‘Les Liaisons dangereuses, œuvre ambiguë (Dangerous Liaisons, an Ambiguous Text)": The Validity of this Judgment of the Novel Anonymous College

Les Liaisons dangereuses reveals the complex and disturbing world of aristocratic society in pre-revolutionary France. The reader is left with unanswered questions at the end of the novel, whilst also pondering the meaning of its rapid and tragic climax. These questions arise partly from the ambiguities in the novel, namely regarding its moral stance, its position on libertine intelligence and also on society, as well as the ambiguities in language and the epistolary form.

The ambiguity of language which is constant throughout Liaisons Dangereuses serves to highlight some of the tensions between love and libertinage, vice and virtue. Laclos provides us with no means of knowing his libertines’ emotions, of deciding whether or not they are jealous or in love. Thus we cannot hope to maintain the ‘reality’ of sentiments of characters such as Valmont and Merteuil who only use language in order to ‘trick’ others and who consistently resort to linguistic clichés when speaking of their feelings. Although there is no doubt that Valmont is the cold-blooded seducer and corrupter of Tourvel, as shown in letter 47 when he writes the letter to his ‘belle dévote’[1] on the back of the woman he has just made love to, other letters suggest...