Editing Manon Lescaut (section)

== Major themes ==
[[File:The Burial of Manon Lescaut by Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret.png|thumb|''The Burial of Manon Lescaut'' (1878), by [[Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret]]|alt=Painting of Des Grieux, looking defeated, kneeling in front of a badly-dug hole, next to Manon's corpse]]
===Tragic love===
The story is particularly remembered for its tragic lovers, with des Grieux and Manon being compared to [[Romeo and Juliet]] and [[Tristan and Iseult]].{{sfn|Johnson|2002|p=170}} The scholar Jean Sgard argues that all of Prévost's writing, including ''Manon Lescaut'', is ultimately about "the impossibility of happiness, the pervasiveness of evil and the misfortune attaching to the passions," all of which lead to "mourning without end".{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=ix}} Although the book depicts its protagonists as suffering due to their poverty, it is not a [[Populism|populist]] novel that advocates for social reform.{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=95, 97}} Instead, the novel responds to their struggles with sadness and resignation.{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=95, 97}} It is an early example of the emerging [[sentimental novel]], in which love can justify anything, and important moral value is placed on strong emotion.{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=98-9}}

=== Scandalizing immorality ===
On the novel's first publication, the characters and their choices were seen as shockingly immoral.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=x-xi}} Des Grieux's rejection of the priesthood in favor of a sexual relationship without marriage, and his crimes of fraud and murder, challenged readers' expectations of acceptable actions for the hero of a novel.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xi}} Manon's willingness to have sex for money, and her general taste for pleasure and luxury, also seemed irreconcilable with her narrative role as a sympathetic love object.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xi}} Both were sometimes seen as corrupted characters,{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xi}} and the novel's realistic depiction of Paris's "[[Low-life|low life]]" was unusual and potentially threatening.{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=100-101}} Although the preface claims to disavow the characters' misbehavior, this is usually seen as an insincere pretense.{{Sfn|Gasster|1985|p=102}} The scandal was intensified by the historical setting of the novel: the story is set fifteen years before the year Prévost wrote it, so it takes place during the final years of [[Louis XIV]]'s conservative and orderly reign, rather than during the [[Régence|regency of King Louis XV]] when stories of corruption would be less surprising.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xii}}

=== Social rank and money ===
[[File:Voici l'homme que j'aime — Manon Lescaut (cropped).png|thumb|Engraving from the 1753 illustrated edition, in which Manon reassures des Grieux that he is the only man she loves.{{efn|The passage being illustrated reads: "She showed him her mirror: See, sir, she said to him; look at yourself well, and do me justice. You ask me for love. Here is the man I love, and whom I have sworn to love all my life. Make the comparison yourself." ({{langx|fr| Elle lui préſenta ſon miroir: Voyez, Monſieur, lui dit-elle; regardez-vous bien, & rendez-moi juſtice. Vous me demandez de l'amour. Voici l'homme que j'aime, & que j'ai juré d'aimer toute ma vie. Faites la comparaiſon vous-même.}}){{sfn|Prévost|1753|loc=[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8613366j/f34.double p. 20]}}}}|alt=A cheerful Manon in an elegant dress stands in a doorway next to a disheveled gentleman, and holds an elegant mirror up to the approaching des Griex]]

The novel is unusual in the French tradition for its detailed depiction of lower-class locations and activities, especially the criminal world.{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=93, 96}} Manon is considered "the first commoner heroine in French fiction",{{Sfn|Gelfand|Switten|1988|p=448}} and the gulf in social rank between her and the noble des Grieux is an obstacle to their love.{{Sfn|Donaldson-Evans|2010|p=57}} Des Grieux and Manon sometimes struggle to understand each other due to their different backgrounds.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xiv-xv}} For example, she does not understand why des Grieux is surprised and upset after she acquires money from other lovers; her different background leads her to see these as practical affairs, which do not threaten her love for des Grieux.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xiv-xv}}{{Sfn|Gasster|1985|p=103}} Their difference in rank is also apparent in the different punishments they receive for their transgressions.{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=94-5}} When both lovers are imprisoned for some of their crimes, des Grieux's aristocratic status shields him from the worst consequences while Manon ends up [[Deportation|deported]].{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=94-5}} Des Grieux often assumes—correctly—that even complete strangers will be willing to help him, if they share his aristocratic background.{{Sfn|Gasster|1985|p=104}} The novel thus highlights how justice is enforced unequally for different ranks of society.{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=94-5}}

