French Essays French Society

french Essays french SocietyLes liaisons dangereuses and the position of women in eighteenth- degree Celsius french confederacy. pilfer This research analyses in depth Les Liaison Dangereuses by Pierre Ambrose Choderlos de Laclos, paying a particular at hug drugtion to the emancipatory subtext of the unexampled in regard to the position of women in eighteenth-century cut society. The received guides reveal that Laclos rises against the subordinate position of women and con brassrs that it is crucial to provide women with freedom. However, the writer demonstrates that freedom without appropriate education and true honour sufficientity can result in many contradict consequences. Applying to different causas and different liaisons, Laclos reflects the engagements mingled with deuce opposite firees that occur because of the wish of two males and pistillates to occupy boss positions in cut society. In this regard, some findings of this research are consistent with the res ults received in earlier studies and critical analyses on Laclos invigorated, while other findings agitate to them. 1 tale of the problem Eighteenth-century France experienced rather complex gender tensions, as, on the one hand, the period of Enlightenment and the French Revolution gave rise to the ideas of liberty and par amongst men and women, but, on the other hand, women were still associated with the position of a mother and a wife, restricting their participation in other spheres of complaisant and political life. However, condescension much(prenominal) stereotypic vision on female persons, some philosophers and writers of that era opposed to this perception of women, applying to a certain emancipatory subtext in their literary works. Pierre Ambrose Choderlos de Laclos belongs to such French writers in his well-known novel Les Liaison Dangereuses he criticises education of women in eighteenth-century France and unc all overs the inferior position of women in those ge neration. Laclos is one of the first authors who manage to express his views on the failed loving system that inspires the conflicts between two opposite sexual practicees.2 IntroductionPierre Ambrose Choderlos de Laclos (1741 1803), a general of Napoleon and the secretary of the Duc dOrleans, was born in a rather noble family and devoted his life to a phalanx career. However, at the age of forty, Laclos became a revolutionary and feminist writer, having written only two literary works that were both admired and criticised in his times. He met his future wife Marie-Soulange Duperr in 1783 and soon married her. Laclos became the member of the Club of the Jacobins in 1790 and was thus far imprisoned for his political activity. Pierre Choderlos de Laclos was greatly influenced by the works of Jean-Jacque Rousseau, especi solelyy by his epistolatory novel Nouvelle Hloise and this influence is obvious in both of Laclos works LEducation des Femmes and Les Liaison Dangereuses. But it was the novel Les Liaison Dangereuses that brought popularity to Laclos, as well as social rejection, because this literary work appeared to be a portrait of an age whose tragedy lies in the waste of its great gifts1.The eighteenth century was the period of Libertinage in France, when some bulk rejected all social norms and struggled for free will. These libertines eliminated emotions and pointed at the necessity of intelligence. Libertinage was supported by the regent Philippe of Orleans who substituted religion and virtues for freedom and vice. However, this was also a period of female subordination, thats why libertines were mainly males, because women, due to their poor education, were considered as unfit for any display of free will. They were regarded as inferior to men, because their intellectual abilities were reduced only to the home(prenominal) sphere. As a result, women were psychologically destroyed creatures that were workled and manipulated by males in French patri archal world. These females were deprived of any possibility to take part in political, military or cultural life of society. But Laclos destroys these stereotypes in his epistolary novel Les Liaison Dangereuses, demonstrating that non only males, but females as well may be libertines. The writer is not satisfied with the hidement of women in his times thus his motives in writing LEducation des Femmes and Les Liaison Dangereuses can be explained by Laclos wish to protect women from men by means of female independence. However, Laclos considers that female freedom is both good and dangerous, because society, in which a charr lives, is also false and preoccupied with wrong stereotypes. Although the writer points at the necessity of education for a adult female, he believes that good education will second her in her secluded life rather than inspire a female to utilise her freedom for any other activity. