The Princesse de Cleves is a period drama written by Madam de Lafayette. Over the course of the narrative the author sets up a forbidden love triangle and then demonstrates incredible reserve in not resolving the drama. The secret yet chaste lovers are given the chance, beyond all hope, to get together when the woman's husband dies, but she refuses, instead choosing to enter a convent in order to honor her husband's dying wishes. While she makes her love for the other man clear, the woman finds strength and maturity in making her decisions for herself for once.
After Mademoiselle de Chartres brings her daughter to the king's court to find a lover, she is continually frustrated by her daughter's impetuousness which costs her many potential suitors. Eventually the girl is married to the Prince de Cleves, an insecure but kind man. Meanwhile the newly titled princess has fallen in love with the Duke de Nemours. They conduct a distant and chaste relationships which ends with the princess believing he has taken another lover. The prince becomes suspicious and, consumed by jealousy, falls ill and dies. Although the princess is free once more and this time well off and provided for, she still denies the duke and joins a convent because she cannot bear the thought of being disloyal to her husband.
Although the ending of this book is somewhat unsatisfying, it does offer a rather unique commentary for the time period. Madame de Lafayette chooses to give her heroine the power to choose, such a luxury in this world. The princess is empowered by denying her lover and pursuing something more autonomous and anonymous. She uses her gift to defy everyone's expectations and honor her own value system. It's a perplexing yet meaningful conclusion to a complex romantic drama.
