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Les Liaisons Dangerous, by Choderlos de Laclos portrays the French aristocracy before the revolution. Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil, the two main characters in the novel, strongly desire power and the ability to control others around them. They use their sexual experience and knowledge to manipulate and deceive others to get what they aspire. Valmont holds significant power over women in his society. His high social status and reputation of having sexual experience cause women to flock toward him in hope of sexual relations. Valmont knew exactly what to say in order to deceive his women into an affair. He finds that learning about the backgrounds of different women increases his chances of sleeping with them. He however, usually remains detached from them. He sees women merely as conquests and as a way of increasing his power. Valmont has a couple of goals. He wants to challenge himself by seducing women. This gives him confidence and increases his power in society. Other objectives are to seduce Tourvel so that he could sleep with Merteuil and sleep with Cecile to get back at her mother for spilling details about him. Valmont recognizes that Cecile, A young naïve girl who has been in the convent most of her life would be open to new experiences. He does not see her as a difficult challenge and therefore does not wish to seduce her at first. However, he becomes furious of the news that Lady Volanges, Cecile’s mother, warns Tourvel of his poor reputation. As a result, Valmont determines it is necessary to take Cecile’s virginity. He recognizes that Cecile and Danceny love each other and wish to express their affection toward one another. This background information benefits him because Valmont is able to invent a scheme in which he tells Cecile to steal the key to her room from her mother so that he could slip her letters from Danceny. Cecile has been deceived by Valmont into believing this when in fact this conspiracy was only a way for Valmont to sneak into Cecile’s room at night and strip her of her innocence. Valmont is successful in deceiving Cecile to acquire exactly what he wants from her. Valmont sees Presidente de Tourvel as his biggest challenge. Tourvel’s husband is off at war and Valmont sees it as the perfect opportunity to get her into bed. Valmont is convinced that once he has Tourvel, he will be able to detach himself from her since he is more interested in conquering her morals rather than her actual body.
Approximate Word count = 1625
Approximate Pages = 6.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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