The Indecency o f Cobblers’ Wives in the French 15th century farces

Résumé

French 15th century farces are grotesque and their characters are stereotypical. In a number of them, the cobbler and his wife typically impersonate the ill-matched couple. The wife is a shameless and seductive coquette, which disheartens her husband, who is either jealous or indifferent.
The cobbler’s wife is an object of desire in farces. Both modesty and shamelessness arouse the men around her. In some farces, she abides by the sacred laws of marriage thereby stirring the lubricity of those who attempt to get the better of her prudishness. In some others, she demands from her lovers that they replace her husband who no longer fills his marital duties. For the cobbler, modesty is of different nature. He indeed endeavors to keep his marital mishaps secret: his wife cheats on him because she is dissatisfied. His answer to it is violent behavior. Yet, he deems it impudent to expose his private life to his neighbors. Conversely, shamelessness is an integral part of the pleasure of his wife’s lovers: the priest - a sex maniac, or the cordwainer, an exhibitionist.
Medieval sexual morality is based on the ‘stronger’ sex’s superiority over the modesty of the “weaker sex”, but it is noticeably challenged in those somehow subtle farces. They amuse the public and also offer them the opportunity to reflect over the fragility of patriarchal rules