Quatre héroïnes en une: art du portrait et féminisme chez Marguerite de Navarre (L'Heptaméron, 15)

Abstract:

Nouvelle 15 of the Heptaméron follows the love life of an aristocratic woman over a long period of time: married at a very young age to a husband who completely neglects her in favor of a lady of the court, she first patiently endures her situation before experiencing three successive adulterous loves. In this sentimental education for women, the heroine constantly metamorphoses as she learns: far from a figure presented as unambiguously vicious or virtuous, she evolves in a gray area rich in multiple virtualities and never ceases to amaze the reader with her speeches or her attitude. In fact, Marguerite de Navarre offers here one of the most beautiful portraits of a woman in the entire collection, a portrait in movement and a multifaceted one nourished by four different literary models—the mal mariée, the virile woman, the cunning woman, the lady’s advocate—which reflect the tensions of her (proto-)feminism.