Social and Legal Codes in le Roman bourgeois, Schémas de Littérature

Télécharge Social and Legal Codes in le Roman bourgeois et plus Schémas au format PDF de Littérature sur Docsity uniquement! Social and Legal Codes in le Roman bourgeois: The Signifier Gone Berserk by Dianne Guenin-Lelle Le Roman bourgeois is a text which focuses on the act of storytelling even as the narrator, who is the central organizing force of the narrative, claims to present the lives and loves of the novel's "bourgeois" characters. The central interest of the narrative is less on the characters themselves than on the narrative devices and strategies in the text, which are emphasized, exaggerated, and commented upon by the narrator. The focus on the fictional framework of the text, as well as on the fiction- making process itself, would link le Roman bourgeois with what has been referred to as the "reflexive novel" or "metafiction."1 — One of the strategies typical in le Roman bourgeois, as well as in the reflexive novel in general, is to question the representation of "reality" within the text. This is to say that the representation of physical "reality", literary codes, and even subjectivity are made problematic. The point of disruption is one way or another associated with the narrator, who systematically subverts accepted narrative strategies as he underscores the essential fictional nature of the work. The effect of this process is that the reader's willing suspension of disbelief can no longer be operative, since the focus of the narrative is not on the story told, but on the storytelling process itself (Boyd 7). The latter depends on the narrator who is both a fiction-maker and fictional construct, a force of cohesion and a voice of subversion. As examples of the narrator's subversive strategy within Furetiere's novel, we can examine the relationship between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, as well as the relationship between male and female characters within the bourgeoisie. From the very beginning of the work the qualifier "bourgeois" relegates a character to an inferior position, as he is seen to possess negative attributes; and thus he is distanced from the (implied) aristocratic model. This study, however, aims to demonstrate that the distinction between aristocracy and bourgeoisie is 162 DI ANNE GUENIN-LELLE ultimately erased, as the subversive play of the narrator effectively collapses of the codes and signs which define the bourgeoisie. This same process of destabilization through subversion is mirrored in the relationship between male and female characters in the text. At the outset the bourgeois society appears to be strictly patriarchal. Yet as will be seen further on in this study, the principal female characters successfully manipulate and subvert the patriarchy and, in the end, essentially become the writers of their own story. A study of the patriarchy of Book One of Le Roman bourgeois can begin with the narrator's description of the principal male characters. One salient feature is that virtually they all are affiliated with the legal profession. Morally, they are disgraceful, presented by the narrator as deceitful, self-serving, avaricious sorts whose chief aim is to subvert the legal system, which they are supposed to uphold, for personal gain.2 Vollichon, for instance, is presented as "un petit homme trapu, grisonnant, et qui etait de meme age que sa calotte ... la chicane s'etait emparee du corps de ce petit homme, de la maniere que le demon se saisit du corps d'un possede." His physical ugliness is mirrored by his moral standards: "II avait une antipathie naturelle contre la verite...." (Le roman bourgeois 41) Another bourgeois is Bedout, suitor of Javotte and eventual husband of Lucrece, who is totally devoid of personality and moral fiber: "II etait fils d'un marchand bonnetier qui etait devenu fort riche a force d'epargner sa barbe." (85) "II avait pourtant quelques bonnes qualites: car la chastete et la sobriete etaient en lui en un souverain degre, et generalement toutes les vertus epargnantes." (86) This awkward character, educated in avarice, continues in the tradition of his father. Avarice with Bedout is just as important an attribute as it is with Vollichon, both being obsessed as they are with acquiring and holding on to wealth at whatever cost. When a character is not obsessed with money in Le Roman bourgeois, he directs his efforts to transcending his social status through aping the aristocracy. Such a character is Nicodeme, Javotte's first suitor: "C'etait un de ces jeunes bourgeois qui, malgre leur naissance et leur education, veulent passer pour des gens du bel air, et qui croient, quand ils sont vetus a la mode et qu'ils meprisent SOCIAL AND LEGAL CODES... 165 of social class differentiation which has totally collapsed as this single character functions both as aristocrat and bourgeois. A similar blurring of social distinctions occurs in the relationship between male and female characters in the novel. The role and function of women depends on the class structure which places men in a position of power over women, since men control the legal system, the family unit, and the distribution of wealth. Men are therefore in a position to manipulate and dominate women. However, although officially women are relegated to a submissive role, they themselves effectively manipulate and subvert their social status so that by the end of the novel the three principle female characters have transcended their original situation. In Book One this is accomplished by Javotte and Lucrece using their beauty as a means of escaping their initial condition. The following passage, a reference to Lucrece, serves to demonstrate the point: "Toute sa fortune etait fondee sur les conquetes de ses yeux et de ses charmes ...." (46) Although women are relegated to the role of objects by men, their