Illness

Think it isn't possible to die of a broken heart? Think again.

That's what happens to Madame de Tourvel after Valmont suddenly leaves her, sending that terrible letter helpfully suggested by the Marquise. She becomes feverish and delirious, refuses to eat, and becomes very weak. Her illness seems to have two sources.

First, she's lovesick. Even when she and Valmont were briefly together, it affected her physically. After their first tryst, she falls into his arms "in a faint." (4.125.40) In fact, during the whole time he's been seducing her, she's been in a constant state of agitation, thinking only about him and being a little out of her mind. To paraphrase the classic rock troubadours, The Young Rascals, she's got the fever, he's got the cure. They must have stolen these lyrics right from Madame de Tourvel's letter to Valmont:

I feel I must rest, and no rest is possible. I summon sleep in vain: all sleep has fled. I am in turn devoured by raging fires and numbed by deathly chills.

Valmont knows the meaning of lovesickness. In fact, he pretends to be ill so that Madame de Rosemonde can report back to Madame de Tourvel that he's pale and weak, a sure sign of being desperately in love.

For the devout Madame de Tourvel, her illness seems to also represent a spiritual struggle, especially after she realizes she's been deceived by Valmont's treachery into abandoning her religious principles and marriage vows principles by succumbing to his charms. This is what really kills her. As Madame de Volanges writes,

The body is not easily restored to health when the spirit is so disturbed. (4.160.3)

In the delirium that overcomes her just before her death, she cries out to Valmont and God before falling into unconsciousness. After she hears that Valmont has died, she wakes up and prays for his soul and hers. A little while later, she asks for Father Anselme and receives the last rites; at last she looks peaceful. But there's nothing left to do but die—living with her shame is just not an option. She seems to think that death is what she deserves.

The most dramatic example of the symbolic use of illness is the final payback for the scheming Madame de Merteuil. Once all her evil intentions are made public when Danceny passes around her letters, she develops a disfiguring case of smallpox. Her beauty, which she always prized and used to her benefit, is gone. She loses an eye (also symbolic for someone who prided herself on seeing everything).

Madame de Volanges passes along an opinion form one of their acquaintances:

The Marquis de --, who never loses an opportunity to be spiteful, said yesterday in speaking of her 'that the disease has turned her inside out, and that her soul is now visible on her face'. Unfortunately, everyone thought the observation very just. (4.175.2)