Jane Austen and Dangerous Liaisons

or "Miss Austen in very bad company!"

When I read the 24th chapter of Mansfield Park in which Henry Crawford explains to his sister Mary his reasons for conquering Fanny Price, I wondered: could Jane Austen have read Choderlos de Laclos's writings? They were contemporaries and The Dangerous Liaisons (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) was published in 1782. Well, perhaps she did not, but my dear cad, Henry Crawford, certainly could read ...

Alessandro Nivola as Henry Crawford

Let us see how and when Henry begins to have "ideas" about poor Fanny. He tells Mary about his plans.

[...] my plan is to make Fanny Price in love with me.

She protests but he explains his desire.

But I cannot be satisfied without Fanny Price, without making a small hole in Fanny Price’s heart.

To him, Fanny Price is a challenge

Her looks say, ‘I will not like you, I am determined not to like you’; and I say she shall.

He assures his sister that he will not hurt Fanny... perhaps a bit... nothing more!

[...] only want her to look kindly on me, to give me smiles as well as blushes, to keep a chair for me by herself wherever we are, and be all animation when I take it and talk to her; to think as I think, be interested in all my possessions and pleasures, try to keep me longer at Mansfield, and feel when I go away that she shall be never happy again. I want nothing more.

You must read all the dialogues to better appreciate this chat between the Crawford siblings, but I believe that the parts cited are enough to get an idea of Henry's intentions, and why their exchange reminded me of Dangerous Liaisons, specifically of Letter 6, where the Viscount of Valmont explains to the Marquise de Merteuil how pleased he is at the thought of conquering Madame de Tourvel.

What a delightful thought: to be the cause and the cure of her remorse! Far be it from me to try to break down the prejudices which worry her! They'll merely help to increase my happiness and my reputation. I want her to have these high principles — and to sacrifice them for my sake! I want her to be horrified by her sins yet unable to resist sinning; to suffer endless terrors wich she can overcome and forget only in my arms; then I'll agree to let her say: "I adore you". She will be the only woman in the world really worthy of uttering those words. I shall truly be the God whom she loves best. (Les liaisons dangereuses, Oxford Press, page 20, translator Douglas Parmée)

And as a scoundrel always remember another, I remember Chad, from Neil LaBute's movie, In Company of Men. The three men had different fate, but the motive of the conquest seems the same: only vanity.

Alessandro Nivola and Frances O’Connor as Henry Crawford and Fanny Price.

Books

Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Chordelos de Laclos, 2008 · OUP

Movies

Mansfield Park, 1999, Patricia Rozema · IMDb
Dangerous Liaisons, 1988 (John Malkovich) · IMDb
Valmont, 1989 (Colin Firth) · IMDb
In the Company of Men, 1997 (Aaron Eckhart) · IMDb

Posted by Raquel Sallaberry, Jane Austen em Portugues