A Study of the Feminine Characters in the Works of Émile Augier
Abstract
CHAPTER I WOMEN AND THE SOCIETY OF THE SECOND EMPIRE Les hommes font les lois, les femmes font les moeurs. (Guibert de Nogent) During the Second Empire, woman’s influence on French society was more evident than ever before. While men were drawing up the laws that resulted in the numerous political transformations of that period, women were gradually freeing themselves from traditional social constraints. Indeed, the exaltation of the common man and his ”rights" could scarcely leave the status of women untouched. Inevitably, woman’s rights would become the ensuing problem. Peu à peu la, femme prend conscience de son individualité, la femme de la haute société d’abord, celle du peuple ensuite, la citadine d’abord, la campagnarde plus tard. The political, economic and social developments of the era were ideal for the recognition of feminism. Of utmost importance was the Industrial Revolution. With the development of industry, the future of woman’s rights seemed to give ground for optimism. But progress was slow; the first traces of the movement were to be found in les moeurs.
Subject Area
Theater|Education|French literature
Recommended Citation
Murray, Grace Thérèse, "A Study of the Feminine Characters in the Works of Émile Augier" (1959). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI28673360.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI28673360
