Evolución de la recepción literaria y cultural de Margarita de Valois: de antimodelo de cortesanía femenina a símbolo feminista en la cultura audiovisual

Marguerite de Valois (1553-1615) was the seventh daughter of Henry II of France and the queen regent, Catherine de Medici. Popular in her time for her numerous lovers, her sensual beauty and her eccentricity, her image came to the fore again in the 19th century with the publication of the famous historical novel La Reine Margot (1845) by Alexandre Dumas, in which her character is portrayed as a femme fatale. It reflects how her Protestant enemies and the misogynist literature of her time began to propagate her dubious reputation as a promiscuous woman and her unfitness for government, profiling her as an anti-model of female courtesanship and virtue according to Renaissance precepts of good manners. In the following pages we will analyse the interesting reception of this character in contemporary literature, popular and audiovisual culture, where, to a certain extent, she has come to be considered an icon of modern feminism.