[[File:Elle s'assit lorsque nous fûmes seuls .. (IFF 8), G.11541(2) (cropped).jpg|thumb|1827 engraving of Manon crying, consoled by des Grieux, during one of their stints of poverty|alt=Elegant and detailed illustration of Manon de Grieux gazing tearfully at each other in a shabby room]]
A distinct, and even greater challenge is their lack of money.{{Sfn|Donaldson-Evans|2010|p=57}} As an aristocrat, des Grieux is barred from ordinary employment; he could earn a professional income in the church, the military, or the law, but only if he still had his father's support.{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=93}} The literary scholar Haydn Mason describes the novel's setting as "a harsh and sordid world, motivated almost universally by money."{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=93}} ''Manon Lescaut'' is often highlighted as the first French novel to treat money as a major theme.{{Sfn|Donaldson-Evans|2010|p=57}}{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xii-xiii}} Exact numbers are provided throughout the novel, an unusual choice that contributes to the novel's [[Literary realism|realism]].{{Sfn|Mason|1982|p=92-3}} Manon begins the novel with a dowry of 300 ''[[Livre tournois|livres]]'', which is less than a tenth of an ordinary dowry for a woman entering a convent.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xiii}} The annual salary for a servant (Manon and de Grieux each keep one) was 100 ''livres'', while Manon and de Grieux consider a "respectable but simple" annual income to be 6,000 ''livres'' per year.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xiii}} The financial gap between the lovers and their servants is large, but the gap between them and their patrons is even larger: two of Manon's lovers offer her 20,000 and 30,000 ''livres'' as annual spending money.{{sfn|Sgard|1991|p=xiii}}

=== The character of Manon ===
Since the novel's first publication, substantial critical analysis has focused on the interpretation of Manon's character.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=459}} Because Manon's words and actions are always related through the filter of des Grieux's retrospective storytelling, readers can only speculate about her real thoughts, feelings, and intentions.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=460}} 

The earliest reviews in 1733 saw Manon as sympathetic but unexpectedly so, an unworthy "whore" ({{Langx|fr|catin}}) who was nonetheless appealing due to the sincerity of her love for des Grieux.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=461}}{{Sfn|Segal|1986|p=xviii}} She was both blamed and forgiven for des Grieux's corruption.{{Sfn|Segal|1986|p=xvii-xviii}} The 1753 illustrations reinforced the image of Manon as someone to be loved, pitied, and forgiven for her mistakes.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=463}} Eighteenth-century readers also saw Manon and des Grieux as helpless, fated to a tragic ending.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=466}} The crimes of both were equally justified by their love and their financial need.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=466}}

[[File:The Story of Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier Des Grieux (cropped).jpg|thumb|1886 illustration of Manon as [[Eve]]|alt=Bright red etching of a nude woman seductively offering an apple]]

Manon's reputation began to change in the nineteenth century, as she became a near-mythological figure.{{sfn|Scholar|2004|p=xxix}} Rather than being a simple, lighthearted girl of common birth, she was depicted as either a [[Femme fatale|''femme fatale'']] who destroys des Grieux, or as a [[hooker with a heart of gold]] who is redeemed through her death.{{sfn|Scholar|2004|p=xxix}} Adaptations like the popular opera ''[[Manon]]'' (1884) characterized Manon as powerfully seductive.{{sfn|Scholar|2004|p=xxix}} [[Alexandre Dumas fils|Alexandre Dumas ''fils'']], whose novel ''[[The Lady of the Camellias]]'' (1848) was heavily inspired by ''Manon Lescaut'', wrote of Manon: "you are sensuality, you are instinct, you are pleasure, the eternal temptation of man."{{sfn|Scholar|2004|p=xxix}} The literary historian [[Naomi Segal]] summarizes this period as one in which most critics "tend to view Manon as if she were a real woman and to heap upon her all the myths which operate within sexual politics in the non-fictional world".{{Sfn|Segal|1986|p=xxii}}

Twentieth-century scholarly interpretations tended to see Manon as the victim, not of her own weakness, but of various social systems.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=465}} For these readers, des Grieux's version of events is considered suspect,{{Sfn|Segal|1986|p=xxv}} and it is important to imagine how Manon might have narrated her story differently.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=465}}{{Sfn|Donaldson-Evans|2010|p=58}}  [[Feminist theory|Feminist theorists]] like [[Nancy K. Miller]] and Segal see Manon as a narrative victim of [[patriarchy]].{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=465}} Cultural-historical theorists see the novel as a conflict between [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocratic]] and [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] ideologies; Manon is marginalized by her class, but makes savvy decisions to strategically ensure her survival.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=465}} Outside of academia, modern readers sometimes find Manon underdeveloped as a character.{{Sfn|Gelfand|Switten|1988|p=451}} Twenty-first century adaptations reinforced a [[Sociological theory|sociological]] interpretation of Manon's character.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=467}} Several adaptations translate the story to more recent time periods in French history, in which Manon is always a non-conformist who boldly pursues love despite disadvantaged circumstances.{{Sfn|Wyngaard|2019|p=467-9}}