Montesquieu's Harem and Diderot's Convent: The Woman as Prisoner

Author(s): Ruth P. Thomas

Source: The French Review , Oct., 1978, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Oct., 1978), pp. 36-45
Published by: American Association of Teachers of French

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/389521

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THE FRENCH REVIEW, Vol. LII, No. 1, October 1978 Printed in U.S.A.

Montesquieu's Harem and Diderot's

Convent: The Woman as Prisoner1

by Ruth P. Thomas

CONVENTS AND HAREMS ABOUND in French literature and particularly in

the fiction of the eighteenth century. In La Religieuse dans la litterature
franqaise by Jeanne Ponton, the bibliography of that literature in eight-
eenth-century French fiction has about twelve pages.2 No systematic study
exists for the harem, but Pierre Martino in L'Orient dans la litterature
franqaise au XVIIe et au XVIIIe siecle points out how much the harem
formed an integral part of the innumerable oriental tales of eighteenth-
century France.3 Harems occur in the theater and contes philosophiques of
Voltaire, in the novels of Prevost and Diderot. That there is some kind of a
rapport between the convent and the harem was suggested at least as early
as 1687 by the traveler Chardin who compared the harem of the Persian
kings to a "couvent de nonnes."4 Yet the literature itself would seem to belie
this statement. As Jeanne Ponton has noted, many of the works dealing
with nuns treat them only as women: "L'heroine-religieuse, dans bien des
cas, ne se distingue de ses sceurs litteraires que par le cadre ... Elle est
religieuse et l'on n'a plus a se preoccuper de son etat ... Mais on n'a pas
oublie qu'elle est femme: on la traitera desormais comme toutes les heroines
de roman ou de theatre."5 Harems also are not considered in themselves, but
only as a necessary background, a conventional decor for erotic and gallant
adventure. With Montesquieu's Lettres persanes and Diderot's La Reli-
gieuse, however, the harem and the convent are treated as institutions in
themselves, representing sociological truth, not merely literary background,
and their social and psychological effects upon the individual are studied.6
1 An abridged version of this article was presented as a paper at the March 1978 meeting of
the Northeast Modern Language Association in Albany. I wish to thank my husband, Ronald
Boss, and Rita Mall for their helpful suggestions.
2 Jeanne Ponton, La Religieuse dans la litterature francaise (Quebec: Les Presses de
l'Universite Laval, 1969), pp. 374-86.
: Pierre Martino, L'Orient dans la litterature franqaise (1906; rpt. Geneve: Slatkine Reprints,
1970), p. 257.
4 Chardin, Voyages en Perse, quoted in Paul Verniere, ed., Lettres persanes, by Montesquieu
(Paris: Garnier Freres, 1960), p. 13, n. 1. All textual references to the Lettres persanes are to
this edition.
5 Ponton, p. 19.
6 "Les Lettres Persanes ont le m6rite de l'originalite en ce qu'elles consacrent l'isolement du
theme du serail traite en soi et pour soi, en meme temps que dans ses implications morales,
36

