This dissertation analyzes the use of speech (prise de parole ) in Marguerite de Navarre's works of fiction in conjunction with the place that the arguments of the Quarrel about Women hold in her writings. / The texts of the Quarrel about Women, which were very popular in sixteenth century France, tried to prove the superiority or the inferiority of women depending on which side of the debate the writer belonged to. The works of Marguerite de Navarre incorporate numerous arguments of this literary debate to deconstruct them and establish a certain balance between the qualities and the defaults of men and women. Contrary to the writers of the Quarrel who were using as examples women from the Bible or the Antiquity, the Queen of Navarre's works portray mainly characters from daily life in situations that illustrate the way the two sexes use speech differently. / Thus, in the religious poems, women communicate more quickly with the divine because they listen more to their heart which is the receptacle of God. Indeed, the only obstacle that stands between them and mystical union resides in a too strong attachment to a human being, whereas men encounter more hindrances linked, among others, to ambition, science and lust. As for profane poems, they highlight the value of feminine friendship by presenting a free and equal verbal exchange, among women only, based on mutual aid. In the Heptameron, men, in the novellas, hold a greater power than women and it is mirrored in the efficiency of their prise de parole, while there is a certain equality, in the cornice, between the devisants of both sexes. Finally, in the theater, women as well as men deliver God's Word. / Speech which constitutes the most important meeting ground for men and women, in Marguerite's writings, demonstrates how the main criticism directed at women by the detractors of the Quarrel, their unstoppable and slanderous chattering, as well as many other faults are rejected by using examples of women that speak wisely. This makes Marguerite de Navarre's writings modern, because while they deconstruct the binary opposition of man versus woman, with everyday life examples, they do not propose to establish a new hierarchy and thus they are open to plurality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.82922 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Lucuix, Hélène |
| Contributors | Desrosiers-Bonin, Diane (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Département de langue et littérature françaises.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001985062, proquestno: AAINQ88518, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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