Trauma and the fight against fate: L'île de la demoiselle and La cage by Anne Hebert

The paper deals with two Anne Hebert's dramas The cage and L'île de la Demoiselle. These dramatic plays are inspired from the tragic incidents of two women's lives, who were historical persons: Marguerite de la Roque, who lived in France in the 16th century and Marie-Josephte Corriveau, who lived in Canada in the 18th century. Their tragic lives formed the core for a short story of Marguerite de Navarre about Marguerite de la Roque, and a series of books and songs in French and English about the legend of Corriveau.
These stories are restored in the texts of Anne Hebert, through a procedure that enlightens the ambiance and the mentalities of these male-dominated eras, responsible for the cruel fate of the two women. The two rewritings review the events and the attitudes against the two women, in a way that makes it possible to see the social structures that engendered their brutal fate. Moreover, the plots restate the historical facts through fiction, and they suggest some ways to escape from the stereotypes that persist, despite the social advances of the modern era.

Keywords: Anne Hebert; feminism; rewriting