Les Caractères

5 ideas

1. Courtiers Worshipping the King, Not God

   In 'De la cour', La Bruyère describes the royal chapel at Versailles as if it were an exotic tribe's rite in a distant land 'some eleven hundred leagues by sea from the Iroquois.' The great of the nation gather daily in a temple, turn their backs on the priest and the holy mysteries, and lift their faces toward their king, who kneels in a gallery. The episode shows proximity to power redirecting even religious devotion: the courtier's real object of worship is whoever controls his fortune.

2. The Court as a Marble Building

   La Bruyère writes that the court is like an edifice built of marble: it is made of men who are very hard but very polished. The man who 'knows the court' is master of his gestures, eyes and face; he smiles at his enemies, hides his ill offices and suppresses his temper. Long exposure to power produces an exquisite surface over a hardened interior, and the polish grows because the hardness has to be concealed.

3. The Ambitious Man Has Countless Masters

   'A slave has only one master; an ambitious man has as many as there are people useful to his fortune.' Seeking advancement through patronage does not free a person from dependence. It multiplies it, because every gatekeeper, favorite and favorite's servant becomes someone whose goodwill must be managed. The courtier's apparent rise is an expansion of his servitude.

4. The People Lack Wit, the Great Lack Soul

   In 'Des grands', La Bruyère contrasts the two classes directly. The common people have little wit or refinement but keep a heart and sincerity. The great have manners, taste and intelligence but no soul, meaning no genuine feeling or goodness. Forced to choose, he says he does not hesitate: he wants to be of the people, because nearness to power refines the exterior while emptying the moral core.

5. Demeanor as a Readout of Fortune

   In the paired portraits of Giton and Phédon, the rich man walks with a firm step, speaks loudly, interrupts, spreads out and laughs first. The poor man walks softly, agrees, makes himself small and apologizes for existing.

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