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the extent of the emancipatory s ubtext concerning the position of women in eighteenth-century French society in Pierre Choderlos de Laclos novel Les Liaison Dangereuses. The research paper is divided into several sections. Chapter 1 reveals a statement of the problem that points at the problematic of the conducted analysis. Chapter 2 demonstrates a general overview of the issue, evaluating the social and political contexts and Laclos motivations for the utilisation of emancipatory elements in his literary works. Chapter 3 observes the opinions of mingled critics on Les Liaison Dangereuses. Chapter 4 points at the theoretical research methods that are applied for the research. Chapter 5 provides a profound investigation of the emancipatory subtext in Laclos novel, paying a particular attention to women and their roles in French society. Briefly observing Laclos essays LEducation des Femmes, this chapter further analyses female qualitys of Les Liaison Dangereuses and their relations with male characters, uncoverin g gender tensions of the eighteenth century and the controvert results of social inequality. Chapter 6 conducts the summarisation of the received findings, and Chapter 7 reveals the limitations of the research and provides some suggestions for further analysis of Laclos novel. 3 Review of the literatureLes Liaison Dangereuses has raised gamey debates among various critics since the time of its publication. Earlier criticism regards this novel as one of the first feminist literary works, but as Suellen Diaconoff claims, in the past ten or fifteen years the assessment of Choderlos de Laclos treatment of women has undergone significant revision2. Some contemporary critics point at a misogynist context of the novel in addition to the emancipatory subtext, while other researchers consider that Les Liaison Dangereuses uncovers female weakness and male dominance. Such contradictory viewpoints reflect the ambiguous vision of womens roles in Laclos narration, as the writer provides his fem ale characters with the power to resist and the power to withdraw. According to Martin Turnell, Les Liaison Dangereuses has been called the most impersonal novel in the French run-in and certainly the author is not to be found in it3. The major criticism of the work in the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries regards its moral side many critics considered Les Liaison Dangereuses to be a threat to readers, as the novel provided a modern vision on the issue of virtue and was morally dangerous or historically notional4. Although Baudelaire praised Laclos epistolary novel, the spread of Romanticism depreciated this praising, regarding the work as a literary piece, where reason and cold analysis triumph5.However, by the middle of the nineteenth century the researchers began to take a particular busy in Les Liaison Dangereuses, analysing the writers realism and the characters psychology. In particular, Byrne points at a profound morality of the novel, claiming that the hold back provides a correct moral viewpoint which only a churl would find fault with6. Other critics reveal pessimistic aspects in the described sentimentality of the eighteenth-century fiction, in particular, John Mullan considers that French novelists were able to concede that habits of sociability were limited or exceptional, only just surviving in a world in which fellow- tint was rare and malevolence prevailed7. This is specially true in regard to Laclos who demonstrates these pessimistic aspects throughout the narration. Peter Conroy analyses a close connection between two males in Les Liaison Dangereuses, revealing that such bonding results in female destruction, for instance, when Valmont provides Danceny with the letters to destroy Mme de Merteuil8. The researcher considers that male bonding reflects one of the crucial aspects of female conquest in French society. Thus, despite the novels criticism and rejection in the eighteenth century, Les Liaison Dangereuses is considered to be one of the most popular epistolary works.4 Research methodologyThis dissertation applies to three theoretical research methods a social constructionist approach, a discourse analytical approach and a feminist approach. With the help of these methods the paper investigates the discussed issue from various perspectives and provides valid explanation to the emancipatory subtext of Laclos novel Les Liaison Dangereuses. As an appropriate tool for investigation, the social constructionist approach regards people as the products of society that defines particular roles for them. In this regard, this approach is especially important for analysing the position of women in eighteenth-century French society and the reflection of this vision in a particular epistolary work.The discourse analytical approach provides an opportunity to discuss the emancipatory subtext of the novel in its close connection with social and political conditions of France. It allows to evaluate the consequences of the domin ant position of males over females and to uncover the inequality of both genders before the French Revolution. The feminist approach reveals the impact of certain social stereotypes on the portrayal of females in French literature, exposing the negative consequences of these ideologies on women of the eighteenth century. This approach evaluates the roles and positions of women through the principal female characters of a literary work, simultaneously pointing at the differentiation between men and women. 