`` Nathan The Wise `` And Francoise De Graffigny s...

During the eighteenth century, marriage was a representation of not only the unity between man and women but it was also a representation of a woman taking a servile, less meaningful role in the household. Once married, women were expected to be completely submissive to their husbands. This was the norm across Europe and even in enlightened society. These relationships were hierarchical. It was not customary for women to attend schools that educated men the math and sciences. Women holding privileged positons in society traditionally allotted to men were seen as the exception. Yet these exceptions did not generally bother society because they did not lead to certain conclusion that women could do anything. In Gotthold Lessing’s novel â€Å"Nathan the Wise† and Francoise de Graffigny’s â€Å"Letters from a Peruvian Woman†, both authors upset traditional expectations about what constitutes a novel’s happy ending by refusing to end either of their nove ls with weddings. In Lessing’s â€Å"Nathan the Wise†, the rejection of marriage plot reflects a larger symbolic representation of religious tolerance. While in Graffigny’s novel â€Å"Letters from a Peruvian Woman†, the rejection of marriage plots illustrates a woman whose circumstances would make her the exception. Zilia, Graffigny’s main character, was an enlightened woman who chose sovereignty over servitude. Therefore, I would argue that the intentions behind both Lessing and Graffigny’s rejection of the marriage plot was not to serve the same