e of Cleves controlsher emotions through rationality is upheld as virtue by theauthor. This “virtue” is perceived as being much betterthan the rest of the court. Though the outcome may not havemade the Princesse “happy”, the impression that she left onthe aristocracy was far better according to Madame deLafayette. What separates the rational thought of Descartes withthe rational thought expressed in the Princesse De Cleves isthe role played by action. Descartes writes, “I am nowconcentrating only on knowledge, not on action.” (16). Descartes rationalizes thought, but does not apply it toaction. Mme of Cleves applies Descartes ideas to hereveryday actions. She acts upon her thoughts, by moving tothe convent, in order to uphold the perceptions thateveryone has of her. In the Princesse De Cleves, emotions are considered asign of weakness. They are character flaws that Mme ofCleves does not have. In the closing pages of the novel,Nemours tries to convince the Princesse that she can nowlove him because her husband is dead. Yet, she resists heremotions because she thinks that they are not rational, andeven forces herself into a cloistered life to quash any hopethat Nemours may have. Her choice is perceived as the rightone, however: In the end, he was obliged to depart, overwhelmed by grief as only a man could be who had now lost all possible hope of ever seeing again a woman who he loved with the most violent, the most natural, and the most well-founded passion in the world. And yet he still would not give up: he did everything he could think of to make her change her mind. Finally, after years had gone by, time and absence diminished his pain and quenched his passion. (156)Nemours was only longing for Mme of Cleves because she wasunattainable. His “passion” would have abated after hereceived the object of his longing. M...
