Australia and the World Past and Present

The novel Paul and Virginia was published on the eve of the French Revolution.

It dealt with the themes of equality and inequality. It advocates virtue over birth.

The novel offers a critique of European society at the time. It criticises social inequality through sentiment rather than politics. It is more moral fable than political manifesto. The work doesn’t call for social revolution even though revolution is exactly what would take place in France a short time later. This is one reason we can be sure than Saint-Pierre’s depiction of social inequality was shared my many of his French readers.

The novel was considered ‘safe’ to read. Reformist-minded men could read it without worrying that they would be charged with subversion or treason.

Women could read it as a tragic love story. They were given the example of two mothers, drawing upon each other for support and making their own way in the world – largely without help of men. They were clearly devoted to their children and were successful in providing them with a happy childhood.

Saint-Pierre was a contemporary of Rousseau. While the two writers cover many of the same themes, Rousseau’s writing was more dense and abstract, while Saint-Pierre’s had a more literary quality. It was lighter and more free-flowing. Saint-Pierre offered philosophy without theory.

The literary scene in France was ripe for books about nature, love, and sentiment.

Mothers could feel secure reading the novel to their children.

Some women may read it as a tale of female suppression. Others may identify with the suffering borne by Madame de la Tour or Margaret. The book presented innocent suffering as morally ennobling. In Paul and Virginia, women live their lives under the weight of other people’s expectations. Their education is controlled by others. Who they marry is not their decision alone.

On the other hand, Madame de la Tour and Margaret can be seen as more independent or feminist characters. Both choose their own companions – against the wishes of their families. Both travel to a distant land to start a new life. Both work hard and raise children.

Virginia is feminine, innocent and gentle. But ultimately she shows a determined strength. She refuses to compromise by marrying someone other than Paul.

The book may have fired the imagination of children. Like Robinson Crusoe, it was tale about a far-off land. Life in the valley was largely secure and peaceful. The setting is beautiful and exotic. In the valley of Paul and Virginia’s childhood there was not much death or pain. Slavery is there, but it is somewhat sanitised and non-threatening.

Paul and Virginia has elements of exoticism and escapism. It offers dramatic landscapes. One can imagine European readers, stifled under their strict social conventions, dreaming of being transported to this tropical paradise where people lived a simpler, and in many ways, freer lives.

Most of the story conveys a pastoral ideal. Later on, Virginia is uprooted to Europe and the story culminates in her tragic death.

Paul and Virginia became deeply rooted in French culture. It deals with themes that were readily received in late 18th-century France. There is love, sincerity and loyalty. The storytelling is fast and light. It could appeal to a cross-section of society – male and female; the young and the old. It was in partly a tragic love story and partly a social critique of inequality and slavery. Contemporary critics may suggest that they novel romanticises the plight of women and slaves. It is easy to apply the moral judgements of today to a book written more than 200 hundred years ago. That, in essence, is reading history backwards. To a person reading the work when it was first published, Saint-Pierre’s book would have seemed socially progressive.