"Parler ou mourir?": Speech and Silence in the Heptaméron

Abstract:

“‘Madame, je vous supplie de me conseiller lequel il vault myeulx, ou parler ou mourir’” (75), asks Amadour at a key moment in the Heptaméron’s tenth novella. It is a loaded question, and one that continues a chain of conversations about the relationship between speaking, silence, and death. In the Heptaméron, speech and danger coexist, and modify one another as both restorative and destructive. In this article, I will read four novellas in which speech and/or silence play a central role in the intrigue and outcome of the tale, and in which the stakes of speaking or remaining silent are very high. In each novella, the trope appears with intensity, but the outcome of what I will call the parler/mourir dichotomy is different in each situation, and reflects the complexity of the situations that these novellas represent. Marguerite shows that speech can perpetuate power, can heal and promote justice, or be deadly. In another instance, she demonstrates that silence is the most effective way to gain victory. It is my contention that Marguerite shows an interest in exploring the different manifestations of speech and silence as they pertain to women. As such, the parler/mourir dichotomy can increase our understanding of Marguerite’s project to dialogically expose and discuss the conditions of women in her society and to put women’s experiences front and center.