Britannica
Sources used in this answer
What moral lessons appear in Jean de La Fontaine's Fables?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
French literature
An early version of Voltaire's Candide printed in London, 1759.
In the context of French literature, the moral lessons in Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables are not simple, didactic rules but rather subtle, multifaceted commentaries on the human condition.12
La Fontaine was too wise to believe that moral truths could be reduced to rudimentary illustrations. Instead, his work offers a mature and profound view of life, characterized by the following:1
- Proverbial Wisdom: The morals generally amount to an epitome of prudential, everyday wisdom regarding human experience, emotions, and social situations.2
- Evolution of Tone: While the first collection is largely prudential, the second collection is often tinged with a more genial epicureanism.2
- Subtlety and Irony: La Fontaine often hints that only the naive would take a moral at face value. His approach is characterized by understatement and a "gaiety"—a charm applied to serious subjects—that invites the reader to share in a complicit understanding of the human comedy.12
- Timelessness: By using animal characters to represent human types, he explores the incongruities between human and animal nature, creating a mirror for the social hierarchy and the perennial nature of mankind.2