THE CHARACTER OF NEMOURS

Many critics have pointed out how Mme de Lafayette, in spite of her painstaking quest for historical accuracy, has clothed the brutal, coarse court of Henry II with the gentility and refinement of the court of Louis XIV. The same process might be seen in the presentation of the character of the Duke of Nemours. The brutal womaniser as described in the histories has become the galant courtier. However, the critic who claims that the vigorous 16th Century soldier has been paled and changed into an insipid character does not do the Nemours of Mme de Lafayette's novel justice. He is a character of great complexity, with many different facets of character, often conflicting, who gives us a fascinating insight into the manners of a galant of the court of Louis XIV.

1 The historical Nemours as seen in the novel and in the histories

a) The Duke of Nemours lived from 1531 - 1585.
The historian Brantôme describes his distinguished service in the war against Charles V. He was present at the siege of Metz (1553) which the French successfully held against the besieging forces of the Emperor.

Mme de Lafayette speaks of Nemours' incomparable valour. When, after the confession, Mme de Clèves retired to Coulommiers to avoid Nemours, she was still languishing for him and took with her a historical portrait which showed Nemours at the siege of Metz.

b) Mme de Lafayette is following history when she describes how, when Elizabeth I ascended to the throne of England, reports came to Henry II that she was captivated by the reputation of Nemours. Nemours did in fact send his friend Lignerolles to the English court to sound out the sentiments of the Queen towards him. The historian Brantôme then records that Nemours appeared to lose interest in Elizabeth and says "peut-être d'autres amours" caused the change in Nemours. Mme de Lafayette cleverly interweaves history with her fiction. In her story Nemours loses interest in Elizabeth because of his love for Mme de Clèves.

c) The historians tell us that Nemours was one of the champions of the tournament in which Henry II was killed in 1559, just as he is in the story. Another skil­ful interweaving of history and fiction is seen, when the preparations for the historical tournament bring about the accident to Nemours when Mme de Clèves fails to conceal her love.

d) The story of the love of Nemours and Mme de Clèves is Madame de Lafayette's invention, but even here there is a slight parallel in history. The real Nemours courted Anne d'Este while she was married to the Duc de Guise, however Nemours did in fact marry Anne d'Este after her husband's death.

e) The historian Brantôme praises Nemours’ charm and wit and credits him with great success with the ladies. However, history shows him to be an unscrupulous betrayer of women. He pledged his word to Francoise de Rohan, seduced her and abandoned her in her shame. Mme de Lafayette has idealised his character, but in her book he is still the typical Dom Juan of the Court.

2 Nemours - The Dom Juan

A) His previous reputation. In her first description of Nemours, the authoress tells us that all women were attracted to him. He enjoyed galanterie and had several mistresses but it was difficult to decide whom he truly loved - so he had lots of women. (Page 2 Summary notes)

Because of Nemours' reputation as a womaniser, Mme de Chartres tried to turn her daughter from her love of Nemours:
Page 42
Elle se mit un jour à parler de lui; elle lui en dit du bien, et y mêla beaucoup de louanges empoisonnées sur la sagesse qu'il avait d'être incapable de devenir amoureux, et sur ce qu'il ne se faisait qu'un plaisir et non pas un attachement sérieux du commerce des femmes.

The Dauphine says that Nemours had previously not been too fastidious in his choice of mistresses:
 Page 43
Il avait un nombre infini de maîtresses, et c'était même un défaut en lui; car il ménageait également celles qui avaient du mérite et celles qui n'en avaient pas.

He was thus flirtatious, and would not stay with one woman

After their intimate afternoon composing the letter, Mme de Clèves is suddenly struck by fear of the love she feels for Nemours and it is his inconstancy which frightens her:
Page 105
Elle fut étonnée de n'avoir point encore pense combien il était peu vraisemblable qu'un homme comme M de Nemours, qui avait toujours fait paraître tout de légèreté parmis les femmes, fut capable d'un attachement sincère et durable.

