Cécile and Danceny


Does the book say what happened to Cécile and Danceny in the end?

I think that they ended up together, most likely not as a legitimate couple but rather as lovers, with Cécile marrying Merteuil's ex-lover anyway.

And somehow I have this sneaky feeling that Cécile might have ended up as the new Merteuil.

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Cecile goes back to the convent. She's really young in the book, just a teenager (maybe mid-teens, not even late teens) and what happened spoiled her life.........or the life she could have had outside of the convent walls. But, IIRC, the book implies she's going to take the veil and spend the rest of her life as a nun.

I don't remember what happened to Danceny after the duel and he exposed Merteuil.

You didn't ask, but Madame de Tourvel dies and Merteuil ends up broke and contracts a bad case of smallpox which ruins her beauty.

You might prefer the end of the other movie version of the book, Valmont. In it Cecile doesn't lose Valmont's baby. Her marriage is still on. Cecile tells Valmont's older female relative (I forget in that version if it's his aunt or his grandmother) that she's carrying Valmont's child at his funeral.

my website -- http://maggieameanderings.com/Archive.htm

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An anonymous person warns Danceny that he will be arrested and he flees to Malta. Madame de Rosemonde is going to take legal action against Danceny.

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Considering when the story takes place, they probably had their heads lobbed off during the revolution...

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I think that Merteuil flees before the terror starts and uses her diamonds as currency. I don't remember if it's before or after she loses an eye to smallpox.

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