Lady Susan lies for personal gain (but she's painted strongly as a fairly two-dimensional villain).
In Dangerous Liaisons, the Marquise de Merteuil lies because she doesn't want anyone telling her what to do and preventing her from having sex with whomever she wants. She's also painted as a villain but much more sympathetically (Choderlos de Laclos was something of a feminist; I once read a rant of his on how of course women aren't that clever, because no-one bothers to educate them).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-10-14 08:34 am (UTC)In Dangerous Liaisons, the Marquise de Merteuil lies because she doesn't want anyone telling her what to do and preventing her from having sex with whomever she wants. She's also painted as a villain but much more sympathetically (Choderlos de Laclos was something of a feminist; I once read a rant of his on how of course women aren't that clever, because no-one bothers to educate them).