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Marguerite Van Male: A Necessary Evil

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Marguerite Van Male: A Necessary Evil
In a time when God was worshiped and the Devil was feared, Marguerite Van Male was a young women who grew up as the daughter of the Count of Flanders. Seemed to be quite a daring young lady, she went against a lot of the roles that she was expected to play. Marguerite went against what was expected of her as a Countess and a women. This book is also about how the Marguerite’s people of Flanders believed in superstitions and religion and how those beliefs affected them. I think that one of the clearest themes was that men where valued more than women, in this essay I am going to expand on these themes.

Marguerite is very headstrong and defies the female roles and what is expected of her as a countess. Women were meant to act elegant, polite, feminine, submissive and were forbidden to do what men where aloud to do. All the things Marguerite enjoyed and was good at. Marguerite was described by Frans Ackerman on page 222, “ she’s a horse without reins”. He was describing her as wild and untamed by any man in her life. “Phillip can’t believe his eyes when I hoist up my skirts and throw myself across Palframand’s back” -Marguerite page 158. If …show more content…
They were treated as slaves and not considered as equals. “ One brilliant day I sprinkle half a pound of dried peas in the stairwell” page 77. Marguerite’s prank on Constance causes her to trip down the stairs and break her shoulder. She then runs off with her Whalebone sword to her fencing lesson. Marguerite and Philip, even though they were wealthy, on their way to France they stop at a shelter which is isolated. Philip catches the plague and they are still isolated. Marguerite is trapped inside the shelter with late Philip for five days before someone comes to get her. This is an example of social inequality as they are Marguerite is left with Philip who had passed away, in a small shelter in winter so it was freezing and smelt of
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