SOURCE: “Ambiguity or the Splintering of Truth,” in Marguerite de Navarre's Heptameron: Themes, Language, and Structure, Duke University Press, 1973, pp. 104-49.

In the essay that follows, Tetel claims that the Heptameron's structure reflects a dramatization of ambiguity.

“Puis notre bouquet sera plus beau, tant plus il sera remply de différentes choses” (“XLVIII,” 271). There can be no doubt of the wide variety of novellas offered in the Heptameron on the sociological, ethical, and behavioral levels. In this vein, Marguerite emulates Boccaccio and prefigures Balzac; all three create their own version of the human comedy and demonstrate that on the whole it has not greatly changed; the set evolves, but not the actors on stage. The question remains, however, as to the meaning and purpose of this variety.

In the past some felt that the variety involved contradictions disrupting the unity of the work as a whole or...