Cruel Intentions vs. Dangerous Liaisons
Separated by age and vastly different times, both Dangerous Liaisons and Cruel Intentions relay a social prejudice towards women that are identical despite contrasting setting details. In each time period, a preconception of a "real" lady's character drives the female characters to wear "masks" of conformity. This, they feel, society mandates, and is, along with other factors, an evident source of the character's rebellion. The characters of Kathryn Merteuil and Marquise de Merteuil each have scenes in which they define their separate but nearly identical urges to be released from this certain social order that confines them to hide their true identities. Each movie includes this scene to delve into the preconceived role in society that directly factors in Kathryn Merteuil and Marquise de Merteuil's reaction to the confined views of her time. Power is of the utmost importance to these caged women. The role of Merteuil revolves around deceit and manipulation while also requiring her to assume the role of a lady for public viewing. In the first scene she appears in, she is being treated like a very respectable lady by Cecille's mom. In both movies, she receives the highest esteem because of her obvious scheming. Kathryn in Cruel
Marquise De Merteuil: "No, no... 'cruelty.' I always thought that it had a nobler ring to it. " This speech blatantly describes Kathryn's rage towards her former boyfriend and the requirement to perform like a real lady. The anger towards both, separately and conjuctly, are specifically dissected. Her motives are straight-forward and to the point. She expresses her disgust with her lifestyle but then goes straight back to his involvement in the bet, proving that deceit and manipulation are her only livelihood. In this one outburst, the audience gets a complete sense of her anger caused by her situation in life. Although she experiences so much hate towards having to pretend to be a lady, she still derives some kind of sadistic pleasure from manipulating people into thinking she is one. Mayhem brings her pleasure. She tells Cecille outright that being promiscuous is a natural thing. Her spoiling of Cecille is supposed revenge on her former boyfriend, but she has been reduced to settling with revenge on his new target. She is forced to revenge herself on the object of her former boyfriend's affection. The requirement to be a lady hinders her in every way, and she seems to be controlled by the instinct to remain "Mary Sunshine." Kathryn says simply, "Everybody loves me, and I intend to keep that way." "You'll find the shame is like the pain, you only feel it once." Intentions is the class president and apparently has a very high status in her prep school. In accordance, the Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons receives great respect and the utmost courtesy from other wealthy people. Both characters drop their facades occasionally throughout the movies, but this is only when with Valmont. The character uses the mask of a proper lady when she can attain something in return or protect her reputation and she has no need to hide her true self to Valmont because of their similar motives. The Marquise De Merteuil has a very similarly revealing scene. She confesses to Valmont, Vicomte De Valmont: "Sur
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Approximate Word count = 1371
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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