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MONTESQUIEU AND DIDEROT: THE WOMAN AS PRISONER 37

Although they seem to be diametrically opposed-one worldly, the othe

religious, one suggesting erotic mysteries, the other presuming renounce
ment and chastity, one frivolous, the other serious-the parallels betwee
the two institutions are striking. Not the least striking of all is the presence
of conflicting values within each institution.
The convent and the harem are obviously both prisons for women. Th
cells, the bars and the grills of the convent, the "verrous" and the "portes" of
the harem which, as Usbek writes to his wife Zachi, "vous tiennent
enfermee" (p. 49), are simply the visible signs of the prison-like character of
each institution. Equally evident is the highly regimented and very rigid
quality of life in both establishments. To the various offices and routines
and prayers to which Suzanne and her companions are subject correspond
the "vie reglee," the regulations and strictures of harem life. Usbek's wives
have their separate quarters; they are forbidden to remain alone with a
white eunuch or a female slave; set practices are followed on an outing in
the country. Convent life is by definition collective and communal; so too is
the harem, for although the individual relationships of Usbek and his wives
are personal and private, he can write one letter to all of the women or give
his eunuch instructions for the entire group. For the nun, like the woman in
the harem, life is circumscribed within the narrowest limits, and this
circumscription is not without irony when the relative length of time spent
within the institution is considered: to enter a convent or a harem is to make
a commitment for life. Paradoxically, however, life itself, at least in the
convent, is frequently shortened, and thus the notion of temporal perma-
nence contrasts with spatial limitations.
Although the prison-like quality of each institution is obvious, it is
perhaps not quite so evident that the authority in each case has a similar
origin and nature in the novels. The convent and the harem are both male-
dominated and male-centered. The despotic master rules the harem, while
authority in the convent is in the hands of the vicars, archdeacons, and
other members of the clergy, although the ultimate male authority stems, of
course, from the figure of Christ himself. And as the harem can exist only in
a male-dominated Oriental state ("la servitude des femmes est tres conforme
au genie du gouvernement despotique, qui aime a abuser de tout"7), so the
convent is the outgrowth of a male-centered European society. The magis-
trates and judges before whom Suzanne's case is pleaded and who uphold
the rule of the convent, the step-father and brothers-in-law whose refusal to

individuelles et sociales" (Marie-Louise Dufrenoy, L'Orient romanesque en France 1704-1789

[Montreal: Editions Beauchemin, 1946], p. 163). "II y a ... dans la Religieuse un double theme,
celui des vocations forc6es et celui de la vie monastique; et ce double theme est traite du
double point de vue psychologique et social, ou, si l'on veut, du double point de vue de la
morale individuelle et de la morale collective" (Georges May, Diderot et "La Religieuse" [New
Haven: Yale University Press, and Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1954], p. 196).
7 Montesquieu, De l'esprit des lois, in (Euvres completes, II, ed. Roger Caillois, "Biblio-
theque de la Pleiade" (Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1951), Livre XVI, ch. 9, p. 514.

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38 FRENCH REVIEW

share with her the family heritage forces her into the convent in the first
place, the marquis to whom her memoires are addressed and on whom she
depends for her liberty-all show the male-centered social structure.
The masculine authority in each institution, moreover, is always an
absent one, one that remains more of an idea than an actual person. Christ
is, of course, a spiritual rather than a material presence, and the vicars and
other clerics who hear confessions and complaints and decide the law in La
Religieuse are only occasional visitors. In Montesquieu's harem Usbek's
travels make him spatially absent. But even when he is in Persia, the
proliferation of wives and their individual needs would make it impossible
for him to be present for each wife more than a fraction of the time. Usbek is
the absent master in yet another way. The number of wives has brought
satiety rather than satisfaction, and he himself remarks: "Je me trouve ...
dans une insensibilite qui ne me laisse point de desirs. Dans le nombreux
serail oiu j'ai vecu, j'ai prevenu l'amour et l'ai detruit par lui-meme" (p. 18).
Although physically absent, the male is nevertheless very much a pres-
ence. His authority is delegated to those whom he has chosen and who
thereby become extensions of the master himself. Usbek's chief eunuch
observes: "Je me trouve dans le serail comme dans un petit empire" (p. 24),
and the master tells the head of the black eunuchs that in the harem "tu
commandes en maitre comme moi-meme" (p. 13). Suzanne compares th
mother superior of the convent to a ruler and notes that "les favorites d
regne anterieur ne sont jamais les favorites du regne qui suit."8 When sh
revolts, refuses to do anything which is not clearly prescribed, and convinc
some of her companions to do the same, she remarks that "l'autorite de
maitresses se trouva tres bornee; elles ne pouvaient plus disposer de nou
comme de leurs esclaves" (pp. 267-68). Paradoxically, of course, those wh
rule are at the same time those who serve, and they too are prisoners of th
system which oppresses them.
The paradox inherent in the condition of the eunuch and the mothe
superior and other nuns who rule leads to other paradoxes. Because they
represent the absent master, the eunuch and the mother superior become by
their simple presence more formidable and more feared than the master
himself. Revolt and sedition are directed against them. But since they are
prisoners, their power is illusory. The mother superior can punish Suzanne
but she cannot liberate her. As for the eunuchs, theirs is "ce vain fantome
d'une autorite qui ne se communique jamais tout entiere," for, as the chief
eunuch writes to Usbek, "Nous ne representons que faiblement la moitie de
toi-meme: nous ne pouvons que leur [the women] montrer une odieuse
severite. Toi, tu temperes la crainte par les esperances; plus absolu quand tu
caresses, que tu ne l'es quand tu menaces" (p. 199).
Through the eunuchs in the harem and the nuns who direct the convent,
male values permeate the convent and the harem rnd determine the nature
8 Diderot, La Religieuse, in (Euvres romanesques, ed. Henri Benac (Paris: Garnier Freres,
n. d.), p. 267. Subsequent references to La Religieuse are all to this edition.

