In the last paragraph of her article “L’Infidélité féminine dans l’Heptaméron”, Madeleine Lazard states that “l’affrontement des sexes tourne habituellement au désavantage de la femme”. Throughout her essay, she provides several accounts of infidelity on the part of the woman, while at the same time stating that indiscretions on the part of the man are met without consequence. It is her thesis that the Heptaméron is full of improprieties of women which causes the events in the story to turn towards the betterment of the man, leaving the woman coming up short in the end. Based on your reading, what do you think of Lazard's statement?
4 comments:
I think that Lazard's statement is completely true in our readings. For some reason, literature has decided that women are more often than not Mary Magdalene instead of the Virgin Mary and never are female anything in between. Man will always be superior but women will cause his downfall. That's why the excuse "she asked for it" when a woman is done wrong seems to always pass by. "Well George, she is Mary Magdalene, and you know what that means...." Women are never really given a chance to be more than a whore or a saint. Men apparently can have tragic flaws, but whoever heard of a whore with a heart or gold?
Courtney has thrown down the gauntlet. What do the rest of you think?
I also think that Lazard's statement is evident in the readings. While reading this literature I have found seen two very distinct opinions of women. That of the saint and the other of an unfaithful mistress. Is there no inbetween? I agree with Courtney that literature has provided us with two options and no in between. Despite the failures of women, man always seems to win in the end and be on top. What will it take for men and women to finally reach equality? Is there always going to be this skewed veiw of women?
I think Lazard's thesis on the Heptameron is well supported in the tales we read. Considering the fact that the Heptameron was written around 1558, I am not surprised by the theme of the tales. That was a period when human rights of women were highly minimized, and women were to blame for any and everything. Equity has not quite been attained yet between both genders, but there is a remarkable difference from the situation, say, a century ago. In many societies today, adultery committed by a woman is much more tolerable and is on its way to not even raising eyebrows more than it would if a man does. Many years ago, I would think that having a woman as a presidential candidate in the would have created a stir in the community in a manner which is not observed today.
Post a Comment