seduction of men motivates economic exchange as illustrated most clearly by the dowry. Once again society functions according to the signifier, as women's physical beauty is the major determinant of their place in society. In Book One women are first presented in their role as objects, which coincides with the role of signifiers. The early scene in the Eglise des Carmes depicts the quiteuses who collect money from men for the church. However, the amount of money that a quiteuse collects does not reflect generosity to the church on the part of the man making the donation. Instead, it measures the beauty of the queteuse herself. Thus, women are initially presented as a commodity whose worth is decided by men who control the wealth in society. A woman's beauty also determines whom she may marry. For example Nicodeme, is immediately overwhelmed by Javotte's beauty, falls in love and wants to marry her. The strict Tarif des manages, which lists the acceptable pairing of couples in marriage based on the dowry of the woman and the profession of the man, contains one loophole for women possessing extraordinary 166 DIANNE GUENIN-LELLE beauty (Alcover, q. v.). They are allowed to marry above their lot. As expected the institution of marriage perpetuates the of women. In the novel, control subordination is passed from father to husband, who himself is chosen by the father. This occurs once again because women function as a commodity, an object of exchange. Vollichon, responsible for his daughter's dowry, finds Nicodeme and later Bedout acceptable suitors because they are rich. They, in turn through their role of husband will control their families' fortune. Javotte, however, has no voice in the matter as she has been raised in a state of total ignorance of which her parents are proud. This makes her exceptionally pleasing to Bedout who wants a wife to be "... une fille fort jeune, car on la forme comme Ton veut avant qu'elle ait pris son pli." (90) As a bourgeoise daughter, Javotte's role is essentially to be silent in the face of parental authority since within the legal code silence represents agreement: "...nos lois portent en termes formels que qui ne dit mot semble consentir." (90) However, as we have seen, social and legal systems, far from being absolute, are constantly subverted. The freedom allowed Javotte by her parents after her marriage contract is secured makes it possible for her ultimate escape from the confines of bourgeois society. Before a marriage contract is drawn up a daughter represents a liability for her father, who is responsible for maintaining her "virtue." After the marriage contract is signed, a father's responsibility is eased. Because of Javotte's beauty, she is allowed entry into a salon referred to as the Academie bourgeoise, where she becomes educated in literature and in love, a situation which parallels Agnes's education in L'Ecole des femmes. Her parents lose control of her as her education in the Academie grows and she consequently rebels. They react by confining her to a convent, but as the narrator states, "Elle tomba, comme on dit, de fievre en chaud mal...." (154) Convents are presented as harboring numerous types of rebellious pensioners. There Javotte is able to spend time with her lover, Pancrace, something which would have been impossible if she were living with her parents. The convent ultimately allows for Javotte's final escape from bourgeois society, as she is kidnapped by Pancrace and vanishes from the novel. The reader is left with the SOCIAL AND LEGAL CODES... 167 impression that she could no longer be contained by the limits which bourgeois society would impose on her. The other principal female character of Book One, Lucrece, also gains freedom through subverting the official purpose of the marriage contract. From the beginning she is unlike Javotte in that she has no parents, being cared for by an aunt and uncle. She therefore has fewer restrictions at home and consequently has developed a stronger sense of her power as a woman. She scorns her bourgeois condition and actively attempts to rise above it through marriage. This is ironic since the very strategy is itself seen as bourgeois. She effectuates her means of escape by becoming involved with the Marquis since "...elle ne voulait point engager son coeur qu'en etablissant sa fortune." (66) She does not limit herself, however, to one suitor as she arranges to have two separate marriage contracts drawn up, one by the Marquis and the other by Nicodeme, supposedly as a joke. The marriage contracts become interdependent, since Nicodeme's contract, which was thought to be non-binding, becomes binding after the Marquis breaches his own. Lucrece, who finds herself pregnant by the Marquis, ends by profiting greatly from Nicodeme's handsome settlement. Lucrece continues to subvert the system as she, like Javotte, profits from her stay in convents. Her pregnancy is not discovered due to her changing convents at the appropriate time; since her move is to a supposedly nunnery, she appears ironically all the more pious and God-fearing. Lucrece's hypocrisy is so hidden that she is totally convincing in her role as exemplary Christian. From first being a victim of the Marquis' ruse, she succeeds in profiting greatly from manipulating the very institutions which would have ruined her. By her class's social undermining and religious standards she ultimately gains prestige in the eyes of society, as ultimately religious life serves her as a vehicle for finding a husband. Ironically she marries Bedout, who claims to want a young, innocent wife whom he could totally control. Lucrece is totally separated from her past as she completely enters her new role as wife. In the same way that Belastre represents a synthesis of the aristocratic and bourgeois character, another principal character of Book Two, Collantine, appears androgynous as