The aim of this thesis is to show that Laclos' novel, Les Liaisons dangereuses, is not as some critics have claimed a handbook of sexual licentiousness and a bible of debauchery. It is rather a complex and subtle description of the condition of women in 18th-Century France. While the structural importance of the male characters is by no means ignored, it is the female characters who have been the object of our particular study. We have isolated and identified the various social and symbolic representations of women to be found in Laclos' novel: the rebel, the victim, the prostitute, the mother, the young girl and the dowager. In doing so, we have come to see this work as an essentially feminist novel in which women occupy a dominant position. Furthermore, we have shown that Laclos' three essays, Des Femmes et de leur education, are not only a natural and a logical continuation of the novel but also its theoretical counterpart. Finally, in relation to the condition of women and their education, the three essays and the novel allow us to confirm that Laclos does not only criticize the society he lives in but also anticipates the changes that will occur during the Revolution and later.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.22391 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Saddik, Martine |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (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: 001075681, proquestno: MM63628, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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