Thus, Zola Creates Two Male Characters A Father And A Son - Who Marry Women

Thus, Zola creates two male characters a father and a son - who marry women with disabilities for money, because they do not have another way to enrich themselves. But Zola doesn't consider that these men are responsible for females' failure. Renée is portrayed as a woman who constantly suffers from neurotic attacks and devotes her life to balls, talks and sexual pleasures. Renée appears to be a product of French patriarchal society that puts a woman into a subordinate position, destroying her self and making her suffer from own weakness.

According to the feminist approach, such subjugation results in negative consequences for a woman, because she starts to substitute one extreme for another5. In other words, a woman turns from excessive subordination to uncontrollable freedom. Before her marriage to Aristide, Renée gets pregnant and is abandoned by one of her lovers, and Aristide appears to be a rescue for woman's reputation. This female character is portrayed as a simple sensualist who finds real pleasure in social life and sexual relations. When she meets Aristide's son Maxime, a young teenager who greatly resembles her, she becomes his lover. Although the writer implicitly criticises Renée, he constantly points at the fact that it is French society that shapes this female who finally destroys not only herself, but also people around her. Renée is against Maxime's marriage to Louise, considering her to be a weak and ugly girl. She is not able to realise the power of money for such people as Maxime and Aristide; she is used to spend much money and she regards it only as means that help her exist in French society. Renée is emotionally involved into the affairs with Maxime and she utilises this young person for her own pleasures. This female is amazed by these forbidden relations and doesn't want to think about the consequences of her action.
In the character of Renée, the writer embodies the essence of Parisian life; similar to Paris, Renée is obsessed with luxury and pleasures, but behind this gorgeous appearance there are degradation and suffering. This female character reflects reality of the nineteenth century when people run to certain extremes and were further destroyed by these extremes. Renée's wrong ideals are a result of her lack of appropriate education and social permissiveness that deprive a young woman of creating a normal family with loving husband and children. By the end of the narration Renée is completely destroyed by her obsession with pleasure; but Zola observes her weakness and foolishness through the social pressure that she is not able to withstand. As Zola puts it, she had slid down a slippery slope, yet she had not remained passive the whole way down. Desire had awakened in her too late to combat it, after the fall had become ineluctable6.