Abstract:
This study places Gustave Flaubert’s play, La Tentation de saint Antoine, within his
larger oeuvre. It presents an overview of fourth-century Alexandria, Egypt, of St.
Anthony, which is the historical setting for the play. Next, it explores the nineteenthcentury
Paris and France of Gustave Flaubert. Finally, it attempts to identify nineteenthcentury
French cults or religious movements, which may have prompted Flaubert to have
chosen to feature fourth-century gnostic heretics so prominently in this play.
