Julie D'augbigny and the Hero's Journdy

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to Paris and sing in the opera. The Count somehow managed to convince King Louis XIV to grant her pardon (“Julie d’Aubigny Wikipedia”).

In the opera, La Maupin became an amazing success due to her gorgeous soprano voice, astonishing memorization skills, and androgynous appearance and was loved by audiences throughout France (Gardiner). Unfortunately, she soon became subject to the darkest and hardest part of any hero’s journey, otherwise known as the abyss. In this stage, the hero often become faced with a great difficulty or temptation. Julie may have been very well like by the audiences, but her relationships with fellow actors were turbulent at best. It was not at all surprising when she her amorous emotions were dismissed by Fanchon Moreau, a fellow singer who was also a mistress to the Grand Dauphin, but the rejection had brought Julie to attempt to commit suicide (“Julie d’Aubigny Wikipedia”). To make matters worse, in 1695 her opera career had to be put on hiatus after three noblemen challenged her to duels at a society ball for kissing another female. She defeated all of them at the same time, but broke the king’s law against duelling. He pardoned her for it stating that the law only applied to men and not women, but she had to flee to Brussels, Belgium until the gossip died down (Gardiner).

Finally, Julie’s hero’s journey ends with her transformation, return home, and mastery of two worlds. In the part of the hero’s journey, the hero is changed by their experiences and returns home, but is left with the decision of what to do with their newfound knowledge and experiences. In 1703, Julie fell in love with Madame la Marquise de Florensac, who was so beautiful that she fled to Brussels to flee the lovestruck Dauphin. Julie had no longer yearned for adventure and settled down with da Florensac for two years in perfect harmony, until her love had died of a fever. Julie was devastated and returned to Paris to spend time with her husband who she was, in fact, still married to during his last dying days. After his death, she went into a convent and dedicated her last year to God before dying in 1707 at the age of 33 (Gardiner).

A life like that of Julie d’Aubigny does not occur often. Her entertaining and occasionally heroic antics have forever given her a place in history as a memorable piece in the puzzle that is humanity’s timeline. She may not have been a traditional hero, she may have been the farthest thing from, but she did have a tale equal to that of any heroic archetype in history. Julie may have lived as a hero even if her title may not be remembered as such, so in the eyes of may she is one and that is a greater affirmation of her character than any textbook can provide.