La place de <i>La comédie des quatre femmes</i> de Marguerite de Navarre (1542) dans le discours sur le célibat volontaire comme modèle de félicité de l'Arioste à Gabrielle Suchon

Abstract

In the Comedy for Four Women (1542), Marguerite de Navarre presents a dialogue among five female protagonists who express the delights and the torments that stem from the love of their suitors or husbands. This is true for all except the First Girl, who does not want to have anything to do with love or marriage. This article examines the special status of the character of the First Girl, an apparent forerunner of a new way of life for women. Specifically, it explores the potential for a sixteenth-century young woman to live a life without a suitor and, moreover, to proclaim that wilful celibacy is a source of genuine happiness rather than of the humiliating feeling of failure attached traditionally to a life outside of wedlock or religion. Moreover, in this play, Marguerite de Navarre makes a significant contribution to the idea of the dignity and happiness of wilful celibacy, while taking part in the Querelle des amies debate. Finally, this article gathers data on the historical and fictional characters that emerged before and after Marguerite’s Comedy, leading to the development of a positive view of the unmarried woman, which culminated in Gabrielle Suchon’s manifesto, Du célibat volontaire, in 1700. The data reflect a growing demographic trend, as well as a shift in the hierarchy of female values: chastity is no longer an end in itself, the supreme feminine virtue, but a means to the end of freedom and felicity.