47 pages • 1 hour read
Abbe PrevostManon Lescaut
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1731A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Social Influence on the Ill-Fated Romance
Manon and Des Grieux’s story is a familiar tale of two lovers who love each other desperately but cannot be together because of circumstances beyond their control. Indeed, there are many similarities to the most well-known version of this tale, Romeo and Juliet. Like Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Des Grieux are very young when they first meet. Romeo and Juliet vow to love each other and agree to marry within hours of first meeting, and the same is true of Manon and Des Grieux.
Furthermore, just as Romeo frequently blames fortune, or fate, for the many events that occur after he and Juliet are married, so too does Des Grieux blame fate, or an “evil star,” for his chance meeting with Manon at the beginning of the story. The words “fate,” “fortune,” and other variants appear more than 50 times throughout the story, mainly used by Des Grieux, who constantly blames fate for his problems. Even Manon believes herself fated to be “unhappy” and that his misfortune is “apparently Heaven’s will” (14).
One difference between the couples is social status. In Romeo and Juliet, they are both of noble birth, separated only by their families’ ancient and irrational feud. In Manon Lescaut, however, Manon and Des Grieux are of two separate classes. Des Grieux is of noble birth, while Manon is a commoner, a member of the Third Estate. At the time, France was composed of three groups: the nobility, the clergy, and the Third Estate, which consisted of everyone who did not belong to the first two groups.
However, as society changed and social classes become more fluid, stories about the nobility falling in love with commoners became very popular and part of the romantic genre. Unlike modern stories, where love often overcomes class and background, stories like Manon Lescaut usually do not have a happy ending.
Appearance Versus Reality
The increasing social mobility of the 18th century, which ultimately resulted in the French Revolution in 1789, fostered a cultural obsession with appearance versus reality. Social status was not just dependent on wealth, as it is currently, but also on breeding. That is, those of noble or royal background were thought to be innately superior to those of common birth. This innate superiority supposedly manifested in appearance and behavior. The nobility were thought to be naturally more honest, just, and moral than those of common birth. Commoners were believed to have a natural tendency toward vice and sin; they were thought incapable of feeling higher emotions like love, appreciating beauty, or understanding the importance of honorable behavior.
France banned the story in part because it depicted people of “good breeding” behaving immorally. Prévost therefore altered Manon’s origins when he published the story separately from Memoirs. In the 1731 edition Des Grieux describes Manon as “not a person of quality, although of quite good birth,” whereas in the 1753 edition she is of “humble birth” which reduces “Manon […] to a level of society where vicious behavior is only to be expected” (148), thus reducing the complaints leveled against Prévost.
In reality, the nobility could and did behave poorly, even criminally, while commoners could and did behave nobly and honorably. Nonetheless, appearances mattered, and this is seen in how many characters react to Manon. Upon first seeing Manon chained to other sex workers and waiting to be transported to America, Renoncour notes that her “air and cast of feature were so little in keeping with her present condition that in any other situation [he] would have taken her for a person of the first rank” (8). It is not just her beauty that attracts men; her “air” that also makes her seem a person of quality.
Similarly, most of the characters who help Des Grieux do so because of his seemingly obvious superiority. Renoncour notes his “birth and education,” and even those aware of his immoral behavior are struck by the vast difference between his good breeding and his behavior. Des Grieux repeatedly escapes severe consequences of his behavior because of his status. For example, even after he attacks M. de G…M… after finding out that Manon is in the women’s reformatory, the Father-Superior refuses to punish him harshly, telling M. de G…M… “that is not how persons of birth, such as the Chevalier, are dealt with here; he is, besides so mild and so well bred that I find it hard to believe he would be driven to such extremes without powerful reasons” (60). In other words, he believes that M. de G….M… must have provoked Des Grieux. Even after Des Grieux kills a servant during his escape attempt, the Father-Superior protects Des Grieux, covering up “the details of [Des Grieux’s] departure” as well as “the death of the porter” (80).
Sense and Sensibility
The concepts of sense and sensibility were thoroughly explored in 18th-century texts, and Manon Lescaut is no exception. “Sense” here is a synonym for reason, while “sensibility” refers to the emotions or passions. Artists like Prévost explored these seemingly opposite ideas. Though many great thinkers of the time advocated basing one’s behavior and conduct solely on logic, there was also an understanding of the importance of emotion, particularly in terms of moral behavior.
It was believed that only those of good breeding or the well educated were capable of sensibility, and people commonly proclaimed how sensitive they were. This was admired by some and ridiculed by others. It manifests here in Des Grieux’s behavior. His entire story is predicated on the understanding that he is a creature of sensibility and as such is literally incapable of resisting the pleasures Manon seems to promise. This also explains his frequent collapses and fits of emotion when faced with consequences for his behavior.
These characteristics are also evident in other characters, such as Renoncour and M. de T…, whose strong emotional reactions to Des Grieux and Manon inspire them to help the pair. Characters of humble birth, like Manon and her brother, are motivated by baser feelings like greed and hunger. This lack of sensibility allows Manon and Lescaut to engage in immoral behavior and explains why Manon does not understand that her infidelity is wrong.
Des Grieux, however, grows coarser throughout the story; his behavior worsens, as does his ability to appreciate or at least portray these finer emotions. Though he often proclaims his sensitivity, and still suffers fits during times of high emotion, he can suppress these feelings for Manon’s sake, and he forces himself “to assume an air of greater calm” because “nothing inspires more courage in a woman than fearlessness in the man she loves” (132).
Conversely, Manon becomes a creature of higher sensibility throughout story. By the time she and Des Grieux arrive in America, she has come to understand her previous sins. However, as is expected from those who are so sensitive, she is not strong enough to face the shock of being separated from Des Grieux. It is implied that she is killed by these strong emotions.
