Manon Lescaut

Manon and Des Grieux’s story is a familiar tale of two lovers who love each other desperately but cannot be together because of circumstances beyond their control. Indeed, there are many similarities to the most well-known version of this tale, Romeo and Juliet. Like Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Des Grieux are very young when they first meet. Romeo and Juliet vow to love each other and agree to marry within hours of first meeting, and the same is true of Manon and Des Grieux.

Furthermore, just as Romeo frequently blames fortune, or fate, for the many events that occur after he and Juliet are married, so too does Des Grieux blame fate, or an “evil star,” for his chance meeting with Manon at the beginning of the story. The words “fate,” “fortune,” and other variants appear more than 50 times throughout the story, mainly used by Des Grieux, who constantly blames fate for his problems. Even Manon believes herself fated to be “unhappy” and that his misfortune is “apparently Heaven’s will” (14).

One difference between the couples is social status. In Romeo and Juliet, they are both of noble birth, separated only by their families’ ancient and irrational feud.