Resemblance of the heroines of Madame de Lafayette

The diploma thesis deals with a literary creation of Madame de Lafayette, one of the most important French writers, of not only 17th century, and her three novels The Princesse de Clèves, The Princesse de Montpensier and The Comtesse de Tende. The first part of the thesis regards to a social situation in France during the reign of Louis XIV and it also offers the literary-historical insight into this period. The next part devotes to public acceptance of writer's novels both in the period of their publication and in later times. Following chapters deal with the analysis of these novels as far as the main characters and plot are concerned as well as from the linguistic and stylistic point of view. The final part focuses on a phenomenon called paraître, or appearance, which is typical for all three novels and which significantly influences plot as well as psychology of characters. KEYWORDS Madame de Lafayette, The Princesse de Clèves, The Princesse de Montpensier, The Comtesse de Tende, French literature of 17th century, appearance (paraître)