SOURCE: “Male Bonding and Female Isolation in Laclos's Les Liaisons dangereuses,” Studies on Voltaire and The Eighteenth Century, No. 267, 1989, pp. 253-71.

In the essay below, Conroy argues that Laclos champions the power of male friendship over the lesser power of the female acting alone.

Near the end of Choderlos de Laclos's libertine masterpiece, Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782), the Chevalier Danceny challenges the Vicomte de Valmont to a duel. Danceny has just discovered that Valmont has been seducing the woman he loves, Cécile Volanges, while pretending to be his friend and confidant. Naively, Danceny had thought that Valmont was helping to further his amorous intentions towards Cécile. Enraged, the Chevalier demands satisfaction for this spot on his manly honour, for this mockery made of friendship. The two men cross swords and Danceny obtains his revenge by wounding Valmont fatally. At this point in the novel, a momentous event...