Abstract :

Louis-Benoît Picard (1769-1828) engaged himself, since 1812, in revising his plays, arranging them in order and justifying them with prefaces expressing his ideas and principles. These (later) prefaces are rich in analysis, judgment and reflection, and represent ideas relating to comedy and the talent of the playwright. The object of this research is to explain how Picard used his prefaces as a doctrinal corpus of his dramatic production. To do this, we will analyze the various prefaces of Picard to identify the precise principles of his comedy and his theater in general.

Feminism has been repeatedly studied in several kinds of books including literary works. This study applied and studies Simon de Beauvoir’s existentialist feminism as expounded in The Second Sex (1953) to examine the presentation of female characters in Picard’s Les Visitandines (1793). The study adopted the qualitative approach that went along with the philosophical premises of the study that is constructivism. To achieve the aims of the study and answer the study questions, the study adopted the thematic analysis approach. The application of this thematic analysis referred to the suitability of adopting this method with the nature of the topic. Results: after collecting the data from the selected text and applying the thematic analysis method to analyse them, the study exposed many points and findings. Major findings revealed that the female characters suffered from weakness and hesitation, which contrasts against what de Beauvoir explained in her book, confirming the real dilemma of existentialist feminism she talked about. What made the researcher sure of the real contribution of this study in the field of knowledge is that the world today lives in the same circumstances shown in the selected play; women in some areas still suffer from male dominancy and economic dependency.