The Princess of Cleves

PART ONE of your reflections on this forum is to consider aspects of the above.

In short, The Princess of Cleves is an historical romance, a category still enormously popular in novels today. Notice all of those on bookstore and supermarket shelves. They’re so ubiquitous, you can find historical romances in any Kroger or Publix supermarket. Many lay readers seek this particular type of novel for the personal pleasure of reading a romance. However, contemporary critical readers, as indicated in the introductory pages before the novel begins in our anthology, might read it for the psychological issues it raises. Or they may read it for the ways the personal stories serve as a representation of the social, political and economic dynamics of the era. That gives us two sets of considerations.

First, the psychological might warrant discussion through questions including “Is the princess honorable or needlessly cruel in confessing to her husband? Does she behave like a child or like a mature woman? Does she reject her lover at last out of virtue or (as she herself suggests) from fear of his eventual infidelity? Does she consolidate or yield her power by this rejection? Does she choose happiness or misery in committing herself to celibate widowhood?”

PART TWO of your reflections on this forum is to consider the above.

Now for the social, political and economic: By setting for readers as an example of reason controlling passion, one may read this work as an example of virtue, which serves to preserve the social order and, thus, the political and economic hegemony in place in 16th-Century France (which was linked to very similar systems in England, Germany, and Spain). Many early novels are about this very notion: Samuel Richardson’s Pamela is perhaps the most famous and obvious example in English novels. A question here might include: how does this virtuous protagonist princess of Cleves serve to maintain the social, political and economic order? What might readers of the time (and of today) come away talking about that would serve to inculcate the imbalance in power relations between men and women? What are the economic benefits and costs for women of maintaining such a system?

PART THREE of your reflections on this forum is to consider the above.

NOTES: Reflective writing is required in each of these forums! This is not about answering one question, then moving to the next, and so on. Furthermore, make sure your reflective writing always specifically references parts of the primary texts (using standard MLA guidelines). Also, using scholarly academic research to support one’s arguments always improves writing and moves it toward being more reflective. At the very minimum: Draw from the textbook, including the introductions to sections, authors, eras, etc.