Method of driving ferroelectric liquid crystal element

A method of driving a liquid crystal display element in which a switching element is provided for each of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix manner and a ferroelectric liquid crystal is sandwiched between the pixel electrodes and a counter electrode includes the steps of applying a reset voltage for resetting the entire pixel to a first stable state of the ferroelectric liquid crystal across the pixel electrode and the counter electrode, partially transiting the pixel to a second stable state by a tone signal voltage having a pole opposite to that of the reset voltage, and reversing the pole of the reset voltage every predetermined period. Assuming that a state reverse ratio of the ferroelectric liquid crystal is T(V)% when the tone signal voltage is V, a tone signal voltage V₁ after negative resetting and a corresponding tone signal voltage -V₂ after positive resetting satisfy the following relation: T(V₁) + T(V₂) = 100