Her final conviction that Nemours cannot remain faithful gives her the resolution not to marry Nemours after her husband's death:
Page 174
La fin de l'amour de ce prince et les maux de la jalousie qu'elle croyait infaillibles dans un mariage lui montraient un malheur certain oû elle s'allait jeter.

B) Nemours sees seduction seen as a conquest

Although Nemours gives up all other women for his love of Mme de Clèves, his conduct of his courtship is reminiscent of Dom Juan. The Dom Juans of court hunted women for the honour of a conquest and Nemours sometimes speaks and acts in this way. When Nemours has overheard the confession by Mme de Cléves to her husband and witnessed the full extent of her anguish we read:

Il sentit pourtant un plaisir sensible de l'avoir réduite a cette extrèmite. Il trouva de la gloire à s'être fait aimer d'une femme si différente de toutes celles de son sexe.

Mme de Clèves recognises this behaviour in men, when she believes that Nemours has found out about her confession and boasted of it to the Vidame: (22)

Page 128
J'ai eu tort de croire qu'il y eut un homme capable de cacher ce qui flatte sa gloire.

C) Courtship is seen as an elaborate strategy akin to a war.

To Moliere's Dom Juan, the joy of courtship came from the thrills of the campaign as by a hundred little stratagems one won over one's mistress. (Act I Scene II)
On goute une douceur extrême a réduire, par cent hommages, le coeur d'une jeune beauté, â voir de jour en jour les petits progrès qu'on y fait, a combattre par des transports, par des larmes et des soupirs, l'innocente pudeur d'une âme qui a peine à rendre les armes, à forcer pied à pied toutes les petites résistances qu'elle nous oppose, à vaincre les scrupules dont elle se fait un honneur et la mener doucement où nous avons envie de la faire venir.

We must admire the patience and subtlety with which Nemours pursues his courtship of Mme de Clèves.

i) In the early stages he made no attempt to communicate his love to Mme de Clèves but he was satisfied that she was aware of his love and by her absence from the ball Mme de Clèves gave him some reassurance that she showed her feeling

ii) During the illness of Mme de Clèves' Mother, he inched nearer. Visiting the house on the pretext of visiting her friend, M de Clèves he contrived to be alone with Mme de Clèves and let her know from the tone of his voice whom he was in love with.

iii) After the death of Mme de Chartres, M de Nemours takes one further step declaring to her, that she is the cause of the changes in him and that he would have her aware that no other woman nor no other ambitions could distract him.

iv) His cunning tricks

In his courtship he uses cunning and sometimes dishonest tricks to achieve his conquest:

a) He steals the miniatures belonging to M de Clèves and makes Mme de Clèves his accomplice in this act.

b) He exploits the lost letter of the Vidame to obtain an intimate afternoon with Mme de Clèves.

c) He hides twice at Coulommiers. Once he sees the confession, the second time he sees her musing over her mementoes alone.

d)  His base trick against his "friend" the Prince de Clèves.

When Nemours saw M de Clèves in the summer house with his wife he had felt intensely jealous of him. His basest act in the story is to deliberately harm M de Clèves by suggesting that only a husband would tell the story of such a confession in order to find out the name of the lover. Nemours' malice towards his "friend" is made clear:

M de Nemours, qui vit les soupçons de Madame de Clèves sur son mari, fut bien aise de les lui confirmer; il savait que c’était le plus redoutable rival qu'il eut à  détruire.

3 Nemours the Jewel of the French court

a) The galant courtier


It may seem surprising at first that such a notorious Dom Juan as Nemours was, should have been universally admired as the consummate courtier, whose mere reputation had captivated the new Queen of England, Elizabeth I. However, we should remember the equivocal attitude to sex and marriage in the French court.


 

The seduction of a beautiful lady, in fact, as we said above added to the glory of a beau as is seen in M de Clèves’ deathbed warning: page 27 Summary notes

Vous sentirez le chagrin que trouvent les personnes raisonnables dans ces engagements, et vous connaîtrez la différence d'être aimée comme je vous aimais a l'être par des gens qui, en vous témoignant de l'amour ne cherchent que l'honneur de vous séduire.

