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Marriage In Seventeenth-Century French Theater, Adam Michael Babin

LSU Master's Theses

In seventeenth-century France, social and political confusion abounded. Absolute monarchy, which was principally created by Richelieu and glorified by Louis XIV, began gradually replacing the medieval feudalism that remained popular among the nobles. Likewise, préciosité, a proto-feminist literary and cultural movement that was not in line with official political ideals, emerged in France during this century. The institution of marriage was an important element of the complicated sociopolitical tapestry of seventeenth-century France. Through the depiction of marriage in Pierre Corneille’s Le Cid (1636), Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de Molière’s L’École des femmes (1662), and Jean Racine’s Andromaque (1667), three works of the …