Lettre 33 Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Sonia Oberoi

Commentary- Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Lettre 33

A controversial epistolary novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses was published in 1782 and written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. This libertine novel is made up entirely of letters through which the reader is expected to interlink the tales recorded by characters, some of which are completely explicit as well as other more implicit ones. The nature of each letter is characterised through each sender’s personality, which is what makes Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ plot a complex and intriguing one. In this commentary I will analyse letter 33, which consists of the Marquise de Merteuil as the sender and the Vicomte de Valmont as the receiver. In doing this, I will consider the aim, structure and tone of the letter, the relationship between both characters, the lexical field and relevant themes entangled in the message.

To begin with, the letter’s lexical field is replete with military words and references, such as ‘fournir des armes’, ‘combattre et vaincu’, ‘se render’, ‘elle vous bât’, ‘prendre l'avantage’. Through this vocabulary, it becomes clear that the Marquise’s attitude towards love is nothing but a conquest, she thinks passion is a destructive tool in society and that it blurs people’s knowledge, which is her main weapon, as her philosophy throughout the whole novel is that knowledge is power. Additionally, this feudal system terminology puts the Marquise in a position of being the leader and the Vicomte de Valmont Valmont in that of the student, due to the fact that the words imply commands, as if she expected him to obey her rules. This status is further enhanced with the use of the imperative voice such as ‘profitez’, ‘vous devez’, ‘croyez-moi’, making Merteuil act as a ‘seigneur’ and thus the Vicomte, her ‘chevalier’. This position of power over her readers is what gives the Marquise pleasure. She does not believe in equality in relationships, there is always a power and a submissive, and in this case the Vicomte is her submissive, as she teaches him how to seduce Madame de Tourvel.

In addition, the Marquise de makes use of irony to critique Madame de Tourvel’s letter, describing it as a ‘chef d’œuvre de prudence’. This serves as a mockery towards her writing, which is further enhanced towards her persona as the Marquise refers to Tourvel in a pejorative manner, belittling her on various occasions by using demonstrative adjectives and only mentioning her actual name at the end of the letter; ‘cette femme’, ‘votre dévote’, ‘votre présidente’. The Marquise clearly puts herself aside of their relationship and does not want to be involved in it, and it is the Vicomte’s job to succeed in seducing her. It can also be inferred through these attributes that she might indeed be jealous of Tourvel, as she used to be the Vicomte’s lover in the past and is still attached to him, as he is her ‘confidant’. Since he is also a libertine, it is considered a weakness and unfortunate for them to let passion take over their knowledge, as they celebrate intelligence, not love.

From the tone of superiority that she takes up throughout the whole letter, it can be inferred that she is disappointed in the Vicomte. In the introduction she says ‘dès que votre projet est de fournir armes contre vous’ and ‘vous desirez moins de vaincre que de combattre’, which implies that the Vicomte is turning against his beliefs and letting Tourvel take the lead in their relationship, which is unlike himself as he is always in charge of his devotees. She makes him feel vulnerable by saying that his writing lacks skill and that Tourvel’s writing is better than his, saying he is too direct and implying that he will not seduce her this way. However, she does offer the alternative of verbally telling her his feelings for her, which would have more impact on her as he could use tears to express emotion and win her over.

The letter is highly structured in that the Marquise uses clear arguments introduced by connectors (‘d’une part’, ‘d’autre part’, ‘de plus’), rhetorical questions (‘Mais à quoi vous servirez d’attendrir par lettres, puisque vous ne series pas là pour en profiter?’, or ‘Et puis, savez vous ce qui arrive?’) to make the Vicomte evaluate the situation as well as making her arguments sound more convincing, since the answers to these questions are for the most, common sense, which leaves the Vicomte ridiculed, which is one of the Marquise’s objectives with this letter, as she does not approve of his present emotions or of the woman these feelings are intended for. Furthermore, including examples (‘Cette marche peut réussir avec ds enfants, qui, quand ils écrivent: je vous aime, ne savent pas qu’ils disent: je me rends’), which truly displays how much experience and knowledge she has acquired, and shows the reader that she can confidently manipulate people due to it. She has mastered this aptitude because it gives her pleasure and makes her feel powerful. The structure of this letter can also be interpreted as an insight into her personality and her approach to her lovers. Throughout the novel, the Marquise is exceptionally cautious about her choice of lovers and carefully plans out every step of the relationships, manipulating them and writing out these plans to the Vicomte in letters. Letter 33 is another example of these said plans, but in this case it is meant to help the Vicomte conquer Tourvel.

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