Gendering Metamorphosis in d'Aulnoy's 'Babiole'

Abstract

Abstract This article explores how Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy uses the fairy-tale trope of metamorphosis not only to blur the distinction between human and animal but also to comment upon notions of femininity and masculinity. In 'Babiole', the heroine is transformed into a guenon, a kind of female monkey also used to denote an ugly woman in seventeenth-century France. Although the monkey-princess undergoes a civilizing process, she is always viewed by others as an inferior creature whose animality defines her. Babiole's experience contrasts sharply with that of her male fairy-tale counterpart, the Prince Marcassin, who is transformed into a boar. By comparing Babiole to Prince Marcassin, we see the extent to which d'Aulnoy's choice of animal for each metamorphosis is not arbitrary.