Letters of Two Brides · Chapter
XXXII: Mme. de Macumer to Mme. de l’Estorade explained
Louise writes to Renée after a long silence, describing her triumphant social life in Paris as a fashionable hostess and the wife of Felipe de Macumer.
What happens
Louise writes to Renée after a long silence, describing her triumphant social life in Paris as a fashionable hostess and the wife of Felipe de Macumer. She reflects on the intoxicating yet hollow nature of society, contrasts it with her deep love for Felipe, and looks forward to a visit to Chantepleurs and seeing Renée and her baby son. She also updates Renée on her family's political and marital affairs, including her brother's engagement to Mlle. de Mortsauf.
Themes in this chapter
Society and Appearance
Louise describes the intoxicating yet hollow triumph of being a fashionable hostess, where flattery and jealousy are the currency of social success.
Passion and Self-Restraint
Louise contrasts her public social duties with the private, passionate love she shares with Felipe, which heals the wounds inflicted by society.
Motherhood and Family Duty
Louise reflects on Renée's motherhood and her own role as godmother, while also detailing her family's strategic marriages and inheritances.
Characters to notice
- Louise de Chaulieu
Writes to Renée, describing her life as a fashionable Parisian hostess and her love for Felipe.
- Renée de Maucombe
The recipient of Louise's letter; Louise addresses her as a dear friend and mother.
- Felipe Hénarez
Louise's husband, praised as an admirable host and the object of her passionate love.
- Louis de l'Estorade
Renée's baby son, referred to as the 'monkey godson' and 'little Armand'.
- Duc de Rhétoré
Louise's elder brother, who now deigns to recognize her as a person of mark.
- Mme. de Maufrigneuse
Mentioned as one of the society women with whom Louise competes as a hostess.
- Prince de Talleyrand
Shows warm friendship to Macumer out of affection for Louise's grandmother.
- de Mortsauf
Mlle. de Mortsauf is the heiress engaged to Louise's younger brother; her brother is dying of consumption.
Key passages
“Society there drives out all sentiment; it lays an embargo on your time; and unless you are very careful, soon eats away your heart altogether.”
Parisian society consumes all emotional energy and time, and if one is not vigilant, it will corrode the heart completely.
Louise warns Renée about the corrosive effect of social life on genuine feeling.
“If my evenings are a continuous round of parties, balls, concerts, and theatres, at night my heart expands again, and is healed of the wounds received in the world by the delights of the passionate love which await my return.”
Though my evenings are filled with social events, my heart is restored each night by the passionate love I find when I return home.
Louise explains how her love for Felipe counterbalances the superficiality of society.
“To pose perpetually as a divinity is a draught so potent in its intoxicating effects, that I am no longer surprised to see women grow selfish, callous, and frivolous in the heart of this adoration.”
Being constantly worshipped like a goddess is so intoxicating that it explains why women become selfish and frivolous under such adoration.
Louise reflects on the moral dangers of being a celebrated society woman.
