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Marquise De Merteuil

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There is something about going to a live theater that just offers that something that you can’t really experience when watching a movie. The uncertainty and the live aspects of the performances makes you feel part of the story in a way instead of being the outsider that’s just watching it. Everything is bigger, louder, better in a live theater and even having rea stage actors staring at you instead of a camera, you get a sense of excitement that makes the whole experience enjoyable. I certainly got that feeling when I got a chance to sit down and watch Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the center stage. According to the Center Stage website, the plot summary reads “Two French aristocrats, Marquise de Merteuil and her ex-lover, the Vicomte de Valmont, …show more content…

For me I don’t have an inherent problem with characters that are just plain awful, I can appreciate them as such but in most cases the way these types of characters are written doesn’t always stand out to me and in worse cases the narrative tries to force me to sympathize with them instead of letting me feel for myself. Looking at Merteuil character on paper, you’d almost want to describe her as brutal and maybe even unsympathetic yet Douglas manages to give layers to this character that weren’t just an “evil hard ass” but showed a human side to her that had pain and a soul that was damaged while maintaining that fierce persona. One of my personal favorite moments from the play was when she explains to Valmont that main source of power women of her time have the withholding of sex while Men “Can ruin us whenever the fancy takes you.” She goes on to say “All we can achieve by denouncing you is to enhance your prestige. We can't even get rid of you when we want to” Setting wise I thought the design for the play was very beautiful. I’ve been to other plays set in a similar time period and sometimes the rococo fashion and scenery can easily make everything look tacky and gaudy but thankfully this wasn’t the case. One thing that stood out to me the most was the square pattern on the floor that looked like a chessboard. It didn’t click with me at first but after I had time to reflect after the play I thought about how that may have been a clever symbol about how this is all just part of a game between Merteuil and

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