The Perception Of Jean De Coras In The Film

The controversial story of Martin Guerre becomes intensified as historian Natalie Davis and Robert Finlay makes their persuasive argument. Davis presents the story in a humorous way, portraying Bertrande sympathetically and developing her as an “honorable” figure. In the sixteenth century France, honor is a central aspect of women's identity and reputation. To gain honor, the woman remained faithful to their husband and followed the strict rules of Canon law, married women were not allowed to remarry or make a relationship with other men without the proof of husband’s death (Davis, Martin 20). However, presenting Bertrande de Rols as a strong assertive woman Davis intentionally reveals that Bertrande is capable of doing more than the housework.

This was according to a Noble French Roman Catholic family. Yet, this was not the reason she wanted Coligny arrested. His closeness and influence over her son Charles IX didn't sit well with her. She feared his influence on her son would have France start a war with

Marie de France begins her story by describing Bisclavret, her main character, as well as defining what a werewolf is: “a ferocious beast which, when possessed by this madness, devours men, causes great damage and dwells in vast forests” (de France, 68). She wants to relate the two by allowing the reader to decide what she means by the descriptions and why she would correlate them. De France does a little play and twists the monsters throughout her story. Being a werewolf, Bisclavret may start out as a monster without; and, at first, his wife seems to be so beautiful and innocent, but there lied a monster within her. Later in the story, Bisclavret is no more than a human being, and his wife’s monstrousness shows from within and she transforms into a monster without. The themes gathered from this story are the relationship between love and suffering, justice, and the wife who may be at first likable, but then changes the way that “monsters” are viewed. In order to modify the stereotypes of what a monster is, de France made Bisclavret, a werewolf, the “good guy,” and his beautiful wife, an unforeseen “bad guy.” The wife in the story Bisclavret portrays a trustworthy, loving wife, until she reacts quite differently to him being honest with whom he really is. Her character is the very thing, which makes the reader reconsider the definition of a monster and the truth about monsters within.

Voltaire discusses the exploitation of the female race in the eighteenth century through the women in the novel. Cunegonde, the Old Woman, and Paquette are continuously subjects to violent male desire as seen through rape, enslavement, and prostitution. However, these women strangely seem to accept their situations, describing rape as “the usual practice of war” (17). When Cunegonde recounts her experiences, she says “a modest woman may be ravished once, but her virtue is strengthened by it” (17). This acceptance shows her understanding of the limited options women had at the time, and what little power they possessed.

Importantly though, no matter if a girl was a victim or if she had actually committed the “crime”, the blame was always placed on the young girl for acting unfeminine or abnormal. It is also important to note that in both cases we never hear mention of if anything had happened to the men which reiterate the fact that during this time there was a patriarchal society which saw men as being able to do no

Men were always superior beings and if one went against their husband, it was seen as a crime. Their duties included being a wife, mother, home keeper and being obedient at home. Marie de France's “Lanval” goes against all the things stated above. Instead, she plays around

August 25, 1572, marked the infamous day of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. The slaughter of Gaspard de Coligny and several dozen Huguenot leaders, followed by the murder of thousands of people in the streets of Paris that day set off tremendous shock waves throughout Europe. As Barbara Diefendorf points out, the massacre provides a ‘graphic illustration’ of the savagery of the religious strife in France at that time. The question of responsibility of the Massacre has been much debated amongst contemporaries and historians, each producing a different account of who was responsible. Whether it was Charles IX, Catherine de Medici, the Guise family, and other primary political figures who instigated the attacks, one will never know for certain. This is unfortunately due to the scarcity and the unreliability of the contemporary sources.

Men had far more power than women and took advantage by making them do everything from cooking, to cleaning, taking care of the children, and much more. This demonstrates the struggles women faced during this time period due to men acting more superior than women. Leonce “looks at his wife like a valuable piece, with suffered damages” (p33). He only holds on to Edna because he views her more like a possession than caring about her true self. Leonce uses Edna to make himself look better, rather than helping her with the damages she faced with. Woman require “psychologist to deal with” (p220). To men, women received impossible to deal with and for someone to understand them they need a medical professional. Men think they come off much more superior than women. In the role of society, “Mrs. Pontellier, not a mother-woman” (p43). A mother-woman someone who constantly there for others in time of need, they only worship their husbands and the holy spirit. But Mrs. Pontellier does not fit this role in society; She refuses to occupy the role and rather put herself above her family. She fights back towards the rights that women supposedly supposed to do. She does not appreciate only to do a couple things when she could do so much

