Les relations de pouvoir entre hommes et femmes dans Monsieur Vénus, La Marquise de Sade et La Jongleuse de Rachilde

Abstract

This thesis is about balance of power between men and women in three of Rachilde's novels. It analyzes the relations and interactions between the male and female characters, and the evolution of these aspects throughout the three novels, which were published over a period of 16 years.

Rachilde was a french woman writer who got famous at the age of 24, when her first novel, Monsieur Vénus, published in 1884, was quickly censored for its contents, which were considered pornographic. Being a woman writer contributing to the misogynistic art movement called Decadence, Rachilde offered a rare feminine perspective in a time where woman's place in society was not enviable.

The books I deal with are Monsieur Vénus, published in 1884, followed by La Marquise de Sade in 1887 and the last book, La Jongleuse, was written in 1900.

I argue in this thesis that the relations and interactions between the male and female characters are the following: the female main characters are entirely independent of men, and control them. The female second characters need men for their survival. The men, on the other hand, despise the female second characters, and are the toys of the female main characters. The female main and second characters evolve throughout the three books: from being portrayed as egocentric in Monsieur Vénus, in La Marquise de Sade they learn to cooperate, and in La Jongleuse they cooperate stronger, forming an alliance with each other in order to reach their goals, involving the male characters.