Maladie et défiguration de Madame de Merteuil

Madame de Merteuil’s illness turns the public disgrace that preceded it into a lasting bodily consequence: she survives confluent smallpox, but is left hideously disfigured and loses an eye. Reported in letters rather than narrated at her bedside, the episode joins physical suffering to the collapse of her social and financial position, while exposing how readily those around her interpret her altered appearance as a judgment on her character.

The Fever and Its Diagnosis

The first account reaches Madame de Volanges through a person who had described Madame de Merteuil’s humiliation in public. That same informant reports that, on the following night, Madame de Merteuil developed a very high fever. At first, people attributed it to the violent situation she had endured; by the time the report was relayed, however, confluent smallpox had declared itself, and its character was said to be extremely dangerous.

The sequence links the illness closely to the preceding scandal without establishing that humiliation caused the disease. The initial explanation is explicitly presented as what people had believed at first, then displaced by the diagnosis. Madame de Volanges even remarks that death might have been a blessing for Madame de Merteuil, a judgment that makes the gravity of the illness plain while also revealing the severity of the letter-writer’s condemnation.

Survival and Disfigurement

In a later letter, Madame de Volanges corrects the earlier expectation of death: Madame de Merteuil has recovered. Recovery, however, does not restore her former appearance. She is described as horribly disfigured and has lost one eye; Madame de Volanges, who has not seen her herself, reports that others say she is truly hideous.

The account keeps a distance between the injured woman and the reader. Her condition is transmitted as social report, and her face becomes an object of public interpretation. The marquis of *** is said to have remarked that the disease had turned her inside out, so that her soul now showed on her face. Madame de Volanges reports that everyone considered the expression apt. The anecdote records not only the physical effects of smallpox but the readiness of society to treat disfigurement as visible proof of moral character.

Legal and Social Aftermath

The illness unfolds alongside the imminent judgment in Madame de Merteuil’s lawsuit. Madame de Volanges had earlier heard that the sickness might harm her prospects in the case, where she was said to need considerable favor. The eventual report confirms that the lawsuit was decided against her unanimously: the minors received costs, damages, and restitution of the fruits, leaving the portion of Madame de Merteuil’s fortune not already compromised insufficient even to cover the expenses.

The letters thus place bodily survival beside material ruin. Madame de Merteuil is not killed by the disease, but she emerges disfigured as her lawsuit strips away what remains of her financial security. The episode also answers, with bitter irony, the prefatory suggestion that a wealthy young woman would never enter a convent and a young, beautiful présidente would never die of grief: the book’s announced challenge to claims about what could happen in the supposedly enlightened present is framed through the very kinds of reversals its opening disputes.