A Daughter of Eve · Chapter
I: The Two Maries explained
The chapter introduces the two sisters, Marie-Angélique and Marie-Eugénie, and their upbringing under a strict, religious mother in the Marais.
What happens
The chapter introduces the two sisters, Marie-Angélique and Marie-Eugénie, and their upbringing under a strict, religious mother in the Marais. Their education was repressive, leaving them innocent and longing for independence. They married into different social spheres but maintained a close sisterly bond. The chapter contrasts their fates: Eugénie fell under the despotism of a parvenu, while Angélique was set adrift in high society without guidance.
Themes in this chapter
Female Education and Socialization
The chapter details the repressive education of the two Maries, emphasizing how their mother's strict religious upbringing left them innocent but unprepared for life.
Sisterly Bond
The sisters' close relationship is highlighted as their only comfort during their oppressive childhood and continues into their married lives.
Characters to notice
- Marie-Angélique
The elder sister, described as stately and proud, now married and confiding in her sister.
- Eugénie
The younger sister, once a madcap, now married to a parvenu and consoling her sister.
- Comte de Granville
Father of the two Maries, a judge who lived apart from his wife and saved his sons from the repressive education.
- Comtesse de Granville
Mother of the two Maries, a pious and narrow-minded woman who imposed a strict religious upbringing.
Key passages
“The early home of Marie-Angélique and Marie-Eugénie was a dismal house in the Marais. Here they were brought up by a pious but narrow-minded woman, 'imbued with high principle,' as the classic phrase has it, who conceived herself to have performed the whole duty of a mother when her girls arrived at the door of matrimony without ever having traveled beyond the domestic circle embraced by the maternal eye.”
The sisters grew up in a gloomy house in the Marais, raised by a devout but rigid mother who believed her maternal duty ended when her daughters married, having never let them venture beyond her watchful gaze.
Describes the oppressive upbringing of the two Maries.
“Their only comfort in the depths of this maternal jail was drawn from each other. Their sweet whispered talks at night, the few sentences they could exchange when their mother left them for a moment, contained sometimes more thoughts than could be put in words.”
In their mother's strict household, the sisters found solace only in each other, sharing whispered conversations that conveyed deep emotions beyond words.
Highlights the sisterly bond as a refuge from their repressive environment.