5 preaching5.1. LEducation des FemmesBefore the publication of his epistolary novel Les Liaison Dangereuses, Laclos wrote three essays on female education that were compiled together under the create LEducation des Femmes. In the era of Enlightenment this issue became especially crucial in France and was of particular interest to Laclos. As Turnell puts it, Laclos only discusses those feelings which interest other people as well as himself9. In his essays Laclos depicts his own vi sion on the position of women in French society and the ways to modify their conditions. The ideas presented in LEducation des Femmes are implicitly reflected in Laclos novel, thats why it is crucial to observe these essays for better understanding of the emancipatory subtext of Les Liaison Dangereuses. In the first essay the writer points at the feature that an advanced education wont fetch the lives of women better, instead he claims that it is necessary to introduce social changes that will improve a female position10. Laclos considers that women do not have enough freedom and are usually treated as slaves by males they take to adhere to social standards rather than to oppose them. Although Laclos proclaims the necessity of freedom for women, he slightly transforms this viewpoint in the second and the third essays.In particular, he claims that a woman should be protected, but not liberated. Despite such ambiguous vision, LEducation des Femmes reveals the lawfulness well-nigh the position of females in Laclos times and simultaneously uncovers the contradictions that emerged in France in that period. These contradictions were a direct result of the emerged liberty and the preservation of the older social stereotypes. On the one hand, Laclos rises against the limitation of female freedom, but, on the other hand, he doesnt really reveal the ways to free a woman. Laclos reveals that in the struggle for dominance, men and women destroy each other males treat females as their slaves, while women utilise their sexuality to prove their own superiority. As females are deprived of equality with men in social and political spheres, they buy the farm to manipulate males with the help of sex. According to Laclos, this changeless sex war greatly depends on the ability of a woman to diversify sexual relations. However, as Laclos demonstrates further, on that point is a danger that such manipulation will turn against women. Laclos implicitly shows that enslavement o f women by men is inspired by this particular manipulation. As a woman starts to depend on her sexuality, she reduces herself to a position of a slave. Thus, though the writer criticises the dominance of French males over women in the eighteenth century, he doesnt provide an actual proposal for changes that will improve female positions. The same approach is maintained by Laclos in his novel Les Liaison Dangereuses.5.2. The emancipatory subtext of Les Liaison Dangereuses In Les Liaison Dangereuses Pierre Choderlos de Laclos creates the characters that belong to the French nobleness and that apply to cruelty and deceit to disgrace other people. Although this novel received unusual population later on its publication in 1782, the writer was immediately criticised and rejected by the members of the upper class society. According to Turnell, The Liaisons was read by everyone and discussed in all the salons, but the people who read him with most passion shut their doors in his face11. S uch attitude can be explained by the detail that Laclos reveals the truth about French aristocracy, the truth that people could no longer avoid.On the example of such characters as Ccile de Volanges and Mme de Volanges the writer demonstrates the negative consequences of poor female education and the superior position of men over women. On the other hand, introducing such female characters as the Marquise de Merteuil and the Prsidente de Tourvel, Laclos simultaneously implements the emancipatory subtext into his narration. Throughout the novel Mme de Merteuil tries to achieve a dominant position over other people, including the Vicomte de Valmont, her former recogniser. Discussing the relations between Mme de Merteuil and Valmont, Turnell claims that they are both so determined to dominate, so impatient of any restraint, that Mme de Merteuil cannot make up her mind to return permanently to Valmont12. It is this female character that involves Valmont into her intrigues and further induces his death. Mme de Merteuils wit and determination make her superior to men. Since the very beginning Mme de Merteuil makes constant attempts to manipulate Valmont. As a result, Laclos epistolary work dispels a prolonged illusion created by the majority of French novels that were primarily a smoke-screen that concealed the exploits of the aristocracy from the rest of the world13.Characterising his characters through their letters, the writer uncovers the inner degradation of aristocracy before the French Revolution. As Emile Dard puts it, people recognised their portraits in them and the likeness was so good that they could not turn their horrified gaze from this new image of themselves14. According to the discourse analytical approach, it is possible to evaluate people through their show ideas15, thus Laclos applies to the characters letters to uncover peoples essence and reveal his own vision on both males and females. According to Laclos, a French woman is greatly