And he shall rule over you: Genesis and the sexes in Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron

Abstract

AbstractIn the prologue to Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron, Hircan pronounces, ‘In the game, we are all equal.’ This declaration of equality among the group of would‐be storytellers is a surprising one, but its meaning – and Marguerite's point – is unclear. Is this a nascent feminist statement, or is it a theological one about the status of human beings before their God? In this paper, I will explore how the Heptaméron's frame story, along with the content of the tales themselves, both reveal Marguerite's approach to the question of equality between the sexes. Reading the Heptaméron through the biblical and exegetical lens of the book of Genesis suggests that a truce in the battle of the sexes may be more a question of accepting hard realities rather than hoping that men and women can overcome divisions that go back to the Fall.