Triangular relationships are a structure de base in Zola's Les Rougon-Macquart. Sixteen of the twenty novels utilize this motif which is announced in La Fortune des Rougon with the competition among Adela(')ide Rougon's legitimate son Pierre Rougon and her illegitimate children Antione and Ursule Macquart. Each of their descendants is involved in triangles whose varied configurations include the menage a trois in the traditional sense where three people live together and where there is a sharing of sexual favors as well as the menage a trois in a nontraditional sense where the three characters live together, but sex is not part of the relationship because it is repressed either temporarily or permanently due to the power struggle involved. There are also triangular conflicts which include family members, others which do not, and those which are formed by two people and an abstraction or an inanimate object. / This study analyzes the patterns presented by the relationships of Pierre Rougon's children and grandchildren first, then those of Ursule Macquart, and finally those of Antoine Macquart. Zola's chosen themes of sex, money, and power are developed through the play of his characters' inherited characteristics with their environmental influences. Three of Pierre Rougon's children inherit his love of power, manifested differently in each of them. The other two children exhibit a tendency toward hysterical passion inherited through Pierre from Adela(')ide. That same folie appears in Ursule herself and is passed on to her two children. Antoine's tendency toward alcoholism is passed on to one of his children while the other two reflect either weakness or preoccupation with self. In keeping with Zola's announced intention of tracing the "manifestations bonnes et mauvaises" of the Rougon-Macquart family is their inclination toward the variety of triangular relationships in which they participate. Since every member of the family, except those who die young or are retarded, is involved in such a structure, this pattern is clearly a significant one in Les Rougon-Macquart. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-03, Section: A, page: 0664. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76073 |
| Contributors | PRESTON, SANDRA EVANS., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 260 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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