نبذة مختصرة : The so-called Marly Declaration of 22nd November 1730 concerning abduc¬ tion ('rapt de séduction5) showed the King's refusal to accept unequal marriages ; its theory, cloaking its social intention behind reason and morality, had been developed by royal legal experts since the Council of Trent in order to avoid conflict with the Church, the sole authority on marriage. This legal context is behind the theme of seduction in many literary works of the 1730s, which attributed a social purpose to it. In Marivaux's Paysan parvenu, Jacob's adventures are apparently conditioned by legal restraints, in a virtual lawsuit based on legal theory and practice. He manages to transgress social barriers and obstacles thanks to his seductive tales in which he invents a past and a possible future ; they are emblematic of the grand tale represented by the Mémoires de M***. It is true that the upstart narrator no longer hides his origins, but he says nothing of the reality of seduction, thus turning his story into a new seducer's tale looking forward to a better society.
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