The parents expose and denounce
each other's villainies; Julie and Antonin, in a great scene of conjugal
recrimination, lay bare the hypocrisies of allurement that have brought
them together. Julie then determines to escape from the loathsome
prison-house of her marriage; and this brings us to the second part of
the theorem. The title shows that Julie has two sisters; but hitherto
they have remained in the background. Why do they exist at all? Why has
Providence blessed M. Dupont with "three fair daughters and no more"?
Because Providence foresaw exactly the number M. Brieux would require
for his demonstration. Are there not three courses open to a penniless
woman in our social system--marriage, wage-earning industry, and
wage-earning profligacy? Well, M. Dupont must have one daughter to
represent each of these contingencies. Julie has illustrated the
miseries of marriage; Caroline and Angele shall illustrate respectively
the still greater miseries of unmarried virtue and unmarried vice.
Pages:
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323