Gender and violence in the tragedies and tragicomedies of seventeenth-century French female playwrights

This study explores representations of gender and violence in the works of seventeenth-century French female playwrights and in the context of early modern patriarchal society. It analyses the ways in which hitherto understudied female-authored plays align with expected constructions of gender dynamics and, drawing upon New Historicist thinking, the extent to which their theatre interacts with ongoing debates surrounding the role of women in society. As the first study of its kind, I demonstrate how dramatic violence — a problematic aesthetic issue tied to growing concerns over theatre’s ability to serve the socio-political agenda — provides fertile territory for examining contemporary power relations, and how close critical engagement with the theme in female-authored works enables a richer understanding of the tensions inherent to early modern sexual politics. Structured in three chapters, this thesis first sets out the climate in which early modern French female playwrights were operating. Given that the period was one in which the traditional status of women was being refined, I draw upon a wide range of cultural works to demonstrate how questions regarding the sexual (im)balance of power pervade all aspects of society, paying particular attention to the role played by theatre and the violence therein. Chapters II and III take as their focus the tragedies and tragicomedies of Françoise Pascal (Agathonphile martyr; Sésostris) and Madame de Villedieu (Manlius; Nitétis). Through close critical readings of their plays, I contend that these women exploit theatrical violence to subtly undermine the established gender hierarchy. I conclude that these works push against patriarchal systems and should be recognised as constituting an innovative and influential contribution to the seventeenth-century dramatic canon. In so doing, this thesis contributes new insights into our understanding of the construction of gender dynamics in early modern France, its theatre, and the evolutions of its dramatic aesthetics regarding gender and violence.