Le mariage dans le roman de moeurs du XIXe siècle : étude comparée de trois oeuvres : Emma de Jane Austen, Eugénie Grandet de Honoré de Balzac et La Gaviota de Fernán Caballero

Details

Supervisors

Sábado Novau, Marta

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres françaises et romanes, orientation générale, à finalité didactique

Abstract

enThis thesis studies and compares the thematic and poetic of marriage in three 19th Century novels of manners: Jane Austen's Emma (1815), Honoré de Balzac's Eugénie Grandet (1833) and Fernán Caballero's La Gaviota (1849). We start from the analysis of female fictional characters, in whom we hypothesise the existence of a tension between conformist and progressive representations of marriage. This question is first contextualised by explaining the genre of the novel of manners as well as the matrimonial laws in place. It’s above all deepened at the level of the representation of the functions, values and customs of marriage in the three novels, as well as the relational systems between characters. This allowed us to consider the axis of marriage as an institution that gives rise to ideological tensions focused on the legal status of women, arranged marriages, succession and family patrimony, celibacy, and adultery. Through comparative analysis, this dissertation has allowed us to recognise the fundamental thematic character and poetic specificities of the implications of marriage as a strategy at the heart of the 19th Century novel of manners. The unprecedented confrontation of three major works has allowed us to envision marriage as a keystone of the representation of women and a social dynamic that empowers the reconsideration of women.