Contradictory Demands and Illusory Compliance: Women's Masks in Molière

While the Age of Absolutism is often characterized as a period of strong, centralized power, we can just as frequently observe dynamic examples of contestation and resistance. The heroines of Molière's La Princesse d'Elide and Le Misanthrope adopt the mask of the "unattainable maiden" to remain single, frustrating a collectivity that seeks to make them dependent on men through marriage. My analysis will show that the masks, although created by the women, are held in place with the complicity of the same communities of suitors that insist they be wed.