‘Ne vous effrayez point du costume bizarre dans lequel vous me voyez’: The Maidservant Disguise in Stendhal’s <i>Mina de Vanghel</i> and Barbey d’Aurevilly’s ‘Le Bonheur dans le crime’

This article analyses how the nineteenth-century fictional heroines in Stendhal's Mina de Vanghel and Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's `Le Bonheur dans le crime' don a maidservant disguise order to revolt against their society's oppressive mores subsequently reverse power dynamics between men women, as well servants masters mistresses. By drawing on period's non-literary discourses that likewise depicted fascination with servant's appearance, this argues Stendhal were creating, feeding into, particular socio-cultural construct of female servant rebellious, sexually promiscuous figure.