RESPECTABLE WOMEN PUT TO THE TEST OF GALLANTRY IN THE FICTIONAL WORK OF MADAME DE LAFAYETTE
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Abstract
The concept of honnêteté in 17th-century France often encompasses the notion of gallantry (galanterie). Antoine Furetière’s first monolingual dictionary of the French language (1690) and The Dictionary of the French Academy (1694) provide almost identical attributes for both honnête homme and galant homme: civility, politeness, eloquence, etc. The gallantry of an honest man thus refers above all to the delicate manners (largely inspired by the company of refined ladies). On the other hand, the characteristics of l’honnête femme emphasize chastity, modesty and restraint, whereas the expression une femme galante refers to debauchery. Moreover, numerous texts of the time caution young women regarding the attentions of “Gallants”, defined as seducers who, as Jacques du Bosc articulates in his L’Honnête Femme: The Respectable Woman in Society (1632–1636), “seek only their pleasure and the ruin of those who listen to them.” Consequently, it is apparent that the two concepts offer a fertile field of analysis through the lens of gender. This paper examines the conflict between women's honnêteté and galanterie in the fictional works of Madame de Lafayette — the novellas La Princesse de Montpensier and La Comtesse de Tende, as well as the novels Zayde and La Princesse de Clèves. Initially, it is indicated that an education emphasizing strict adherence to virtue has engendered in the young heroines of Madame de Lafayette a profound distrust of “gallants” and an obligation to preserve their own (irreproachable) reputation at all costs. The term galanterie is consequently associated with the lexical fields of misfortune, shame, and danger. The psychological state of the female characters, betraying through evasive communication their feelings and dilemmas in response to male advances, is characterized by the lexical fields of embarrassment and confusion, as well as by external manifestations (notably blushing). Finally, the analysis leads us to the conclusion that all heroines of Madame de Lafayette, regardless of their succumbing to the temptations of gallantry, experience significant internal conflicts. Illness, which frequently culminates in death, serves to symbolize in the author's fictional oeuvre the turmoil of the mind, consumed by remorse, shame, sadness or deception.
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