Views of Voltaire and Molière on the Role of Women in French Cultural Life

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The role of women in society has been a controversial one. Most religions see women as being inferior to men and are of the view that women were created as a companion for men. A lot of our social morale stems from religion; hence this help to shape the view that woman is inferior and is to be submissive to their male counterpart. Society has set roles which each sex is expected to play. Gender role is a theoretical construct in the social sciences and humanities that refers to a set of social and behavioral norms that, within a specific culture, are widely considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex (Princeston.edu). Women are expected to be docile and agreeable, while men are expected to be head strong and opinionated. Women and men were never viewed as interdependent, the general consensus was that women were dependent on men and men were independent. With advancement and revolution this view has changed, this view is however still strong in the Muslim and Islamic society. Voltaire and Molière brought the role of women in the French society to life in their plays.
Molière in his play “The Learned Women” looked at four women Philamante, Belise, Armande and Henriette. The different female characters display the modern definition of feminism in varying degrees. Philamante the mother of Armande and Henriette, she was what Molière termed as a learned woman. She was educated, interested in philosophy and very opinionated and head-strong her husband (Chrysale) dear not go against her word or challenge her. These were supposedly attributes of men. Molière depicted Philamante as matriarch. Belise the sister of Chrysale was also among the learned women, she was depicted as being conceited, so as to tell Clitan...

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...est in education, but who merely sex slaves, prostitutes and merchandise used in trade and to pay-off debt. In contrast the female characters that Moliere brought to life except Henriette felt the only way for women upliftment was through education while the females in Voltaire story felt the only way they would live comfortable was through marrying into wealth or becoming the mistress of a wealthy man.

Works Cited

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Gender_role.html http://archive.org/stream/candide19942gut/19942.txt https://blackboard.american.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1884848-dt-content-rid-7243059_1/courses/HIST-110-001-2013F/Learned%20Women%281%29.pdf http://sakridge.umwblogs.org/portfolio/english-295/the-position-of-women-in-voltaires-candide/ http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/candide/characters.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/candide/summary.html

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