Alexandre Dumas "fils" was born in Paris, France, the illegitimate child of Marie-Catherine Labay, a dressmaker, and novelist Alexandre Dumas. In 1831 his father legally recognized him (he adopted him) and ensured the young Dumas received the best education possible at the Institution Goubaux and the College Bourbon. At that time, the law allowed the elder Dumas to take the child away from his mother. Her agony inspired Dumas "fils" to write about tragic female characters. In almost all of his writings, he emphasized the moral purpose of literature and in his 1858 play, "Le fils naturel" ("The Illegitimate Son"), he wrote about the belief that if a man fathers an illegitimate child, then he has an obligation to legitimize the child and marry the woman.