Trinity University Digital Commons @ Trinity Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research Modern Languages and Literatures Department 2002 Women and Marriage in Corneille's Theater Nina Ekstein Trinity University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/mll_faculty Part of the Modern Languages Commons Repository Citation Ekstein, N. (2002). Women and marriage in Corneille's theater. In R. G. Hodgson (Ed.), La femme au XVIIe siècle: Actes du colloque de Vancouver, University of British Columbia, 5-7 Octobre 2000 (pp. 391-405). Narr. This Contribution to Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at Digital Commons @ Trinity. It has been accepted for inclusion in Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Trinity. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Women and Marriage in Corneille's Theater Nina Ekstein (Trinity University) Marriage is ubiquitous in Corneille's theater: there is not a single one of his plays in which marriage is not an issue, in which at least one union is not proposed. I In part this state of affairs is due to the fact that the vast majority of Corneille's characters are marriageable. While marriageability is hardly unusual among the young, Corneille inevitably takes his char acters at precisely the dramatic moment when the choice of life partner is to be made. For Corneille, that moment is not even limited to the young; not infrequently older characters are in need of a spouse as well. One could argue that marriage is simply a commonplace of seventeenth century theater.2 Indeed, the central role of marriage in the perpetuation of society at all levels makes it a rich choice.3 And while there is nothing inherently theatrical about marriage, per se, it is an ideal vehicle for inte grating the sentimental and the political, two central concerns in Corneille's work.