Montesquieu's Persian Letters

¶ … Persian Letters by Montesquieu. Specifically, it will answer the following question. Montesquieu sets up his Persian observers as "innocents abroad" to point out the absurdities of French politics and society. How does Usbek's seraglio serve as a metaphor for and criticism of the French court? Usbek's seraglio or type of "harem" clearly represents the French court, as it is usually in disarray, confusion, and controversy, and is a group of people surrounding a central figure, just as the court is.

The seraglio is an amusing comment on the French court of the time, and reflects the writer's distress at events in the court. He writes, "Appalling disorder and confusion prevail in the seraglio: war reigns among your wives; your eunuchs are divided; nothing is heard bur murmurs, complaints, reproaches; my remonstrances are despised: everything seems to be permitted in this time of license, and I am nothing but a name in the seraglio" (Montesquieu Letter LXIV).

The Persians who write the letters have varying degrees of respect or annoyance with the seraglio, and as they spell out their observances of the harem, they also spell out their observances of the French court and its mishandling by courtiers and government officials who are more concerned with their own welfare than the welfare of the people.

Just as the seraglio is divided and confused, so is the court, and Montesquieu writes with his tongue firmly in his cheek when he writes of the trials and tribulations of the seraglio. Like the harem, the French court revolves around a central figure, the King, and the dissonance in the harem parallels the dissidence at court, and the inability for the court to agree on key issues, or even agree what the issues.