BROOME, CAROL S.

La Princesse de Cleves has been described as a mirror of
Versailles in the Valois court presenting Henri II as a
Louis XIV in sixteenth-century apparel. This interpretation
is disproved upon examination of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
history, the novel in relation to that history, the
author's life as well as her documentary and living sources.
Henri II is clearly portrayed in the novel as the personnage
historians record him to be. He is dissimilar to Louis XIV
in the key areas of character such as self-esteem, selfassertion,
and relations with others. Similarly, the portrayal
of the court of the Valois, including central figures
of importance, is clearly derived from the annals of history,
described in accurate detail save a few minor exceptions.
Finally, through analysis of the characteristics of preciosite
in the novel, the so-called classical La Princesse de Cleves
emerges as a distinctly precieux work, the precieux school
influencing both her general use of history and her development
of plot.