29 pages • 58 minutes read
Madame de La FayetteThe Princesse de Clèves (The Princess of Cleves)
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1678A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 2 Summary
M. de Clèves continues his story. Mme de Tournon, a widow for years, has recently died, and her secrets have been revealed. Clèves’s confidant, Sancerre, was having an affair with her, which is taboo in the case of a widow publicly committed to mourning her dead husband. On her death, however, Sancerre learned that Mme de Tournon was carrying on an affair with another man named Estoutville, leading to much despair. This story proves instructive for Mme de Clèves (as author now titles the newly married central character) and she returns to Paris, resolved to remain faithful to her husband.
The Dauphine immediately discloses the latest gossip to Mme de Clèves. It seems that M. de Nemours’s claims to Elizabeth’s hand are falling through, and rumor has it that he is in love with someone else. The Dauphine is intensely interested, and the Princess disturbed, by this news. Soon, M. de Nemours visits Mme de Clèves under the pretense of offering condolences for her mother’s death. He speaks in couched terms about the unnamed object of his affection. The Princess has no doubt that the unnamed object of his affection is herself, and though she reveals nothing in public, her anguish increases. She makes a commitment to “stop going to places where he might see her” (76). This is easier said than done for a lady in Henri II’s court, however, and she sees him on several obligatory social occasions afterward. Though they attempt to maintain a placid decorum, they notice an attraction toward one another. So, too, do jealous parties such as the Chevalier de Guise. A soothsayer visits the King and predicts he will die in a duel.
The Dauphine gives Mme de Clèves a history lesson on Elizabeth and the English Court. Then she commissions miniature portraits of all the ladies at court. Comparing the new portrait of Mme de Clèves to an older one, M. de Clèves leaves the older miniature out on a table. Soon after, the princess sees Nemours steal the older portrait, and, simultaneously, Nemours sees her witnessing the theft. Together, they conspire to keep his theft a secret. Mme de Clèves fears that she is “no longer in command of her voice or her expression” regarding Nemours (84).
A ceremonial joust is declared when Philip II marries Elisabeth of France (the King’s daughter). Two important events happen on this day. First, as M. de Nemours and the Vidame de Chartres play tennis, a letter falls out of the Vidame’s pocket and is mistaken as belonging to Nemours by his footmen. This letter immediately falls into the hands of the nosy Dauphine. Secondly, Nemours falls from his horse in a joust. Everyone worries that he’s seriously injured, and Mme de Clèves is first to his side. Though he arises unscathed, they exchange a look that threatens to reveal their hidden feelings for one another. Guise, noticing the exchange, declares his jealousy to the Princess.
Later, the Dauphine shows the unsigned letter to Mme de Clèves, attributing it to an admirer of Nemours. It is a torrid letter from another woman declaring her heartbreak and jealousy. Mme de Clèves keeps the letter, pouring over every word with anguish.
The Vidame, realizing the letter is missing, goes to Nemours and discloses a series of infidelities involving the Queen and several lesser noblewomen. The letter, as it turns out, was written by the angry Queen to the Vidame de Chartres.
Book 2 Analysis
In Book 2 Lafayette asserts the novel’s central complications, employing one predicament after another. M. de Clèves establishes two firm rules by telling his story about Mme de Tournon. First, he believes that wives and mistresses should be absolutely transparent in their every word and deed, particularly in regard to their husbands and lovers. This is a rule he will later chide his wife for following. Secondly, he believes that women should remain true to their husbands even after they have died. Mme de Tournon is dead now, so Mme de Clèves will never have the benefit of her perspective. Though Lafayette was praised for her psychological realism, the characters in Henri II’s court have a habit of dying by means of sheer emotional strain.
The first interactions between Duc de Nemours and Mme de Clèves establishes a persistent rule of engagement: though these characters endure complex inner turmoil, they cannot allow themselves to reveal what they feel. The Dauphine reminds the reader of this. She is the glue that holds all of these disparate figures together. Her medium is gossip, and the continual employment of her medium reminds the reader that news spreads quickly throughout the court, and that missteps are judged harshly. Consequently, Nemours talks abstractedly about the object of his rumored love, saying “the real test is not to give away the pleasure of being with them; it lies in avoiding them, for fear of revealing to others, and almost to themselves, the feeling that we have for them” (75). This language disguises a very complex game, in which M. de Nemours attempts to indirectly say that he is deeply in love with the Princess. She responds by pretending not to understand him. When M. de Nemours decides to steal a small miniature portrait of the Princess, and she sees him commit the crime (and he, in turn, sees her seeing him), the effect is that of a bomb detonating. Mere appearance has been severed between them. Worse, someone else at court might have seen him. Finally, this theft involves the husband, who notes the missing portrait, evoking the illicit pleasure of a lover’s triangle.
The matter of the stolen letter is a major plot point in the story. It reveals the severe consequences of philandering at court. The letter belongs to the Vidame de Chartres, and the revelation of it eventually destroys his reputation. More importantly, it reveals a truth Mme de Clèves has hidden from herself; she is heartbroken during the brief time she thinks the letter belongs to M. de Nemours and believes him to be having an affair with someone else.
