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Thinking Through Things: Magical Objects, Power, and Agency in French Fairy Tales
- Marvels & Tales
- Wayne State University Press
- Volume 30, Number 2, 2016
- pp. 191-209
- 10.13110/marvelstales.30.2.0191
- Article
- Additional Information
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Magical objects are a characteristic feature of the fairy-tale genre. In the fairy tales written by Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier, and Henriette-Julie de Murat between 1690 and 1709, objects animated by magic empower heroines to pursue their preferred lover and reject unwanted advances. I argue that the vital, lively things imagined by d’Aulnoy, L’Héritier, and Murat function as a metaphor for the agency of seventeenth-century women. Each author uses magical objects to aid, challenge, and constrain her heroines in a different way. These differences reflect an ideological divergence about the ability of seventeenth-century women to overcome the structural limits imposed on their agency.