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MONTESQUIEU AND DIDEROT: THE WOMAN AS PRISONER 39

and constitution of each. The woman is viewed within a masculine frame-

work which she tends subsequently to adopt as her own. Seen in this
perspective, the woman is an object or commodity whose value can be fixed
in material terms. Suzanne is worth "un millier d'ecus" to the convent at
Longchamp, and when she changes convents she finds that each religio
institution demands a similar tribute. A harem wife costs "cent tomans"; at
least such is the price when Usbek's head eunuch buys one for his maste
brother. The notion of woman as object is reinforced many times in
Montesquieu's novel when Usbek decides the "querelle" of his wives as t
which one is the most beautiful by examining them everywhere and "da
mille situations diff6rentes" (p. 15), or when the chief of the black eunuch
buys a slave for his master and, as he remarks, "je l'examinai avec les
regards d'un juge" (p. 168). As an object, the woman has a decorative
function: she embellishes the masculine social setting. Usbek would like
see his wives once again "dans ce lieu charmant qu'elles embellissent" (
14), and he makes the wish that his daughter, still a child, "soit ...
l'ornement du serail oiu elle est destinee" (p. 155). In the convent also Suzanne
is told by the mother superior: "Soeur Suzanne est une tres belle religieuse,
on vous en aimera davantage" (p. 239).
Not only is the woman considered an object in the male-oriented society of
which the convent and the harem are themselves outgrowths, but she is
reserved for the exclusive possession of a single master. Christ has many
brides, Usbek, many wives. In each institution female purity becomes a
major concern. Usbek's letters to his wives and some of their responses
describe the harem in terms that might be applied to the convent itself. The
harem is "le s6jour de l'innocence" (p. 59), "les sacres murs oiu la pudeur
habite" (p. 129), a place where harem wives "consacrent" their daughters.
According to Usbek, "le serail est plut6t fait pour la sante que pour les
plaisirs: c'est une vie unie, qui ne pique point" (p. 73). Like the veil of the
nun, the veil worn by the harem wife is "un bandeau sacre" (p. 59). Purity in
the convent is physical and moral. The confessions, macerations, "amende
honorable," and other practices of convent life in Diderot's novel preserve
moral purity. Indeed the effort of the spiritual directors of Saint-Eutrope to
keep from Suzanne the truth about the lesbianism of the mother superior so
that the heroine may remain "une fleur delicate ... fraiche et sans tache"
(p. 367), without those "lumieres funestes" which, she is told, "vous ne
pourriez acquerir sans y perdre" (p. 380), is ample proof of the value which a
male-oriented society places on female innocence and purity.
Closely related to the notion of female innocence and purity is another
image of the woman which appears in the two novels. The woman is viewed
as a weak and dependent creature, incapable of rational choices and
requiring control from outside herself; hence the necessity for the convent
and the harem in the first place. In Montesquieu's novel woman's vulnera-
bility stems from the animal-like quality of her own nature, and thus Usbek
can write to his wife Zachi of her "inclinations der6glees" (p. 49) and observe

