Letter 81: The Marquise de Merteuil to the Vicomte de Valmont
- The Marquise de Merteuil ridicules Valmont for his lack of faith in her.
- He can't even begin to accomplish what she's done in her life. All his conquests have been too easy.
- Sure he's good looking (luck) and charming, but that's all he has going for him.
- He has really underestimated her, and she's not happy about it.
- She believes that men have it much easier than women in controlling their lives; it's too easy for them to be men's victims.
- Still, too many women give in to love and then are devastated by unfaithful men.
- Not her. She has created herself rather than being created by society's expectations of her.
- She gives a very long account of her ability to manipulate people without being manipulated herself.
- At the age of 15, she could read people better than most politicians and learned not to let her face give away her emotions.
- She learned only to reveal what she wanted to reveal, and was completely immune to others opinions about what she should do.
- She was naïve about sex, and decided to make a fake confession to a priest that she had done "everything that women do," even though she had no idea what she meant.
- The priest was so shocked that she figured it must be pretty exciting stuff that she should learn about ASAP.
- Fortunately, she was married soon after and learned what she needed to know with out having to have a risky affair.
- During and after her marriage she learned how to take pleasure from others and how to control her reputation.
- She pretended not to enjoy sex so her husband would never be suspicious of her.
- After his death, she carefully cultivated a reputation for prudery all the while plotting to become promiscuous.
- She was never afraid of her lovers because she always managed to find out some secret about them that she could threaten them with if they revealed their affair.
- In short, she can have Prévan, will have him, and she'll see to it that he doesn't speak against her afterwards.
- Throughout her life, her motto has been "conquer or perish."
Letter 82: Cécile de Volanges to the Chevalier Danceny
- Cécile scolds Danceny for telling her about how tormented he is. She doesn't think he has any reason to be upset with her.
- Giving him a taste of his own medicine, she blames him for her unhappiness.
Letter 83: The Vicomte de Valmont to the Présidente de Tourvel
- He asks for another meeting with Tourvel. He's certain he could show her that he's not the bad guy she thinks he is.
- He appeals to her virtuous nature and claims that he's been misled all his life until he met her. Now he wants to become virtuous himself.
- Why should she be afraid of his love? He only wants to make her happy.
- It's he who should be afraid of seeing her again, because it would give her even more power over him.
- Even so, he's willing to make that sacrifice in order to tell her how he feels.
- What a guy.
Letter 84: The Vicomte de Valmont to Cécile de Volanges
- Valmont explains why he couldn't deliver a letter to her yesterday.
- He then asks her to get the key to her room kept on her mother's mantelpiece.
- He has a fake key to put in its place.
- He'll make a duplicate so he can get into her room.
- This would allow him to easily take and deliver the dangerous liaisons.
- He also suggests that she oil her door to keep its opening and closing quiet.
- Shmoop is getting a sinking feeling right about now.
Letter 85: The Marquise de Merteuil to the Vicomte de Valmont
- The Marquise conquers Prévan.
- She determines that she's the object of his lust by making him choose between her company and playing cards.
- (The guy must really love playing cards for this to be the decisive point for the Marquise.)
- They hang out in the company of others. Prévan speaks to her and another woman, but the Marquise can read the code in his words—the secret message in them for her.
- She pretends to be afraid of him. Apparently, men love this.
- She subtly suggests a place to rendezvous.
- They meet.
- The Marquise then arranges a chance for them to be secretly alone together after a card game.
- She's been carefully laying her trap in all her dealings with him, pretending to worry that they'll be discovered.
- They finally plan a way for him to sneak into her bedroom without anyone noticing. Prévan seems to be enjoying the hunt.
- To make it more convincing, the Marquise pretends to back out of the plan at the last moment.
- She then waits for the plan to play itself out over the next few days.
- On the arranged night, Prévan rushes to her room.
- As soon as he makes his move, she taunts him and clangs the bell for the servants. They show up en masse and one of them attacks Prévan.
- Prévan's led off under arrest and the poor wronged Marquise goes to her room to recover from the terrible trauma.
- Mission accomplished, and everyone's sure to hear about it