The Secrets of the princesse de Cadignan I
Chapters I-II

Historical background

This story takes place in the 1830s, after the 1830 July revolution.  This revolution toppled the extremely conservative, monarchical, “legitimist” government of Charles X, who tried to take away the few freedoms that the French had retained from the French Revolution, including a parlement and freedom of the press.  In the story, the princess of Cadignan and the author, d’Arthez, are both noble and legitimists. The journalists who led the July revolution asked the Duc d’Orléans to become king and, in doing so, he took the name Louis-Philippe.  He respected the freedom of the press, for the most part, and gave strong support to bourgeois merchants and industrialists in the two decades before the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in France.    

The Chapter separations and titles were invented by the translator.

1.   Chapter I “After the disasters . . . in such cases. “  What is the princess's relation to Parisian high society?  (How did they see her before the revolution?  How does she propose to change that image? ). Why is she concerned about her image?  How has her life changed since the July Revolution?  How has she changed?

2.   Chapter I “On one of the first days . . .replied the princess.”  What is love for the princess and the marquise?  How do they change the common meanings of "innocence" and "virtue"?  Why? What do they want from a man?  Where do they think they can find it?  What does the princess’s example of true love say about what she wants?

3. Chapter II  What is d’Arthez’s general attitude toward women?  What do Blondet and Rastignac tell him his life lacks?  How do they represent the Princess in order to convince d’Arthez to meet the princess at the marquise’s house? What is the original source of his attraction to the princess during that evening, the woman he heard about from others?  What does this tell us about love in Balzac?

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4.  Chapter II  “From the tenor of these remarks….in the course of the week.”  How does d'Arthez fit or not fit the princess’s criteria for the man she can love (see question 2)? For what reason does the princess try to make herself as beautiful as possible before the dinner?   Whom does she wish to be in d’Arthez’s’ eyes?  How else does she seduce him?  What is most important for her in seducing him, the truth or falsity of her words and gestures or the effect of her words and gestures on d’Arthez?  Explain.

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