Manon Lescaut is most comparable to modern soap operas in its tendency toward the melodramatic and irrational to drive the plot, rather than characters making any sort of logical decision. While Prévost’s prose is not deserving of harsh criticism, that is the extent of the credit I believe he is due. The characters of Chevalier des Grieux, Manon Lescaut, M. de T. and both G.M. senior and the younger feel irrational, flat and wooden. The decisions made by des Grieux in particular reek of the 18th century cult of sensibility. Too often, Manon and des Grieux are too often pardoned from facing the consequences of their criminal and immoral actions because they are both too beautiful and wealthy to face them.
From the novel’s beginning, Manon is characterized as a hedonist who searches for men who can provide for her lavish lifestyle (13) and has been put into a convent by her parents who hope to rid her of her such a quality. Des Grieux himself is a studious and pious young man and along with Tiberge, the two intend to join a priesthood. Tiberge is the only character in this book that seems to have any sense, and yet, he is frequently ignored, deceived and mistreated by both des Grieux and Manon.
They quickly elope despite Tiberge’s warnings against it, and shortly afterwards, Manon proves her infidelity with an affair with M de B which des Grieux allows himself to be ignorant to. After he learns of this, he swears off of her and joins the priesthood in earnest, to the joy of both Tiberge and his father. However, despite admitting to her infidelity (31), des Grieux is swept back into a passionate and irrational state of mind. The two find lodging together, and along with Manon’s shady brother, Lescaut, the three of them go on a crime spree that lasts most of the book.
Des Grieux, under the guidance (or misguidance) of Lescaut becomes a card sharper in order to provide for Manon’s lavish lifestyle, yet despite this, Manon burns through his funds quickly and causes des Grieux great anxiety that if he cannot continuously feed her insatiable appetite for luxury, she will quickly leave him for another wealthier man. When their maids and servants rob them, Lescaut essentially pimps out his sister to a wealthy and old (Manon is around 15-17 at this time) M. de G.M. Manon, of course, goes along with it despite des Grieux’s rage. When he comes to confront her, they make up a plan to rob G.M. because Manon easily convinced des Grieux that her plan was to do this the whole time (it definitely was not), and of course, being that G.M. is a wealthy and connected man, he gets them arrested.
Des Grieux goes to a place called Saint-Lazare, and is treated very well for him being in prison because he is attractive, young, and high in status. Still, he freaks out because Manon is at what is essentially a psych ward. Long story short, the Father Superior thinks des Grieux is worth saving and tries to make him see reason and he doesn’t. When G.M. comes to Saint-Lazare, des Grieux assaults him and gets away with it because the Superior is blinded by sensibility ideals (61,63). Because the Father Superior buys into Chevalier’s nonsense, he is able to get a hold of poor, too-kind Tiberge and gets money as well as a letter to Lescaut who avoided being arrested (67). Des Grieux has Lescaut bring him a pistol in order to intimidate the Father Superior and escape, and he promises he won’t kill anyone, and THEN PROCEEDS TO KILL A SERVANT (71). Anyway, Chevalier and Lescaut reunite and meet some random rich man named M. de T. who decides that (because sensibility) des Grieux seems enough like himself to be worth helping break his mistress from the Hôpital (74-75).
Anyway, Lescaut is killed because he is a con artist (80) shortly after Manon escapes, and she is sad for a whole 2 pages before forgetting he ever existed. She also claims that she will never leave des Grieux again (81) so that’s nice. Also, despite his friend being dead, des Grieux is in a good mood because the Father Superior was too blinded by sensibility to have the police sent after him and Paris is once again safe for him to roam freely.
Then, for some reason, an Italian Prince wants to be with Manon, making des Grieux really anxious. Manon plays a weird joke by holding onto des Grieux’s hair and saying to the prince “Here us the man I love and whom I have vowed to love all my life. Compare yourself…I declare that in the eyes of your humble servant all the princes in Italy are not worth one of the hairs I am holding in my hand” (92) which was a very strange way to prove a point.
G.M. the Younger then catches Manon’s eye, and of course it causes drama. Manon basically leaves him for young G.M. and sends a servant girl to fill the void she left behind (which is gross). Des Grieux loses his mind and goes to G.M.’s place to confront her, and says “you are a woman, you belong to a sex which I abominate and have finished with for good.” (103). Which honestly, Tiberge would be a more faithful and caring lover than Manon ever was so maybe this is a good thing. But, of course, Manon apologizes and immediately wins him back. He immediately apologizes for being upset (108). She, again, wants to rob a G.M. which sounds stupid but they do it anyway. They have Young G.M. KIDNAPPED (115) but a lackey he had with him gets Old G.M. and the two idiots get thrown into prison AGAIN (119,120).
While in prison, des Grieux barely suffers but complains the entire time because he’s away from Manon and sensibility dictates that he be emotional and barely coherent at any given moment. His father comes to scold him but an apology wins his favor within seconds (125). However, Manon is not going to get off easy, and both his father and G.M. want to send her to America because it’s 1731 and that’s where the French put all the gold-diggers, I guess. Des Grieux nearly attempts to murder both G.M.s (128) but then grows a brain stem and realizes that helps no one. He severs all ties with his dad because his dad will not help him save Manon (128) even though his father is well in the right.
Des Grieux winds up following the caravan to the port on foot to sail to America with Manon, and time after time he is called a “nice fellow” and “decent man” which is delusional at best. They then sail off to New Orleans which is ugly and gross because it’s 1731 and yet, because they are “well bred” the governor spares no expense to make their lives as comfortable as possible (143).
They pretend to be married for like 10 months, then try to actually get married, but the knowledge that they are not legally married piques the governor’s nephew’s interest, a man named Synnelet. Synnelet and des Grieux duel, and des Grieux somehow wins, and knowing that he would be put to death, Manon and des Grieux leave New Orleans to either impose upon some indigenous people or annoy the English. Unfortunately, because Manon and Chevalier are both French city-dwellers, they can’t hang in the North American wilderness, and Manon simply passes away through sheer will (152). Honestly, it was a long time coming. Des Grieux tries to will himself to death too, but as it turned out, Synnelet did not die, but instead lived and told his uncle what went down. They wound up looking for Manon and Chevalier, and found him a couple of leagues out of town.
Chevalier des Grieux lives because, he believes, God’s punishment. The book ends with Tiberge, poor (definitely gay) Tiberge, sailing to New Orleans to urge des Grieux back to France. Luckily, (well maybe unluckily for the French people) he agrees, and it closes out with the two making preparations to return to France where des Grieux’s dad is dead.
The book itself is written fine. I was never confused nor lost while reading, however, the characters, des Grieux in particular, were so grating and unpleasant to read about, that I wound up hating the book and rooting for his downfall. Manon herself was honestly fairly engaging as a character. She worked within the system of 18th century France and used it to give herself the most pleasant life possible, especially considering that she was of humble birth, however being that she was also a woman written in 1731, she was not very well-rounded or complex beyond that. Tiberge was my favorite character, but his constant forgiveness and kindness grew frustrating because I know des Grieux did not deserve it. Overall, this was a book about manipulation and the cult of sensibility that was rife in 18th century society, and while I can appreciate that, that did not make it any less of a chore to get through.
At least it was short.
Jonas Angel 
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