The few major female characters in Candide, Cunegonde, Paquette, and the Old Woman, are all of different social classes, from the daughter of a baron, a chambermaid, to a daughter of a Pope. Despite their differences in class and nationality, each woman suffered through exploitation and rape. Paquette, a chambermaid for the Baroness of Thunder-ten-Tronckh, was forced into “…this abominable trade, which appears so pleasant to you men, while to us women it is the utmost abyss of misery” (68). Voltaire’s purpose in placing her in misery is because the protagonist, Candide, and his pessimistic friend, Martin, are trying to settle a bet to see if Paquette and her husband, Friar Grioflee, are as happy as they outwardly seem. However, in this, Voltaire criticizes women’s role in society as only existing in

These women understand that in the 1800s they had very little power; only through men may they exert any influence. The female characters in Candide are of little importance to the action of the story. The narrator embraces a male perspective and does not endow any of the women with any interesting or redeeming qualities. The Old Woman, being ugly and world-weary does not even earn a name. Paquette is merely described as “a pretty and obedient brunette.” (5) She is pronounced obedient not because of her duties as a chambermaid, rather because she is quite willing to submit to the men in the baron’s castle. Cunegonde, Paquette, and the Old Woman are not intricate characters.

Such an argument would not be a ludicrous one to make, particularly given the prevalence of the misogyny that exists in the letters among Usbek, Rica, and the eunuchs. There is the constant reminder that despite Usbek’s absence, the women remain subject to his authority as exercised through his proxies, the eunuchs, who are instructed to remind the wives “of their total dependence” (5). Although the women do issue commands to the eunuchs, they still remain subject to a trifecta of restraints — the seraglio, society, and their husband. Even while the women may be able to revolt internally within the seraglio, externally in the world their subordinate status remains unaltered. Hence, in the grand scheme, the domestic turmoil within the household is inconsequential. Montesquieu even presents instances of women who savor in the cruelty shown to them by their spouses (66), who are valued based on the preservation of their virginity (99), and whose reputations are damaged by the sexual whims of men (37). In his inclusion of such anecdotes, Montesquieu refutes the notion that women are little more than inferior to men; otherwise it is plausible that he would have omitted the aforementioned passages. Likewise, not only does the rhetoric of the men in the novel reinforce the inadequacy of women, but also does

The argument in the article “Law, Justice, and Female Revenge in 'Kerfol,' by Edith Wharton, and Trifles and 'A Jury of Her Peers,' by Susan Glaspell is that “women are not given a fair trial by the jury of their peers”. (Wright) Due to reasoning the peers judging them happen to be all men. Men will side with men and women will side with women. Men in that time period tended to not feel any sympathy for woman they believed the woman should be waiting on them hand and foot. Wright states, “When the women discover a possible motive for the murder, they uncover another possible interpretation of the facts” (Wright). They don’t see it as a murder they see it as

Davis claims that her work is more historical than the movie because the film-maker’s “departures from the historical record.” (Benson 57). That is, Vigne’s work lacks from historical understanding because he divires from the right direction due to several reasons including but not restricted to ignoring the Basque region, neglecting religious issues, and disregarding complicity of Bertrande except in the last invented scene when she gave water to judge, and she confessed to him. More importantly, the trial would have been confidential not open to public. In addition, the movie characterized with the complicity and vagueness, which made it hard to interpret. As reported by Davis, the film’s main problem lies in its failure to capture the

Lastly, The Wife of Bath’s Tale is wronged because it goes against the idea of patriarchy. Patriarchy goes all the way back to Aristotle who said that there was a pyramid of life; gods on top, the men, and last women and whatever was left. Women, back then, were to obey their husbands, and if they didn’t their husbands were allowed to beat some sense into them to put them back in line. With that information comes the Wife of Bath who stands up in front of the group and explains how she would trick her husbands and proved that she was just as smart, maybe even smarter. Moving onto her tale which also has to do with a woman tricking a man. In the tale a knight is set on a journey to find out what women want. While on his journey he comes in contact with an old lady who makes a deal with him; if he does what

Les Miserables is a prime example of two individuals conflicted by the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law”. The two main characters, Jean Valjean and and Javert, have two different views on morality. There is a difference between the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law”. Obeying the what the laws specifically says defines the “letter of the law” and obeying the overall message of the law defines the “spirit of the law”.