Dangerous Liaisons essays

Dangerous Liaisons essays Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a complex and disturbing portrayal of the noble class in France. Set in the late eighteenth century just before the revolution, Les Liaisons Dangereuses weaves a web of cold, calculated betrayal of the most immoral kind. It is a mannered, elegant tale in which the languorous intrigues of the opening scenes set up the violent passions of the later ones. It is a story in which the surfaces are usually calm and only the flash of an eye or a slightly raised voice betrays the most terrible struggles going on beneath. This is a scandalous drama about the sexual machinations of two jaded French aristocrats who use sex and desire as weapons of destruction and as means to hunt for revenge and acquire power. As they climb the social ladder they ruin the lives of the innocent people who surround them. The Marquise de Merteuil lives in a world of drawing rooms and boudoirs, where she preys upon the innocent and naive, shattering their idealism with a triumphant laugh. Her partner and confidant is the Vicomte de Valmont, who was once her lover and is now her weapon against young women presumptuous enough to love. Seduction is nothing more than a game to them and in their private score keeping, nothing counts more than a heart destroyed and hopes laid to waste. The cold-blooded twosome proceeds gleefully with their heartless scheme until true love unexpectedly alters the course of events. Merteuil and Valmont's greatest pleasure is causing the loss of virtue and shattering hearts. They disguise their depraved indifference as principles to live by and scorn those who experience true emotions. They are so hardened to the ordinary feelings of life that only one emotion can destroy them: love. The story unfolds in the form of letters written between the principal characters, giving it a unique literary texture. By using this style, Laclos is able to give the reader a shockingly intimate look at these peop...