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40 FRENCH REVIEW

that only in the harem "votre sexe ... se trouve invincible malgre tous les
desavantages de la nature" (p. 50). Diderot, who specifically compares
women to animals in Les Bijoux indiscrets, suggests in his later work that
the weakness is an intellectual one. So Suzanne speaks of the "tetes folles de
religieuses" (p. 282), and notes that "il y a dans les comunautes des tetes
faibles; c'est meme le grand nombre" (p. 294). Nor has the heroine managed
to free herself from the prejudices surrounding the female condition, for as
she observes, "Je suis une femme, j'ai l'esprit faible comme celles de mon
sexe" (p. 308).
To insure their purity and to make them "sentir leur extreme dependance"
(L. p., p. 13), the women of the convent and the harem are maintained in a
state of ignorance. The "sagesse" which Usbek acquires through his travels
and experience is denied to the women in their confinement, while reading,
another source of wisdom, does not seem to figure prominently among the
occupations or distractions of the institutional life. It is no coincidence that
when the new mother superior of Longchamp wishes to reestablish order,
she confiscates the Bibles of the nuns in her charge or that the seditious
Suzanne immediately manages to procure herself another one. Ignorance
engenders fear, and this sentiment is expressly cultivated and exploited by
a male-oriented society. Suzanne is constantly warned of the dangers of "le
monde," first by the pere Seraphin ("Vous refusez un couvent, peut-etre
regretterez-vous de n'y pas etre. ... Vous ne savez pas ce que c'est que la
peine, le travail, l'indigence" [p. 250]), then by her mother ("L'idee de vous
imaginer dans le monde sans secours, sans appui, jeune, acheverait de
troubler mes derniers instants" [p. 266]), and finally by sceur Sainte-Ursule,
her friend at Longchamp ("Que ferez-vous dans le monde? Vous avez de la
figure, de l'esprit et des talents; mais on dit que cela ne mene a rien avec la
vertu" [p. 280]). The harem wife is also conditioned to believe that life
outside the harem walls is fraught with danger. Zachi writes to Usbek, "Que
les voyages sont embarrassants pour les femmes. ... Nous sommes, a tous
les instants, dans la crainte de perdre notre vie ou notre vertu" (p. 98).
Usbek assures Roxane that in the harem "nul peril ne vous fait trembler"
(p. 60), and that there she is "inaccessible aux attentats de tous les humains"
(p. 59). The isolation becomes insulation, and paradoxically the prisons of
the harem and the convent also represent a haven, a refuge, "un asile
favorable contre les atteintes du vice" (L.p., p. 50), a "douce retraite" (L.p.,
p. 60) from an evil and dangerous world.
Ironically, however, these institutions which are perceived of as an escape
from the world are themselves among the most worldly of all. Life in the
harem is dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure, not merely on the part of the
master, but also for the wives. Indeed the master's pleasure depends on the
satisfaction of the wives. Writing to the head of the black eunuchs, Usbek
instructs him of the pleasures and entertainment which, in his absence, the
eunuch is to provide for Usbek's wives: "Trompe leurs inquietudes; amuse-
les par la musique, les danses, les boissons d6licieuses; persuade-leur de

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MONTESQUIEU AND DIDEROT: THE WOMAN AS PRISONER 41

s'assembler souvent" (p. 13). Convent life is frequently not very different. At
Saint-Eutrope, where religious exercises are quickly expedited by an indul-
gent mother superior less interested in the spiritual perfection than the
physical satisfaction of her community, Suzanne is requested to entertain
the nuns ("Amuse-nous; joue d'abord, et puis apres tu chanteras" [p. 334]),
and the music is secular. When the heroine performs religious music, the
mother superior's reaction is: "Chante-nous quelque chose de plus gai" (p.
334). The somber convent of Longchamp is compared to a theater where
concerts are given ("Je chantai assez bien pour exciter avec tumulte ces
scandaleux applaudissements que l'on donne a vos comediens dans leurs
salles de spectacle" [p. 279]), and it is Suzanne's talents as a musician which
enable her to enter Longchamp in spite of the scandal which she has caused.9
To the "boissons delicieuses" of the harem corresponds the coffee drinking of
the convent, which itself becomes a kind of social ritual allowing the nuns,
like Usbek's wives, to "s'assembler souvent." So Suzanne describes the little
scene that takes place at Saint-Eutrope the morning after her arrival. She
greets the mother superior and observes that "elle etendait un mouchoir sur
la table, en d6ployait un autre sur moi, versait le caf6, et le sucrait. Les
autres religieuses en faisaient autant les unes chez les autres. ... On se mit
en gaiete" (pp. 333-34). The little tableaux which Suzanne paints also show
the very sociable and socializing quality of convent life. To the natural
sociability of communal life in each institution is added the sociability of
worldliness.
If sociability offers pleasures, it brings problems as well. The presence of
others corrupts the individual and leads to the creation of social passions
and vices, a fact which takes on particular irony in the convent, where the
nuns assure not that they will be saved but instead that they will be
damned. Just as Usbek's wives even in his absence adorn themselves to
enhance their own self-image ("Quoique je ne doive etre vue de personne, et
que les ornements dont je me pare soient inutiles a ton bonheur, je cherche
cependant a m'entretenir dans l'habitude de plaire. Je ne me couche point
que je ne me sois parfumee des essences les plus d6licieuses" [p. 20]), so
when the nuns of Saint-Eutrope meet their new director, "chacune cherchait
a se faire valoir" (p. 382). Suzanne herself learns vanity and coquetry; she is
taught to walk in her habit so as to be most appealing, and she is given a
lesson in the "graces monastiques" (p. 239). Diderot uses his heroine,
moreover, to make an ironic commentary on the convent, for not only does
Suzanne lose her innocence in the convent, but her very innocence becomes
a corrupting force for others such as Mme de Moni, the superior of Saint-
Eutrope, and the director of Saint-Eutrope, dom Morel.10 To the envy and
jealousy and rivalry of the convent where each mother superior like each
master has her favorites ("Le nom de favorites est celui que les autres
9 For a discussion of the worldliness of Longchamp and Saint-Eutrope see Ponton, pp. 89-91.
10 English Showalter, Jr., in The Evolution of the French Novel 1641-1782 (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1972), pp. 327-28, makes this point.

