. He wants her to marry a man she loves and to be happy. Could one of the three princes he has invited to Élide be the man she loves?
Both the princess and Euryale fall in love the moment they meet, before Act One. However, Euryale tricks her into discovering that she loves him. If he were too direct, he would lose her. The stratagems he uses are feigned indifference and jealousy. That’s marivaudage, but it is not rude; it is refined. When he discovers that she loves him, he tells her how much he loves her and that he is ready to wait, which is not a stratagem, but galanterie, the art of love, and finesse. She must learn that he can be trusted and that he will protect her.
Making love will be consensual and it will not always lead to a pregnancy. Fear of yet another pregnancy can easily end a woman’s wish to engage in sexual intercourse. What is there for a man to gain? And if there is pregnancy, he should be with her. That’s galanterie.
Molière did not write books on galanterie. But the topic has been discussed since Greco-Roman antiquity. Latin poet Catullus (c. 84 – c. 54 BCE) wrote erotic poetry and inspired poet Ovid, the author of an Ars Amatoria, (The Art of Love, pdf) as well as Virgil. We must also mention Petrarch’s Laura. Moreover, who does not know Tristan et Yseult, Arthurian romances, Knights in shining armour, Héloïse and Abélard. Courtly love, troubadours and trouvères, Pierre de Ronsard‘s Sonnets pour Hélène, and its carpe diem, as well as various love poems, sonnets in particular. Sorel’s Loix de la galanterie (1664), Mademoiselle de Scudéry‘s Carte de Tendre, a map of love, and other works.
We now entering Watteau‘s fêtes galantes, galanterie, and marivaudage, refinement cultivated in the salons of the seventeenth century, une préciosité nouvelle.
RELATED ARTICLES
- Sorel’s Laws of Gallantry (1 May 2016)
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Love to everyone 💕
Bergère rêvant par François Boucher
© Micheline Walker
16 October 2019
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Dear Micheline, all the gallantry in the world will not change the fact that even today, with the advances of medical science, pregnancy could be difficult and giving birth is still not painless and sometimes dangerous. All the sources but one are male writers; easy for them to talk! Moliere was quite perceptive for his age.
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Molière’s mothers died of exhaustion after 10 consecutive years of pregnancy. La Princesse d’Élide makes it clear that her body will remain hers, but she’s in love. Nolière was brave to create La Princesse d’Élide. Today, a woman may choose not to have children. But do women refuse to engage in sexual intercourse. Given that she falls in love, there was little Molière could do but create “un galant homme” and bring Venus in.
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Perhaps his mother’s plight gave Moliere’s food for thought. He was very brave indeed, expressing such advanced ideas.
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I’m sure it did. And most of these children died. I’m glad we are not living in the 17th century. Molière fine female characters. Love
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I suppose The Almighty places us in times and places He deems appropriate. So here we are, in the 21st century, rather than 17th.
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Woman may now choose how many children they will raise. Everything has changed.
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Very true.
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Another insightful post
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Molière tackled a very difficult problem. His mother died after ten years of pregnancy. She wasn’t very strong. If the princess had not fallen in love with a man who was willing to wait, she would not have married. Euryale love her the moment he saw her and he was willing to wait. That play says everything about the female condition. I had to read all of Molière, decades ago, but he isn’t quite the same. I was too young and missed certain elements except for the six plays I analyzed. We’re nearly finished reading Molière. Have a good day. 🙂
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I see you are a big fan of this French writer and philosopher of the French decadent society that he liked to make fun of it, through his comic and satire plays, for which he was always a thorn in the eye of the rest of aristocratic society…
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I wrote my PhD dissertation on Molière. I studied the pharmakos (scapegoat) in his enigmatic comedies. Two of his plays were banned because they were considered an attack on genuinely devout persons, or an attempt to be above God (hubris). He was the victim of a “cabale de dévots,” the Church. He had no use for hypocrites, pedants, affected persons, and his young lovers succeeded in marrying the person he or she loved. Louis XIV liked Molière. I concluded that Molière had a very pessimistic view of society. However, he respected human beings despite their foibles. Where the status of women is concerned, he was centuries ahead of himself. My best wishes.
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Yes, he was a man in front of his time, this is why people around him, namely aristocrats, hated him so much. Thanks, I wish you all the best too… 🙂
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His worst enemy was the Church, not aristocrats, at least not directly. Louis XIV surrounded himself with bourgeois. He did not trust aristocrats. As a result, the “bourgeoisie” grew at rapid rate. As well, until Louis XIV, France was ruled by Cardinal Richelieu and Mazarin. Unfortunately, Louis XIV did not call the estates general: a meeting of the three classes. Moreover, Versailles was built at a cost that shocked Louis and the taxes he imposed burdened French citizens. The powerful oppress humbler citizens. I doubt that anything has changed. You have written about poverty. It is a huge problem. People can no longer house themselves, eat sufficiently and purchase clothes made with good fabric. Mr. Trump is not a friend. Let them die and prevent them from choosing how many children they will have. In the USA, women are at the mercy of their fertility. Canadians have social programmes, but no regulation has been set on the fees doctors charge and the cost of medication. Doctors who entered the profession because they would have a very large salary kill people. In Quebec, entering medical school is a little too easy. One enters medical school after 13 years of schooling and, five years later, one is a doctor. An education is not necessary. Besides, university fees are low. Molière attacked doctors. He suffered from tuberculosis, but functioned because a doctor would have used blood-letting as a cure. He would have died much sooner. Writing on Molière made me discover a very good and responsible human being.
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Yes, you really know a lot about French history. It was the last week when I was watching a video documentary about Maximilien de Robespierre and the French Revolution…
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I love learning. It has given meaning to my life. So have music and doing watercolours. But, most of all, I have loved good people. my computer is not working well, so this has to be a short note. Take care, Micheline 🌹
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That is very nice, ´cause learning is all we can really do while spending our time on this planet…
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Robespierre ordered the terror to rid France of its evils. He was very cruel, but I see some beauty in him. The terror ended the Revolution. My computer is still dysfunctional, but I thought I would nevertheless stop by and wish you a happy day.🌹
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Interesting thing is that the main characters of that revolution was Robespierre and Luis XVI, both decapitated by guillotine, Luis XVI was the one who approved this new French-German invention and put it into practice by the recommendation of Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, and the Robespierre´s head was the last to fall at the end of the Reign of Terror.
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Ianus, There is so much irony in history and comedy. The guillotine enabled the revolutionaries to execute a multitude of innocent citizens, including the King. But the King’s most articulate enemy died by guillotine. He was almost dead when he was guillotined. He and Saint-Just were executed on 28 July 1794. The Revolution as we know it (the blood bath) ended that day. In the history of the French Revolution we need to take the invention of the guillotine into account. Victims could be executed in less than five minutes, about there minutes. Ironically, a huge army was formed in 1793 (une levée en masse). The French feared that a European army would come to the rescue of the royal family. An army did come, but it was defeated at Valmy. So, ironically, the Revolutionaries created Napoleon’s army. So many soldiers were killed that the French were afraid of having children. Radicalization started when the King locked the doors to Versailles on representatives of the Third Estate. I told that story. Incredible. My kindest regards, Micheline
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You know how they say, history repeats itself, over an over again. Like in that famous ABBA song “Waterloo”… 🙂
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