Education

There are two main chapters which speak about Philippe’s education, as well as several references in other parts of the story.

Style of Jan Albertsz Rotius (1640-1660): Portrait of a Boy The first character who feels the need to mention Philippe’s upbringing, as the genesis of certain puzzling aspects of his personality, is the shrewd intendant Molines, in the scene of the contract. Realizing that Angélique doesn’t "know the man you are about to marry very well” and predicting dire consequences, he explains that Philippe received the typical education of the son of two "rich and fashionable" aristocratic parents: they did not have time to take care of him and the boy grew up at the mercy of valets and maidservants who made him their toy. Almost the same words will be used by Philippe himself much later, in the scene of the dialogue for Cantor's departure. On that occasion, hearing Angélique's scruples in putting his child in the hands of a libertine, Philippe has the opportunity of talking about himself, retracing his own upbringing, which had not been so different from that of the other boys of his rank, but perhaps aggravated by his being an only child. The young Marquis’s childhood takes place in the dark and gloomy Plessis-Bellière Palace on rue Saint-Antoine (sometimes called rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine) in the Marais district. Trips to the Château du Plessis are rare and poorly appreciated by the teenager, who is considered by his father as a "simpering courtier". Except for hunting, Philippe’s great passion since his childhood. The parents are always absent from the Parisian palace for worldly commitments o court engagements and leave the blond child "too handsome, too rich and forlorn" "to footmen or maids who perverted me." Philippe remembers the boredom of spending time in the “long empty halls” of the palace, boredom that will remain one of the most peculiar features of his character. "No one took the trouble to teach me to read or write": it is true that, for a nobleman, education is of little importance, but for Philippe it was really totally neglected.

Conversely, his parents do not omit anything when they have to show him off: hours of hairdressing, lace, ribbons and velvets, "nothing was too good for me." At the age of ten, Philippe became Monsieur de Coulmers' page ("my beautiful face had seduced him") and was immediately got into bed with him. Nevertheless, Philippe considers this "a gift from heaven", because he begins to appear more and more frequently in court, where he will have a surprisingly rapid advancement (he will become a page of Prime Minister Mazarin). "I was very ignorant and had hardly any personality, but I was good-looking" and, you know, that has always helped. The pages of the court “learned life behind the trains they had to carry. They were not distrusted, as if they were puppies.” Because of their irrelevance, they can see "sordid perversions and intrigues" and witness "adulteries" and "crimes perpetrated in the shadow of a hallway." Almost all young nobles were directed, at a very young age, towards a military career. Philippe, like the others, will learn fencing, horseback riding and anything else connected with the condition of noble, that is, of those who "have the obligation of the tribute of blood" (as the Marquis of La Vallière says). At 16, he will be bought the rank of colonel and since then his education will be military. Jan Lievens: The alegory of five senses of opera Philippe is perfectly aware of his poor education, about which he repeatedly makes self-irony: when Angélique announces her pregnancy, her husband does not question his paternity because "in spite of the gaps in my education, I can still count up to nine" . We have already said about when he describes himself very frankly: "I was very ignorant and had hardly any personality”. In the scene of the park of Versailles he reports the advice given by Ninon on how to behave: "Don’t talk, do not smile, just be handsome and appear and disappear". But the advice of Ninon, an extremely intelligent woman, was rather about a role to be played by Philippe, rather than an estimation: she suggests he should act the 'handsome and mysterious', the elusive brooding hunk. Philippe will do it, in fact, because it is suited to his nature, but also in the fear of not having a conversation that is brilliant or cultivated enough, as required by the fashionable salons of the Préciosité. But is it really so? Angélique will reply to him: “Ninon is not always right. I like to hear you talk. " Nor is Desgrez always right, when he recognizes Philippe is not a fool but “he is not witty”, therefore dead boring. So Philippe is poorly educated but intelligent. Leaving aside his brilliant and fast military career (the rank of Grand Marshal of France requires specific mental qualities), Angélique herself is positively surprised by the perspicacity of Philippe's comments on the comedy of Molière and by other remarks of his. « Back to the Philippe du Plessis-Bellière: Part I