# Letter 56: The Presidente de Tourvel to the Viscount de Valmont explained — Dangerous Liaisons

> Chapter companion for Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.

## What happens

Madame de Tourvel firmly rejects Valmont's advances, asserting her contentment in her marriage and her duty. She refuses to engage with his arguments, warns him against further correspondence, and condemns his treatment of seduced women. She declares this will be her last letter to him.

## Themes in this chapter

### Seduction and Manipulation

Tourvel directly confronts Valmont's manipulative tactics, accusing him of using captious reasons and persistent pursuit to undermine her resolve.

### Love, Virtue, and Corruption

Tourvel contrasts her virtuous love for her husband with the corrupting passion Valmont offers, choosing duty and peace over the 'tumult of the senses.'

### Gender and Power Dynamics

Tourvel asserts her agency by refusing Valmont's advances, yet her language reveals the pressure she feels from his relentless pursuit, highlighting the unequal power in their interaction.

## Character check-ins

### Madame de Tourvel

Writes to Valmont, firmly rejecting his advances and asserting her commitment to her husband and virtue.

### Viscount de Valmont

The recipient of the letter; Tourvel accuses him of persistent and manipulative pursuit.

## Key lines

> What you call happiness, is the tumult of the senses, the storm of passions, the aspect of which is dreadful, even viewing it from the shore; and who then would encounter such storms?

You mistake the chaos of desire for happiness, but even from a safe distance, that storm is terrifying—who would willingly sail into it?

_Tourvel uses a maritime metaphor to reject Valmont's notion of passion as dangerous and undesirable._

> I will not reply to you any more:—how you treat the women you have seduced! how contemptibly do you speak of them!

I will stop writing to you—and look at how you speak of the women you've seduced, with such contempt!

_Tourvel condemns Valmont's hypocrisy and cruelty toward his former lovers, using it as a reason to sever correspondence._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/dangerous_liaisons_se/chapters/letter-56-the-presidente-de-tourvel-to-the-viscount-de-valmont
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/dangerous_liaisons_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/dangerous_liaisons_se/chapters