Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) Versions of Reality Quotes

The early letters in the book serve to establish the worldviews of the different characters involved. Still a child, Cécile has come home from the convent. She's approaching the age of marriage and therefore is being exposed to adult life among the wealthy. She and Sophie must have imagined how exciting it would be to be grown-up, but this was a child's reality.

Madame de Volanges is desperate to convince Madame de Tourvel what a huge mistake it would be to associate with Valmont. However, she knows Madame de Tourvel's lived a very sheltered life and that the stories of his exploits are probably unfamiliar to her. How one perceives reality and interprets its meaning can depend upon the social circle you travel in.

Both in their actions and in their letters, the characters in this novel create a variety of realities, especially about themselves. Valmont's worked hard to earn his reputation as a rogue. Now, to win the heart of Madame de Tourvel, he has to show her another face and convince her that the stories she's heard are not accurate.

Danceny implies that Cécile's negative view of Valmont is colored by her mother's prejudices—a likely scenario for a mother trying to protect her daughter from dangerous men of their acquaintance. Valmont and the Marquise, knowing this, do their best to alienate Cécile from her mother and substitute their own influences. The novel suggests that young people are particularly impressionable and are easily convinced of what you want them to believe.

Notice the language here: the Marquise wants not so much to be invincible, as to have the reputation of being invincible. If you have the reputation, that determines how you're treated. If people see you a certain way, then it doesn't really matter if you're not really like that.

Madame de Merteuil has just told Valmont how she got Prévan arrested for a crime he didn't commit. She'll be telling the tale again, but in a heavily revised version. Because she's sure Madame de Volanges will pass the letter around, she'll be able to deceive the public. They'll assume the story they hear is the truth, because the Marquise has spent years creating the false reality that she's trustworthy. Valmont assumes the story he heard is the real deal. Is the account he read any more reliable than what the general public will get?

Valmont and Madame de Merteuil no longer see eye to eye. Valmont attributes this change to the fact that they haven't seen each other for some months. Why could such differences appear so quickly? Probably because they're both such shape-shifting deceivers. Only constant contact would make it possible for them to keep up with each other's changing perspectives. Think about how often you communicate with your own friends. It would be hard for them to change in some major way without you knowing about it every step of the way.

Madame de Rosemonde is writing to Madame de Tourvel, explaining the wicked ways of men, hoping to put Madame de Tourvel's feelings for Valmont into perspective. We see here another reason that reality sometimes gets distorted into fantasy: strong emotion. The wise Madame de Rosemonde knows that love is blind and can obliterate any realistic perception of a person's character. Madame de Tourvel probably doesn't want to hear it, or she's beyond the point of no return.

This is a mind-blowing statement from Madame de Volanges. Think of the carefully constructed reality that prevented her from knowing about their intimate and conspiratorial relationship for all those years. Knowledge, after all, is power, and Valmont and the Marquise completely controlled the flow of information by writing and concealing letters. Therefore, their version of reality prevailed.