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42 FRENCH REVIEW

donnent par envie aux bien-aimees de la superieure" [p. 258]) correspond the
envy and jealousy and rivalry of the harem where, as the head of the black
eunuchs writes to his master, "il n'y a aucune de tes femmes qui ne se juge
au-dessus des autres par sa naissance, par sa beaute, par ses richesses, par
son esprit, par ton amour, et qui ne fasse valoir quelques-uns de ces titres
pour avoir toutes les preferences" (p. 132). The internal dissension notwith-
standing, both institutions place a great deal of emphasis on a good public
image which must ultimately reflect the master himself. The mother
superior of Longchamp is fearful lest Suzanne break her vows and leave the
convent, for as she tells the young woman, "Vous voulez nous d6shonorer,
nous rendre et devenir la fable publique" (p. 287). The overriding concern of
the mother superior is "Que dira le monde?" (p. 288). Usbek also prefers
"une obscure impunite qu'une correction eclatante" (p. 18), and he trembles
at the thought of the disorder in the harem lest, as he confides to his friend
Nessir, "des chatiments que je prononcerai moi-meme soient des marques
6ternelles de ma confusion" (p. 329).
As worldly and social and socializing as they be, the convent and the
harem are nonetheless prisons. Diderot's novel was specifically written to
depict the denaturalizing and desocializing effects of the convent, and
although Montesquieu's work has no such avowed purpose, the result is the
same. Both novels record the physical, social and psychological changes
which occur when the individual is separated from society and deprived of
his liberty, for as Diderot has his heroine observe, "L'homme est ne pour la
societe; separez-le, isolez-le, ses idees se desuniront, son caractere se
tournera, mille affections ridicules s'eleveront dans son cceur; des pensees
extravagantes germeront dans son esprit" (p. 342). The physical alienation
described by Suzanne at each ceremony which draws her more deeply into
convent life ("Je n'entendais rien, je ne voyais rien, j'etais stupide" [p. 239];
"On disposa de moi pendant toute cette matinee qui a ete nulle dans ma vie
... je ne sais ni ce que j'ai fait, ni ce que j'ai dit" [p. 263]; "Quoi! madame, ne
vous etes-vous pas aperque vous-meme de mon alienation?" [p. 285]) is not
unlike the physical alienation of the eunuch who in order to become part of
the harem is forced, as Usbek's chief eunuch remarks, "de me separer pour
jamais de moi-meme" (p. 23). Sadism is a fact of life in the two institutions.
In the harem it satisfies the only passions the eunuch is still capable of
feeling-ambition and revenge. It gives him the illusion of becoming "whole"
once again. According to Usbek's head eunuch, "Je me charge volontiers de
la haine de toutes ces femmes, qui m'affermit dans le poste ofu je suis. ...
Quand je les prive de tout, il me semble que c'est pour moi. ... Ii me semble
que je redeviens homme dans les occasions oiu je leur commande encore" (p.
24). In the convent the sadism is even more pronounced; there is "un
raffinement de cruaut6" (p. 298) since "l'acharnement a nuire, a tourmenter,
se lasse dans le monde; il ne se lasse point dans les cloitres" (p. 270).
Lesbianism also figures prominently among the sexual aberrations of both
institutions. It is widely practiced in the harem, it would seem, where no
less that two of Usbek's wives disobey the harem laws and are found alone