control led by a social machine that allows men to take give birthion over women. As Turnell states, The role of the female is to be killed by the predatory male Yet the defeated woman is not so much victim as an coadjutor16. In other words, as a woman marries a man and is defeated by him, she becomes a part of him, because the engagement does not end in advantage for one party and defeat for the other. It is a combination of the two, victory-and-defeat17.However, in the case of Mme de Merteuil, the situation is quite different, because this female character is not restrained by any inhibition, by any feeling of guilt or shame18. Letter 81 reveals Mme de Merteuils personal explanation of her behaviour and actions. In particular, Mme de Merteuil points out that she greatly differs from other females of her social class, as she possesses strong principles that are not found on some established rules, but instead are created by her in the process of deep reflection. even so the first sex ual intercourse of this character with her husband is regarded by her as the possibility to experience both pain and pleasure, to explore something new and utilise new experience for her own benefits. In this letter Mme de Merteuil puts herself in a superior position over others, even over politicians, and reveals that she is able to get pleasure from various things, not only from love. On the contrary, she eliminates love, because it prevents her from intrigues. As the feminist approach reveals, such behaviour of a woman is understandable, because under constant social oppression from the side of men, some females begin to act similar to men, acquiring male features and rejecting excessive emotionalism19.In this regard, Laclos novel differs from the novels of the seventeenth century, as Turnell puts it, there is no interior conflict in the minds of Laclos two principal characters because the elements of conflict love as well as duty have been removed20. Instead, the writer introd uces an exterior conflict between Mme de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, that is, the conflict between a male and female that uncovers the emancipatory subtext of the narration. Demonstrating the relations between two opposite sexes, Laclos reveals not the tensions between individuals, but the conflicts that emerge when old stereotypes jar with the attempts to oppose to this social system. Laclos divides his characters into two parties on the one side, there are Mme de Volanges and Ccile de Volanges with their traditional moral values, but, on the other side, there are Valmont and Mme de Merteuil who oppose to any conventions and involve other people into their intrigues. On the basis of this division Laclos reflects three kinds of relations.Mme de Merteuil and Valmont are engaged in the relations that are characteristic for the eighteenth century, that is, they eliminate any emotions, proving that sexual pleasure doesnt depend on confides and feelings. The relations between the Chevalier de Dancery and Ccile de Volanges are of different nature, they are based on sentimental emotions. The relations between Mme de Merteuil and Dancery, Valmont and Ccile, Valmont and the Prsidente reflect the wish of Valmont and Mme de Merteuil to take revenge on their enemies, but, on the other hand, they reflect their desire to get at conventional morality21. They involve such young and nave girl as Ccile into their intrigues, fully ignoring the feelings of this female. Ccile who is regarded as a child by everyone around her feels uncertainty and fear, when she starts to interact with other members of society. She is a beautiful female, but she lacks both intellect and free will, and her principles reflect the social norms that existed in France in the eighteenth century. Thus, Ccile de Volanges is a stereotypic female, a product of French society that regards her as a toy such characters may be slow come to in any intrigues and be destroyed. As Ccile claims to her fr iend, What made me most uneasy was that I did not know what they thought about me. I think I comprehend two or three times the word pretty, but I very distinctly heard awkward22. According to the feminist approach, such behaviour of a woman is a direct result of female subjugation that let ons weakness and excessive emotionality in her23.As a result of this constant subordination, Ccile greatly depends on social opinion, but Mme de Merteuil doesnt want to understand the weakness of Ccile, instead she utilises this naivety for her own benefits. The same regards Mme de Volanges, a mother of Cecile pretending to be her close friend, Mme de Merteuil assigns a certain role for Mme de Volanges. But, adhering to traditional morality, Mme de Volanges decides to tell the truth about Valmont to the Prsidente, thus playing the Male game in leading the anti-Merteuil party24. But Laclos reveals that new morality of Mme de Merteuil is based on evil and thus, results in many negative consequence s. Substituting one morality for another, Mme de Merteuil wants to prove her freedom and her superiority over other people.However, in this sex battle Mme de Merteuil destroys herself. Although this female character manages to convey her emancipatory behaviour, Laclos shows that wrong upbringing and poor education