Mme de Chartres had ulterior motives when she expressed the following sentiment to her daughter, but it does reflect the amoral attitude of the French court that she is able to praise Nemours' wisdom in seeking pleasure from love rather than a serious attachment.

The Dauphine makes a joke of his loose conduct. If all his mistresses had stayed away from Nemours' party, his house would have been empty.'

Nevertheless Nemours does acknowledge that he is criticised. He tells the Vidame: page 17 Summary notes

On m'a accuse de n'être pas un amant fidele, et d'avoir plusieurs galanteries â la fois; mais vous me passez de si loin.

Whatever mixed views there may be in court about his sexual conduct, this did little to detract from his reputation as the perfect courtier. Mme de Lafayette describes him in superlatives: page 2 Summary notes

            Ce prince était un chef d'oeuvre de la nature; ce qu'il avait de moins admirable était d'être l'homme du monde le mieux fait et le plus beau. Ce qui le mettait au-dessus des autres était une valeur incomparable et un agrément dans son esprit, dans son visage et dans ses actions.

b) The man of charm and wit
(page 6 )Summary notes

Mme de Clèves was captivated by him in the first days that she saw him at court because he surpassed by so much all the other courtiers. Everywhere he was master of the conversation, and both by his manner and the charm of his wit he made a great impression on her.

His charm
The afternoon when Mme de Chartres was shut away with Nemours composing the false letter for the Queen was delightful for her. The mood was light hearted and Nemours made constant jokes to interrupt her work.

Even when she felt cold and hostile towards him, Nemours’ charm could work its magic. When Nemours called on Mme de Clèves with her sister at Coulommiers, Mme de Clèves was cold with him at first, angry at his temerity in entering the garden secretly two nights previously. It took little time however for Nemours' charm to dispel her coldness.

His discussion of the problem of love - whether a lover would wish his mistress
to go to the ball - with its excessive elaboration, suggests that he would be a nobleman who would be very much at home in the Precious salons of the 17th Century.


c)  The man who excelled at sports

His love of sports. His enjoyment of tennis and his jousting with the King remind us that the story is set in the reign of Henry II when sporting activities overshadowed literary interests.

d) His sense of his personal dignity

Nemours will not risk losing his dignity even with the crown of England as his prize. Queen Elizabeth I was rumoured to find Nemours attractive and worthy to be her husband. Henry II on hearing this wished Nemours to travel to England but Nemours, feeling that this would be too presumptious on his part and would leave him open to humiliation sent his favourite to England to find out the Queen's sentiments.

After cruelly attempting to sow dissension between M and Mme de Clèves by sug­gesting that the husband would reveal the story of the confession, Nemours is filled with remorse, but not because of guilt at his mischief. He regrets the discourtesy he had shown to Mme de Clèves by saying things which showed his awareness of her love. He feels this discourtesy is unworthy of himself. He tells himself: page 129
Je n'ai point d'excuse, je suis indigne d'être regardé de Madame de Clèves, et je n'espère pas aussi qu'elle me regarde jamais. Je lui ai donné, par ma faute, de meilleurs moyens pour se défendre contre moi que tous ceux qu'elle cherchait.

e) His intelligence

He has the intelligence to extricate himself from the most difficult situations, When the Dauphine asked Nemours point blank whether he was loved by a lady at court who hid her passion from him but had confessed it to her husband, Nemours was for a moment speechless. He knows that Mary Stuart was attracted to him and Mme de Clèves was also present, whom he knew he had offended. Yet Nemours’ wit did not desert him for long. He denied that he was the man in the story and to please Mary Stuart said that the role of a man in love was appropriate to him but not that of a man who was loved. He excused her embarrassment by saying it was felt for the friend who had confided in him.

PART 3 Nemours truly in love with Mme de Clèves

a) It was love at first sight

Nemours fell in love with Mme de Clèves from their first meeting at the marriage ball for the Duke of Lorraine. (6 )Summary notes
 M de Nemours fut tellement surpris de sa beauté, que, lorsqu'il fut proche d'elle, et qu'elle lui fit la révérence, il ne put s'empêcher de donner des marques de son admiration.