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MONTESQUIEU AND DIDEROT: THE WOMAN AS PRISONER 43

with a female slave; while Diderot's portrayal of Saint-Eutrope demonstrates

that homosexuality has a central place in convent life. The prison produce
mental aberrations as well. Usbek's wives retreat into an unreal world of
memories, imagination and dreams. Usbek's wife Fatme writes to her
husband that "je me rappelle ce temps heureux ofu tu venais dans mes bra
... mon imagination se perd dans ses desirs, comme elle se flatte dans
esperances. ... La nuit se passe dans des songes qui n'appartiennent ni a
veille ni au sommeil" (p. 20). Zachi tells Usbek that in his absence "j'er
d'appartements en appartements, te cherchant toujours, et ne te trouv
jamais" (p. 14). The nuns who are haunted by visions of demons and gh
("Celles qui n'etaient pas du complot disaient qu'il se passait dans ma
chambre des choses 6tranges; qu'elles avaient entendu des voix lugubres,
des cris, des cliquetis de chaines, et que je conversais avec les revenants et
les mauvais esprits" [p. 2941) retreat for their part into an unreal world of
folly. The beginning and end of Suzanne's career in the convent are marked
by actual scenes of demented nuns. Indeed the theme of insanity appears
with such frequency that it has been called one of the leitmotifs of the
novel. 1
Like any prison, moreover, the harem and the convent represent a
microcosm of society. In a more concentrated and intensified fashion, the
prisoners merely reenact the roles they would play in society itself. There
are those who accept and adapt and are absorbed into the system which
oppresses them. Such a person is Usbek's wife Zelis ("C'est en vain que l'on
nous parle de la subordination oui la Nature nous a mises. Ce n'est pas assez
de nous la faire sentir: il faut nous la faire pratiquer" [p. 129]) or Fatme who
assures her husband that "quand il me serait permis de sortir de ce lieu ...
Usbek, je te le jure, je ne choisirais que toi" (p. 20). Many of Suzanne's
companions at Longchamp and Saint-Eutrope have adjusted to religious life
and are therefore unsympathetic to the young woman's plight. Others do not
simply adjust and accept, but actively participate in the system, thus
becoming the oppressors themselves. Usbek's chief eunuch describes these
harem wives: "Plus nous avons de femmes sous nos yeux, moins elles nous
donnent d'embarras. ... Les unes sont sans cesse attentives sur les de-
marches des autres; il semble que, de concert avec nous, elles travai
se rendre plus dependantes; elles font une partie de notre ouvrage e
ouvrent les yeux quand nous les fermons" (p. 199). At Longchamp the
sadistic nuns, who urge the mother superior: "Point de misericorde,
madame; ne vous laissez pas toucher" (p. 275) and who torment Suzanne,
gain not merely the illusion of power, but pleasure and profit as well: "Les
mechantes creatures que des femmes recluses, qui sont bien suires de
seconder la haine de leur superieure, et qui croient servir Dieu en vous
desesperant!" (p. 298). Finally there are those like Roxane and Suzanne who
rebel and revolt against the oppressive system, all the more dangerous
when, as in the case of Suzanne, they incite others too. Yet paradoxically

" May, p. 219.

