Dangerous Liaisons

Though the novel takes place, and was published, before the French Revolution, the major causes leading up to it are portrayed in the novel. These causes include an aristocracy rampant with moral and social corruption, and the subsequent sufferings of the lower classes due to a very strict hierarchical-social structure. The novel also reflects some of the changing social and sexual mores of the era.

The corrupting influence of a depraved aristocracy on the lower classes is illustrated through the ways in which the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont behave with their servants, and how those servants react to the former’s commands and demands. The time before the French Revolution is known in history as the Ancien Régime (the “Old Regime”). It extended from the Late Middle Ages up to the Revolution. Society was structured into three classes of people, also known as “estates.” The first estate was the aristocracy, the second was the clergy, and the third estate made up the vast majority of the French population, the common people.

During the 18th century, there was a major philosophical and scientific movement underway called “the Enlightenment.” It was a cultural and intellectual movement that emphasized reason, science, and individualism. The Enlightenment also witnessed a sea change in political theory, with many theorists arguing for the notion of rights for people of all classes and speaking out against the system of absolute monarchy, which was still in place in France and many other European countries. These ideas challenged the traditional hierarchies of French society, including the aristocracy that surrounded the royal court and lived lives of ostentatious luxury. Many political commentators began to accuse both the royal family and the aristocrats of being unworthy of their privileges, squandering their fortunes through dissolute lifestyles.

The privileges, amorality, and dissolute morality of the aristocracy is on prominent display throughout Dangerous Liaisons, reflecting the political and social climate of the times. The novel’s author, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, was born into a middle-class family and built his career in the military before turning to writing and, later, diplomacy. In his final years, he became attracted to Republican ideas and joined the armed forces of the rising general, Napoleon Bonaparte, before his death in 1803.

As a middle-class man poised between the peasantry and the aristocracy, Laclos occupied a unique social space in the French landscape: His education and military promotions gave him access to some of the more rarefied levels of French society, while his modest origins enabled him to view French aristocratic power structures with the eye of an outsider. Laclos’s embrace of Republican ideals in the years after the Revolution reflects the trajectory of many French men and women of his time who lost faith in their traditional monarchical system and looked for radical solutions to rejuvenate the nation.

The novel also reflects many of the values of the Enlightenment, including a focus on individual freedom and a rejection of traditional moral and religious authority, which are most evident through the characters of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont. The late 18th century saw a rise in sexual libertinism, a philosophy that emphasized individual freedom, pleasure, and sexual liberation above everything else, with little or no thought for the consequences of such behavior. The novel reflects this trend to an extreme degree through the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont. They, and those with whom they associate, represent a society that is characterized by sexual excess and moral decay to the point that they destroy the lives of innocent bystanders, including those not at all interested in libertinism (e.g., the Chevalier Danceny, Cécile Volanges, and the Présidente de Tourvel).

The novel also reflects the changing role of women in French society during the late 18th century. Women were beginning to gain greater independence and agency, and the novel reflects this trend by depicting female characters who are assertive, intelligent, and sexually liberated. It is no coincidence that the two characters with the greatest sense of morality and judgement are women: Madames Volanges and Rosemonde. This is a reflection not only of societal changes, but the author’s own views and feminist tendencies.