The Princess of Cleves

This paper is an examination of Nathaniel Lee's comedy, The Princess of Cleves, first produced in late 1681 or early 1682 during the Restoration period of the British theater and adapted from Madame de La Fayette's novel of the same name, which was published in France in 1678 and was based on true events of the French court. Lee used the plot and characters of the novel (adding some of his own invention) to create a much bawdier, more satirical look at marriage, virtue, and hypocrisy in society than the novel attempted. His play is wildly entertaining but also quite disturbing in the portrait it paints of an immoral rake and the destruction - some of it tragic, much of it farcical - he wreaks in the lives and marriages of those around him.

In Lee's play, the central character is not the Princess of Cleves but the man she secretly loves, Duke Nemours, a man "built for whoring . . . black, sanguine, brawny; a Roman nose; long foot; and a stiff - calf of a leg" (1.1.89-91), as Lee has Saint-Andre describe him. Madame de La Fayette's portrait is more noble than Lee's. She calls him "nature's masterpiece among men" (3). Lee's character is more of a charming rogue; he proudly announces, "You sneak with [your obscenity] under your cloaks like tailors and barbers; and I, as a gentleman should do, walk with it in my hand" (2.3.36-37). His mistress and his secret fiancee is Marguerite, Princess of Jainville, but he is hardly a faithful lover. His current conquest is Tournon,

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his love. She admires him, saying, "Was ever man so worthy to be loved,/So good, so gentle, soft a disposition,/As if no gall had mixed in his creation" (1.3.114-116). However, he leaves her cold and does not have the ability to deceive him into believing she harbors any real love for him in return. Ironically, their crisis brings them closer, as he forces her to tell him the truth about her feelings. Her mourning for him is genuine grief. The next marriages Lee presents are those of Saint-Andre and Elianor and of Poltrot and Celia. These are spirited unions, built on mutual insults and what appears to be a real desire to wound each other. These couples jibe at each other and threaten to seek lovers simply because they know this will provoke a reaction in their spouse. In fact, Lee seems to imply that this verbal sparring remains the only way these couples can communicate. Elianor demands, "Pray, Saint-Andre, leave tricing your curls, your affected nods, grimaces, taking of snuff, and answer me" (2.2.21-22). The demand at least keeps the husbands around for awhile, if only to exchange another witty insult. The comic characters are nothing if not witty. Poltrot is given some especially nasty jibes about England: "O,

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