Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Melinda Cro / In this comparative analysis of Molière’s, L’École des Femmes and Marivaux’s, Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard, I examine the potential for agency on the part of the female protagonists Agnès and Silvia. Despite the limitations placed upon women in the patriarchal society of seventeenth and eighteenth century France, each character overcomes various obstacles in order to assert freedom of choice and expression in matters of the heart. The first chapter of this study, “L’amour et le mariage” focuses on love and marriage and the representation of these two concepts in terms of feminine power. These plays offer the opportunity to observe different types of perceptions regarding love and marriage and suggest that marriage based on mutual love is advantageous for women and tends to reinforce her power, as love is a strong motivation for appropriate partner choice. The second chapter, “La relation entre l’homme et la femme” analyses the relationship between the feminine and masculine figures of each play. Both authors give multiple cases of male-female interaction and suggest that men’s behavior is an important part of feminine power as women can make the decision about the appropriateness of the partner based on their observed behavior. While Molière gives the example of the negative and ignorant father-lover figure, Marivaux presents the ideal father image who encourages his daughter to make decisions based on her own best interests. The third chapter, “Le Masque: Le déguisement et le pouvoir féminins” examines the way in which the female protagonist is capable of improving her own situation. In each work, one can observe the woman’s creative behavior as a means by which she accomplishes her goal, to be able to choose a partner based on mutual love independently, supported by a benevolent father.

L’écoute aux portes est un élément du théâtre français qui n’a pas souvent retenu l’attention de la critique, qui tend à le concidérer comme un simple subterfuge utile au développement et à la résolution de l’intrigue. Ce mémoire cherchera donc à combler ce manque d’attention, en portant sur l’intérêt scénique particulier que représente l’écoute aux portes dans Tartuffe de Molière, Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard ainsi que Les Fausses Confidences de Marivaux et On ne badine pas avec l’amour de Musset. Après avoir défini ce que l’on entend par le terme « écoute aux portes », nous nous demanderons qui écoute, dans quels lieux, ce qui motive les curieux et si l’on peut voir dans l’écoute aux portes autre chose plus qu’un simple subterfuge, qu’une simple excuse qui permet aux « oreilles indiscrètes » de partager ce qui normalement leur serait resté inconnu.