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Lady Of The Camellias

Lady of the Camellias It is the most well-known work by Alexandre Dumas Jr. It is a rose novel in every sense of the word. It tells the story of an impossible love that ends in tragedy.

From the beginning, the author makes clear what happens to the main character, her lover, and her martyr, who dies slowly and painfully from tuberculosis.

In the same way, this work is seen as the great literary hinge between realism and romanticism. Well, when the story gets into the bad things that happen to the characters, there is no place for sweet language because some of the writing is cruel.

True Events Inspired The Lady of the Camellias

There were love surprises in Dumas's son's life (not as many as the father's). Even if the author, once he was no longer "young," came to feel wrong about things he did when he was younger. In The Lady of the Camellias, one of these parts is shown.

This book was first published in 1848. It's about a young aristocrat who falls in love with a courtesan. He doesn't have a lot of money.

The main character, Margaret Gautier, lives in a way she can't afford because she cares too much about her looks. This makes her get into a lot of debt, which, along with her illness, will slowly drain her money until she is dry.

Margherita falls in love with Armando Duval, a young lawyer who is crazy about the courtesan and will do anything to be with her. But his father pressures him by blackmailing his son's girlfriend behind his back. And it does work.

Performances on Stage

Dumas fils wrote a stage version of the story, which made its debut at the Théatre du Vaudeville in Paris on February 2, 1852.

Charles Fechter played Armand Duval, and Eugénie Doche played the role of Marguerite Gautier. "I played the role 617 times," Doche said shortly before she died in 1900. "I guess I couldn't have done a bad job of it since Dumas fils wrote in the preface to his book, "Mme. Doche is not my translator; she is a team member."

In 1853, Jean Davenport played the lead role in the first American production of the play. It was a cleaned-up version in which the main character's name was changed to Camille, which is what most American actresses did when they played the role.