Susanna Allred

My project studied the discussion of feminist and marriage-related issues in seventheenth century French fairy tales. Though Charles Perrault is now the most famous writer of fairy tales, he was part of a larger literary trend of fairy tale-writing. This literary vogue was dominated and actually started by female writers. Though Perrault’s tales are comparatively conservative in their discussion of social issues, his female contemporaries frequently used the fairy tale format to discuss their discontents with their society’s conception of the family as a political unit and women as pawns in struggles for dynastic succession and family wealth.

To explore these issues further I compared two tales that are based on the same tale-type and examined their responses to contemporary notions of the interaction of family, politics, authorship, and womanhood. The first tale, “Peau d’ours” (or “Bearskin”) was written by a woman named Henriette-Julie de Castlenau, Comtesse de Murat. In her tale a young princess is saved from marriage to an ogre by a powerful fairy godmother, who transforms her into a bear. In this guise, the princess meets and falls in love with a prince, who surprisingly falls in love with her too because of the moral virtues and elegant wit she displays even as a bear. After she is returned to her human form and marries the prince, the ogre frames the princess for the murder of her own children. Once again, the fairy godmother intervenes to save the princess’s life, this time also delivering a speech that chastises the prince for loving his wife more than his children. The second tale, “Peau d’âne”(or, Donkeyskin) was written by Charles Perrault. In this tale a king who is desperate to remarry orders his own daughter to marry him. The girl and her fairy godmother concoct a scheme to disguise her in a donkeyskin and send her to another kingdom to work as a scullery maid. Here, the princess is first spied upon in a voyeuristic manner and then married by the prince. The end of the tale celebrates the union of the two families as a brilliant political move and implies that resolution has come because the king now has the happy prospect of a male political heir, both through his son-in-law, and through any children his daughter will have.

I also investigated seventheenth century French discourse of political structure, the family, and women. The seventheenth century was dominated by Louis XIV’s drive for power, with himself as the absolute head of the nation in both a political and cultural sense. The family was increasingly considered a political as well as a social unit, with fathers and husbands playing the role of the absolute leaders of their homes. The role of women in this social and political landscape was increasingly confined to one of homebound wife and mother. Women received little education beyond what was considered necessary for housekeeping and motherhood. This usually meant they received a little training in arithmetic, reading, writing, and some religious education. Women of the upper class were encouraged to shun overexposure to the public. They were also encouraged to refrain from speaking or intervening in public or family matters as much as possible. This trend is concurrent with the rise of the French Academy, an institution supported by Louis XIV which strove to consolidate cultural production and bring it under the control of the king, and also did not admit women. Consequently, women who showed off their intellectual and cultural accomplishments or tried to establish themselves as independent individuals through writing had to struggle for an audience and to find a way of voicing their discontents without drawing too much negative attention.

De Murat’s tale responds to seventheenth century pressures on women in several ways. First, the story’s fairy godmother character provides an important counter-voice to the father and king figure who attempts to give his daughter away in a politically advantageous marriage. This character is the first and strongest voice to advocate the importance of willing commitment, equality, and mutual love and respect as opposed to political or financial advantage for the patriarchal family unit as the basis for marriage. Second, the story also works to emphasizes the intelligence and moral virtue of its female protagonist. The princess in “Peau d’ours” is deprived of her beautiful body for much of the tale in order to highlight the fact that she is attractive to the virtuous and handsome prince for her academic accomplishments (including writing poetry) and for her good character. This emphasizes female equality in the realm of cultural production and general morality. Finally, the story criticizes the contemporary ideal of the silent, home-bound woman as the ideal of femininity by making the heroine’s successes (winning the prince) and failures (submitting to her planned execution) come as a result of her acknowledgment of her intellectual gifts in the first case and as a result of her unwise submission to her husband’s will in the second case. It also features a speech by the fairy godmother character that criticizes the valuation of children above wives.

Perrault’s tale, by contrast, generally supports the era’s definition of the family as a political unit rather than a network of relationships based ultimately on love. In the first place, the story attempts to validate patriarchal absolutism in both the family and in politics. Consequently, even though the king’s incestuous plan is clearly wrong, no one at the court dares to gainsay him, and the wedding scene at the end is primarily a political event rather than a personal or emotional one. Second, the story’s heroine is consistently placed in situations that emphasize her personal beauty and her political potential as a sexual object. Hence, the prince falls in love with her because her body’s elegance announces her social status, and resolution is only possible because she may bear an heir to the throne. Third, the story validates the contemporary concept of the woman’s role as an entirely submissive and silent component of a larger political unit. Both the princess and the fairy refuse to speak out against king’s incestuous desire directly, and the princess’s disguise in this tale (as a scullery maid) emphasizes her domesticity rather than her intelligence.

The best part of this experience so far has been the opportunity to work closely with a professor and to achieve a deeper understanding of a specific literary trend and cultural moment. I appreciate being able to develop my research and writing skills further, and being able to contribute to the ongoing exposition of women’s voices from the seventheenth century, voices that have been ignored or silence for centuries. The opportunity to recover, even if only in a small way, the experiences and struggles of an oppressed group has been tremendously valuable to me because of the insight into the specific problems that these women faced with creativity, courage, and intelligence.

I feel that the only way my mentoring experience could have been improved is if BYU had more forums for undergraduates to present the results of their research. The opportunity for undergraduates to share their intellectual achievements could be a valuable and motivating force for other students who are considering mentored learning. It would interesting and inspiring for students to learn from other students experiences with this kind of intensive research.

Working closely in a mentored relationship with another professor has been a valuable contribution to my experience at BYU. I feel like my ability to research, analyze, and write in an academic setting was intensified by working one on one with another professor. It was tremendously valuable to be able to meet consistently over the course of several months to discuss and plan for an ongoing project that contributed both to my future plans for my education and to his current, ongoing research. It has been very valuable for me to gain a deeper understanding of the field of academic research and production in the humanities. I feel far better prepared now for graduate level study and for a possible career in academia. On a purely personal level, I appreciate learning how women of the seventheenth century in France struggled to gain a sense of identity and self-determination through writing, and how they struggled to establish themselves as artists and as individuals. It inspires to value the freedom and education that BYU offers to all of its students.

I would simply like to thank the donor who made this research opportunity possible. I will be continually grateful both for the monetary support and for the intellectual development that came as a result of this research. It will continue to be useful to me throughout my undergraduate and graduate education.