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44 FRENCH REVIEW

this revolt is itself a sign of dependency and defeat. Even in seeking her
liberty Suzanne accepts the system on which the convent is based by acting
within the law to rescind her vows. When she at last escapes from the
convent, she cannot adapt or function in society, and were it possible for her
to return to the convent, she admits she would do so. Roxane's suicide is also
an expression of defeat and failure. She dies because, as she asks, "que
ferais-je ici, puisque le seul homme qui me retenait a la vie n'est plus?" (p.
334). She is defined only in terms of the man whom she has loved, and
without him she has no identity. Montesquieu shows, moreover, in his novel
that even the most liberated of women are entrapped by the cultural modes
of a male society. Zulema, who recounts the story of Ibrahim, is presented as
a highly intelligent and extraordinary woman ("Les docteurs arabes
n'avaient rien de si mysterieux qu'elle n'en comprit tous les sens" [p. 297]).
She is so conditioned by male values, however, that she can conceive of
paradise only in terms of the male model: "Les femmes vertueuses iront
dans un lieu de delices, ofu elles seront enivrees d'un torrent de voluptes
avec des hommes divins qui leur seront soumis: chacune d'elles aura un
s6rail dans lequel ils seront enfermes, et des eunuques encore plus fideles
que les notres, pour les garder" (p. 298).
The ultimate paradox of the convent and the harem is that in making the
woman a prisoner, the male becomes a prisoner of his own system. Usbek,
like any despot, lives in constant fear of the disorder which in his absence
may ensue: "Je vois une troupe de femmes laissees presque a elles-memes; je
n'ai que des ames laches qui m'en repondent. J'aurais peine a etre en surete
si mes esclaves etaient fideles. Que sera-ce, s'ils ne le sont pas?" (p. 18). His
wife Zelis points out the paradoxical nature of the male and female positions:
"Dans la prison meme ou tu me retiens, je suis plus libre que toi ... tes
soupgons, ta jalousie, tes chagrins sont autant de marques de ta dependance"
(p. 130). The male-oriented eighteenth-century European society has a
similar fear of the convent. Any change in the institution undermines the
order of society as a whole. So Suzanne speaks of her desire to leave the
convent and observes: "Les contestations de la nature de la mienne sont
toujours regardees d'un ceil defavorable par l'homme politique, qui crain
que, sur le succes d'une religieuse reclamant contre ses voeux, une infini
d'autres ne soient engag6es dans la meme demarche: on sent secretemen
que, si l'on souffrait que les portes de ces prisons s'abattissent en faveu
d'une malheureuse, la foule s'y porterait et chercherait a les forcer" (p. 310)
Through the convent and the harem, moreover, the male deprives himsel
not only of his liberty, but of his posterity as well. Montesquieu has Usbek
remark, in words that Diderot will later paraphrase in his novel, that
religious houses are "ouvertes comme autant de gouffres oiu s'ensevelissent
les races futures" (p. 247). In each of these religious institutions there
"une famille eternelle, oiu il ne nait personne" (p. 247), and indeed the term
"mother" and "sister" take on almost ironic connotations in the convent
where the nuns totally renounce the femininity normally associated w

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MONTESQUIEU AND DIDEROT: THE WOMAN AS PRISONER 45

these conditions. The harem also robs the male of his future. Polygamy, like
religious celibacy, Usbek points out, is one of the causes of depopulation
The large number of women, he tells his friend Rhedi, is "plus propre a nou
epuiser qu'a nous satisfaire," and he observes that "il est tres ordinaire
parmi nous de voir un homme dans un s6rail prodigieux avec un tres peti
nombre d'enfants. Ces enfants memes sont, la plupart du temps, faibles e
malsains et se sentent de la langueur de leur pere" (p. 240). Thus the harem
and the convent come to stand for sterility-the sterility of arrested
development as women are kept in a childlike, ignorant and dependent
state, and the sterility of infecundity and death.
The paradoxes inherent in the convent and the harem are repeated o
another level by the authors themselves. For while Montesquieu and Diderot
strongly espouse the libertarian principles of the Enlightenment, they show
a certain anti-feminism in some of their works. Diderot's portrayal of women
in Les Bijoux indiscrets and Jacques le fataliste is a fairly unflattering one,
while several of Montesquieu's writings reveal that he believes in the
superiority of the male sex.12 In depicting the convent and the harem
however, they show how the perversion of male values corrupts and destroy
society itself. In doing so they unwittingly become the champions of women's
rights.

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY

12 See Robert F. O'Reilly, "Montesquieu: Anti-Feminist," SVEC, 102 (1973), 143-56.

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