ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the deformed and ugly body in relation to marriage in three French seventeenth-century fairy tales. While the esthetics at the core of the fairy tale usually emphasize notions of exceptional physical beauty and perfection, amid such flawlessness, what space is given to the hideous body and to what purpose? The place carved within the fabric of the marvelous for the monstrous and mutilated body and its ensuing commentary on the domestic status quo are a narrative call for help. Indeed, Catherine Bernard and Charles Perrault’s respective Riquet à la houppe (Riquet of the Tuft) and Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force’s L’Enchanteur (The Enchanter) offer different representations of the monstrous and mutilated body not only as comments on the institution of marriage but also as messages on social ideals regarding women’s conduct in the domestic sphere.
