I was googling for reviews of PoGS in the New Year shortly after it had hit the wall trying to see what other people made of it and I found a review, possibly in the Guardian, although I can't find it now, which finished with the line "Hillary Mantel brings the revolutionaries to life through their - something something - but most especially through their women."
So yes, somebody likes the female characters. I suppose Lucile is better than Elisabeth but I never quite understood why she suddenly starts sleeping with everybody. I thought Gabrielle probably came out best, but even she felt a bit empty.
Her character in PoGS is pretty much the embodiment of the anti-feminist trope of women trying to "entrap" men into marriage.
You know because I haven't read Eleanore's characterisation, but now would put nothing past Mantel I have the horrible feeling there's a scene in there where she advances on Robespierre (probably with a pistol in her hand, having compared notes with Babet earlier) ominously muttering "impregnate me, or there will be no more hot dinners, no more oranges and no more surrogate mummy love," while rolling her eyes a bit.
I don't know why I torture my brain with this. By entrap, I assume you mean that she tries get/claims to be pregnant by him? With his background I just couldn't see it working somehow.
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I was googling for reviews of PoGS in the New Year shortly after it had hit the wall trying to see what other people made of it and I found a review, possibly in the Guardian, although I can't find it now, which finished with the line "Hillary Mantel brings the revolutionaries to life through their - something something - but most especially through their women."
So yes, somebody likes the female characters. I suppose Lucile is better than Elisabeth but I never quite understood why she suddenly starts sleeping with everybody. I thought Gabrielle probably came out best, but even she felt a bit empty.
Her character in PoGS is pretty much the embodiment of the anti-feminist trope of women trying to "entrap" men into marriage.
You know because I haven't read Eleanore's characterisation, but now would put nothing past Mantel I have the horrible feeling there's a scene in there where she advances on Robespierre (probably with a pistol in her hand, having compared notes with Babet earlier) ominously muttering "impregnate me, or there will be no more hot dinners, no more oranges and no more surrogate mummy love," while rolling her eyes a bit.
I don't know why I torture my brain with this. By entrap, I assume you mean that she tries get/claims to be pregnant by him? With his background I just couldn't see it working somehow.