of Mme de Merteuil deprive her of the possibility to utilise her intelligence for better things than revenge. On the other hand, the writer introduces such female characters as Mme de Rosamonde and the Prsidente de Tourvel who embody true virtue in contrast to both traditional virtue and the virtue of Mme de Merteuil. As a result, Mme de Merteuil realises that these female characters, especially the Prsidente, are dangerous for her. The Prsidente is not only a sincere woman, but she also has a great impact on Valmont, making him forget his famous principles25. Mme de Merteuil understands that the Prsidente is a threat to her relations with Valmont and her intrigues, thus s he makes Valmont eliminate this female, simultaneously eliminating true virtue. Mme de Merteuil exceeds Valmont and other characters of the narration, because she possesses powerful intelligence and inexorability. She stresses on the fact that by the time she was fifteen, she had more talents than any politician such viewpoint is the measure of her powers and of her tragedy26.Contrary to Mme de Merteuil, Valmont embodies a weakness, because he possesses sentimentality that brings him to destruction. The eighteenth-century was preoccupied with the principles of rationalism that rejected any display of sentimentality. Mme de Merteuil manages to get rid of this sentimental shortcoming, while Valmont preserves it, although he doesnt want to admit this truth. As a result, Mme de Merteuil ever criticises Valmont, considering that the opposite sex has no virtues and abilities. Mme de Merteuil is superior to Valmont, because she has an unusual gift for understanding inner worlds of other people, while Valmonts principles do not allow him to develop a deep insight of the world and people around him. Mme de Merteuil and Valmont are engaged in the struggle against each other, reflecting their desires to achieve dominance. In this struggle love and hatred coexist together, revealing the essence of relations between men and women in eighteenth century France.When Mme de Merteuil involves Valmont into her intrigues and makes him establish relations with other women, she still wants to possess Valmont she doesnt want to admit that another female may substitute her. As Fellows and Razack puts it, Women challenged about their domination by calling attention to their own subordination If a woman is subordinate herself, she cannot then be implicated in the subordination of others27. However, this is not the case with Mme de Merteuil who rejects subordination of men over her, but is involved in subordination of both males and females. Comparing herself with Dalila, Mme de Merte uil reveals that as for the man each conquest is a victory for his sex for the woman it is equally a victory for hers, because in allowing herself to be seduced, she dominates the male and deprives him of his strength28. Mme de Merteuil considers that in the process of seduction both sexes achieve victory, but males fail to realise that women change them into slaves. Such female viewpoint reflects the core of the emancipatory subtext of the novel, but simultaneously it uncovers the conflict between sexes. According to Jean Giraudoux, the battle begins the moment that each sex regards the other as its accomplice29. As Valmont starts to compare Mme de Merteuil with other females, with the whole female sex, she starts to experience hatred and anger towards her former buffer, aggravating the tensions between them.Valmonts death is the end of this sex battle, and, by killing Valmont, the representative of the male sex, Laclos reveals females superiority, proving that a woman may be more intelligent than a man. On the other hand, the writer reduces Mme de Merteuils victory by depriving this female character of all things that are valuable to her, especially appearance and reputation. Such failure can be explained by the fact that, despite her intelligence and power, Mme de Merteuil remains a weak woman because of her jealousy and wish to dominate over other members of society. This character doesnt want to intromit the victory of the opposite sex, because in this case she will be forced to admit her own weakness. But in her pursuit to prove her superior position, Mme de Merteuil destroys not only her lover, but she also ruins her own life.According to Turnell, Laclos theme is the tragedy of the Rational Man, the man who was carefully conditioned through the removal of all moral scruples and the sense of guilt30. This is true in regard to Mme de Merteuil who maintains the principles of rational thinking and eliminates any display of sentimentality from her relation s with people in ready to prove her own superiority over others. However, she masterfully utilises her own sexuality to manipulate men and make them act as she wishes. According to the social constructionist approach, such sexual behaviour of a woman is developed by society, in which she lives it is not an inherent feature, but rather a direct consequence of social pressure31. Laclos doesnt state that a female is unable to experience pleasure on the contrary, the writer reveals female ability for sexual desires. He presents a woman as an active partner in sexual relations, but he also considers that sexuality may destroy a woman, if she