처세술로서의 라 퐁텐 우화 = La Fontaine’s Fables as a Way of Life

La Fontaine’s Fables reflect a human society that is essentially dark and pessimistic. The human being by nature must struggle for survival. Mankind’s numerous vices and faults are revealed in his Fables. We can now pose a question: How should one behave in this cruel society? Among the many morals that the Fables teach, we can above all cite “prudence.” Exposed to a lot of dangers, man must be armed with prudence. Some fables, for example The Wolf, the Nanny-Goat, and the Kid (IV-15), The Wolf, the Mother, and the Child (IV-16), The Cat and the Rat (VIII-22), and more, show clearly that people who lack prudence come to a bad end. La Fontaine’s Fables specify that insatiability is one of the vices that provoke imprudence. In the end, La Fontaine advises us to adjust ourselves to our actual situation. This teaching can be applied to the life at the Court of Louis XIV. To survive under his reign of absolute power, the resigned life is the most important moral, in the view of La Fontaine.