Trial of Madame Caillaux
Book Review of The Trial of Madame CaillauxThe period leading up to World War I in France was a time in which war was a pressing issue, and men were trying to regain their "supermasculinity" after coming back from a miserable defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. Deemed the "trial of the century," the Caillaux Affair presented itself as a trial not ordinarily witnessed. The trial of Madame Caillaux and her murder of journalist Henry Calmette not only served as a distraction to the impending war, but it also symbolized Belle Epoque culture to its core. Edward Berenson interweaves the trial with French society's attitudes by incorporating courtroom antics to express Belle Epoque's values, irony to justify men's false presumption of their superiority to women, and drama to capture the reader's feelings Although the book is supposed to be about the trial surrounding the murder of Henry Calmette, Bereson primarily uses the courtroom antics of the characters as examples of Belle Epoque and French culture. With each chapter a specific characteristic of French society is explained in detail. However, the main underlying theme of the novel is the importance of gender in Belle Epoque society and how it affected the trial. Berenson e
The press during this time started to appeal to a broader market and therefore made fait divers a primary part of newspaper reading. whose juries regularly acquitted the victors of duels and the vanquished love" (176). This is much more interesting than just retelling important events and facts that occurred during the trial. Their situation represents the growing efforts of French society "to establish legal divorce" (134). For example, Judge Albenel's fixation upon upholding his honor and integrity represents the need for men to assert their masculinity. Had there not been this faith in human emotion and feminine frailty, Madame Caillaux would have, in all likelihood, been convicted of murder. Rather, the facts are revealed through real life situations where a modern twenty-first century reader can relate to what is happening even though the book's setting is the early twentieth century. French men's fascination with dueling is a prime example of this irony. These psy!chologists, along with the penny press, influenced the beliefs of French citizens that they came to believe women were entirely different than men and could become overwrought with emotion, and thus, susceptible to an act of violence ordinarily not possible. Thus, the connection between the trial and society is revealed in a way that does not inhibit the reader from enjoying both the courtroom scenes and the historical facts and opinions presented by Berenson. The prosecution, on the other hand, wants to portray Henriette Caiullaux as a woman of masculinity who could not, therefore, commit a crime based on emotion but rather on premeditation. Charles Chenu, the Calmette family's attorney, challenges the notion of Henritte's defense of preventing the publication of personal matters. Instead, she was acquitted of murder primarily because of stereotypes of femininity.
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Acceptance Essays