allows sexuality to take control over her life and interfere with love, as is just the case with Mme de Tourvel.As for Mme de Merteuil, her sexuality also destroys her, because she hopes to prove her superiority with the help of sex, but finally she appears to be trapped in self-delusion. Mme de Merteuils attempt to achieve an equal position with ma les is rather courageous and feminist, but she chooses a wrong approach for attaining her goal. This female character rises against individual people, failing to realise that it is the existing social system that should be transformed. Destroying some persons, Mme de Merteuil doesnt eliminate the system that puts women into inferior positions. On the other hand, Laclos reveals that Mme de Merteuil is a true libertine. She fails to succeed at the end of the narration, but her way of life demonstrates the greatness of this female. She lives in patriarchal world, where women are prohibited any freedom, but she manages to subdue these stereotypes and act in accordance with her desires. Mme de Merteuil ignores morality of French society, creating her own morality and trying to eliminate all powerful emotions. She experiences pleasure when she demonstrates her superiority over others and she easily manipulates men with the help of her sexuality and intelligence.Such behaviour is unusual for a woman of the eighteenth century, but, creating such female character as Mme de Merteuil, Laclos wants to prove that in reality there is no difference between a man and a woman. In fact, Mme de Merteuil is similar to Valmont, and even superior to him, as the writer reveals in the denouement. Valmont might achieve success in politics or in any other field, but instead he is involved in intrigues. In his relations with women Valmont plays a role of a noble man, deceiving both Ccile de Volanges, when he claims that I detest everything that savours of deception that, in brief, is my character32, and the Prsidente de Tourvel, when he asks her who was ever more respectful and more submissive than I?33 In his relations with the Prsidente he seeks to subjugate her and destroy her true virtues. Valmont feels respect for this female and he considers her as the enemy worthy of me34. But, similar to Mme de Merteuil, the Prsidente de Tourvel appears superior to Valmont. His seduction of th e Prsidente de Tourvel gradually is transformed into love, because he is strongly unnatural by her kind heart. As Valmont claims, I left her arms only to fall at her feet and swear eternal love and to tell the whole truth, I meant what I said35.Valmont falls in love for the first time, but Mme de Merteuil makes him destroy the Prsidente de Tourvel. When Valmont makes an attempt to return her, Mme de Merteuil forbids him to do so, stating that It would suit you very well to take the credit for breaking with her without loosing the pleasure of enjoying her36. These words reveal the negative aspect of Libertinage although Valmont rises against social morality, society continues to influence him and shape his behaviour. Maintaining the principles of Libertinage, he is not able to act against these principles, thus Valmonts freedom appears to be a delusion, because he simply changes one rules for other norms. The same regards the principal female character of the novel Mme de Merteuil w ho is also trapped in her principles and new morality that finally bring her to destruction. Despite their close relations with each other, Mme de Merteuil prefers to destroy Valmont and his love to the Prsidente de Tourvel, and Valmont destroys Mme de Merteuil as a revenge.In this regard, Laclos creates two powerful female characters in his novel Mme de Merteuil and the Prsidente de Tourvel, through which he uncovers his emancipatory subtext however, the writer, drawing a parallel between these women, reveals their differences. Mme de Merteuil is a woman who uses her sexuality and intelligence to transform men into the toy of my caprices, or my fantasies37, as she claims in Letter 81. Mme de Merteuil directs her principles and education towards the only purpose to avenge my sex and to dominate yours38. Love cant bring happiness to this woman, as she deprives herself of any emotions. Mme de Merteuil mocks at those females who cannot see their future enemy in their present lover39, reducing the relations between a male and woman to a simple sex battle. As Mme de Merteuil considers herself superior to others, she doesnt admit any equality between two opposite sexes, thats why she claims that no one should be further from my confidence than my husband40. She doesnt want to love a man, instead she wants to control him. Mme de Merteuil deprives herself of any passion and she believes that such ability to suppress powerful feelings makes her better than other women.But Laclos reveals that such viewpoint is wrong by contrasting Mme de Merteuil with the Prsidente de Tourvel who possesses those virtues that Mme de Merteuil lacks. From the beginning of Valmonts relations with the Prsidente de Tourvel, she realises that this woman has something that allows her to attract men, and thus Mme de Merteuil tries to depreciate the virtues of the Prsidente de Tourvel. Mme de Merteuil calls her a poor creature41 that is obsessed with her religion. However, Mme