La Princesse de Clèves, Madame de La Fayette, René Girard, triangular desire, passion, morality, reason, love, 17th century French literature, novel analysis
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Abstract
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Abstract
Analysis of Madame de La Fayette's novel La Princesse de Clèves in the light of René Girard's 'triangular desire', exploring the author's portrayal of passion and its consequences.
Extract
[...] Devaux-Spatarakis, P. (2016). A return on the Tendre Map. Tiers 47-51. https://www.cairn.info/revue--2016-1-page-47.htm. [...]
[...] That's why the author, by representing the destiny of her heroine, makes us value the primacy of other notions than passions. Morality, reason present themselves as instances that it is wiser to follow to govern one's life and to acquire what seems to be the supreme goal of her main character, namely rest, a notion with strong Pascalian resonances. Through this novel, the author makes us reflect on how passions can blind us, make us lose our means and control over our actions. [...]
[...] Inspired by the novel Clélie, Histoire romaine by Madeleine de Scudéry, this allegorical topography, represented by villages and paths, corresponds to the feelings of the moments of amorous life according to the conception of the "Précieuses" of that time'6 ». If Madame de La Fayette gives us a perceptive painting of the passions, she does not hesitate to condemn them, as we will analyze in the next part. II - A Condemnation of Passion Passion is harmful The author, although she shows all the beauty and strength of passion, also shows us how much it can harm. Etymologically, 'passion' comes from the Latin 'passio » and from the root 'pati » here evokes the action of 'support, suffering, illness, indisposition, affection'. [...]
[...] He loses the ability to respond to his obligations: 'The passion of Monsieur de Nemours for Madame de Clèves was at first so violent that it took away from him the taste and even the memory of all the people he had loved and with whom he had maintained business during his absence'8 ». The passion such as painted by Madame de La Fayette deeply affects the one who experiences it and makes him lose all his faculties. The passion alienates Madame de La Fayette gives us a certain representation of passion in her novel. Indeed, the one who feels romantic passion is deeply affected in his being. [...]
[...] This character thinks above all about her rest: 'In fact, the Princess justifies her refusal by the irrationality and finitude of passion. She makes an interpretation of desire that coincides with Girard's idea on desire. She clarifies to Nemours the mechanism of desire, by affirming that desire arises and feeds on an obstacle and once the obstacle is overcome and the desired object is conquered, the ardor of desire fades away. She explains to him that it is not love that he wants, but rather to alleviate his desire'13 ». [...]
