Beginning of Essay
is a complex and disturbing portrayal of the noble class in pre-revolutionary France. Set in the late eighteenth century during the latter part of the Ancien Regime, Les Liaisons weaves a web of cold, calculated betrayal of the most immoral kind. The story unfol ....

Middle of Essay
.... in front of each other like spoils of war. The less the chance of surrender, the more relentless is the pursuit. The story begins with the Marquise de Merteuil corresponding with Vicomte de Valmont regarding a luscious new act of ‘revenge’, as she describes it, against the Comte de Gercourt. The young Cecile de Volanges has just come home from the convent and her marriage to Gercourt has been arranged. However, before he can wed the innocent child, Merteuil proposes Valmont ‘educate’ her, thus spoiling Gercourt’s fancy for untarnished convent girls. Valmont is uninterested in such an easy seduction and is far more aroused by the thought ....