letters 3-27, Les Liaisons Dangereuses

The blog post right under this one was not written by me, I think one of my friends just went to the link on my computer and wrote it. I also don't know how to delete it. Sorry.

In class on Tuesday we were talking about the difference between the letters of Cecile and madame de Merteuil. Wes spoke about the intimate "tu" of cecile's letters and the agressive focus on action of la Marquises. All of Cecile's letters are about the past, or how the past should inform the future. In the case of the letter from Danceny, she writes to her friend Sophie for advice about something she had found, not to tell her about her course of action. La Marquise's letters always have to do with something that should happen in the future, or a plan for the future. She rarely writes about the trivialities of her day, and instead remains goal oriented. I think the differences between these two women's letters illuminates the serious differences between them; namely that Cecile does not yet understand that all social relations in her milieu are based in power struggle, while La Marquise is already Queen Bee.
This power struggle seems to exist everywhere, even pervading intimate relationships like that between La Marquise and Valemont. While they use affectionate language when addressing one another, their letters usually consist of subtle attacks and accusations of cowardliness etc. They both seem to take pleasure in torturing the other or competing for who has broken the most hearts, and wronged the most innocent people. It's a pretty sick game.
But just because La marquise and Valemont are the "Evil" characters and Cecile is the ideal young naive "good" character, I feel little sympathy for her as the prey of these two older villains. Maybe this is too much of my opinion, but I am much more interested in the two more intelligent characters since they have well developed and powerful personalities, while Cecile is young, stupid, and annoying. I find that la Marquise is by far the most compelling character because despite plotting to ruin so many lives, she has fooled everyone into thinking that she is a highly respectable and cultivated woman. While Valemont's reputation is widespread and notorious, he does not have the same subtlety and intelligence that the marquise uses to maintain her image while determining the outcome of so many events.