Right from the start he felt "une inclination violente" for Mme de Clèves.

b) His devotion to her
i) Formerly a notorious philanderer Nemours now devotes himself solely to his love for Mme de Clèves. In his veiled declaration of love he tells Mme de Clèves that violent passions can cause changes and changes have been noted in him. Yet a man would wish that the woman he loved was also aware - aware that no other woman nor no ambitions could distract him.

 page 12 Summary notes
L'on voudrait qu'elles sussent qu'il n'y a point de beauté, dans quelque rang qu'elle put être, que l'on né regardât avec indifférence et qu'il n'y a point de couronne que l'on voulut acheter au prix de ne les voir jamais.

On his second visit to Coulommiers Nemours walks in the country around her house overwhelmed by his love for her.            page 146

Il s'abandonna aux transports de son amour, de son coeur en fut tellementt presse qu'il fut contraint de laisser couler quelques larmes; mais ces larmes n'étaient pas de celles que la douleur seule fait répandre; elles étaient melees de douceur et de ce charme qui né se trouve que dans 1' amour.

ii)  Unable to be with her he is a languishing lover

After M de Clèves death, Nemours knew that he must keep his distance from
Mme de Clèves. However he could not deprive himself of her sight and secretly rented a room overlooking her house to give himself a glimpse of her.

Mme de Clèves is touched to see him alone on a park bench languishing in his love: page 161

Ce prince se présenta à son esprit, aimable au-dessus de tout ce qui était au mondé; l'aimant depuis longtemps avec une passion pleine de respect et de fidélité; méprisant tout pour elle; respectant jusqu'à sa-douleur; songeant à la voir sans songer a en être vu.

ii) Nemours’ confidence in the sincerity of his love for her

At their final meeting Nemours despairs that a sense of duty without foundation was blocking their love; page 29 Summary notes

Ma destineé m'aurait conduit à aimer la plus estimable personne du monde; j'aurais vu en elle tout ce qui peut faire une adorable maîtresse; elle né m'aurait pas haï et je n'aurais trouvé dans sa conduite que tout ce qui peut être a désirer dans une femme.

iii) His constancy
Nemours in fact proves his constancy by waiting for time to pass after the death of M de Clèves, so that there should be no scandalous suspicions of an affair during her husband's lifetime.

Nemours did not give up even after Mme de Clèves had entered a convent. He went
to the convent but she refused to see him. He was overwhelmed with grief. He tried-in vain for years until time relieved his grief and extinguished his passion.

Our verdict--How far is Nemours at fault?
We can certainly fault Nemours' conduct. Yet if we ask ourselves what is the feeling which the book leaves us with - do we really feel anger about Nemours' character and behaviour? Do we not feel rather a sense of despair that two people who love each other as sincerely as do Nemours and the Princesse de Clèves are prevented from marriage by circumstances beyond theircontrol.

To this extent is not Nemours also a victim of a tragic destiny like Mme de Clèves? The culprit then is the society in which they live:

a Where marriages are arranged for social convenience even when no love exists.

b Where love inevitably occurs outside marriage, and self-respect is put in jeopardy.  According to the manners of the time, to seduce the beautiful wife of another man, added to one's glory, while if the husband loved the wife, the loss of his wife con­stituted his humiliation. Furthermore amorous intrigues often involved considerations of personal advancement and political machinations. To this extent the lovers are victims of 16th or 17th Century society.
Perhaps the tragedy of the book is even more. universal. It is true that Nemours loves the Princesse de Clèves, but she feels that this love will last only as long as it remains unsatisfied. If this is true it is the very nature of human love that is tragic.

Perhaps the sad universal truth of the book is the inadequacy of our human love, which Camus describes as so rarely able to express itself and achieve true fulfilment. It is perhaps for this reason that La Princesse de Clèves is a love story for all time.