his good looks, loose morals, self-assurance, adaptability,
ambition, and a peculiar power over women, succeeds in gaining for himself
an enviable position in the upper circles of the _bourgeoisie_, as well as
the hand and fortune of a rich and pious old maid, Mlle. Habert, whom his
youth and charms entice. Quite another _Bel Ami_, as Jules Lemaitre[93]
remarks; but the dissimilarity is no less striking than the resemblance.
While the hero of Marivaux yields easily to temptation, we feel that it is
due to youth, a lack of moral training and a desire to please, along with
a shrewd ambition, to be sure, and after each step upward in the social
scale a moral development takes place, rendered possible by a natural
sentiment of honor, which was with him from the first, so that though the
story has been left unfinished by Marivaux after the fifth part, we are
led to expect at least a complete emancipation from the sins of the flesh,
if not a high ethical status. The hero of Maupassant, on the other hand,
is basely sensual and cruelly self-interested from the first, and totally
lacking in those heart-qualities which, in spite of his vices, gain our
sympathies for Jacob.

The style of the _Paysan parvenu_ is simpler, less diffuse, bolder, and
more virile, than that of _Marianne_; but its characters are uniformly
less noble, and, if its general intent is not immoral, at least many of
the scenes verge upon the _risque_. What is the cause of this digression
from a style of writing so much more natural to Marivaux? Fleury
attributes the reason to his pique with Crebillon _fils_ and his desire to
prove to him "that in a work that borders upon license, brutal license is
not enough; that it must be presented in a delicate form, and seasoned
with wit and observation."[94] Certain it is that _les Egarements de
l'esprit et du coeur_, published the following year (in 1736), shows the
least immorality, as well as the most talent, of any of the works of this
author.

The scene of _Marianne_ is laid in aristocratic circles, while that of the
_Paysan_ presents to us the _bourgeoisie_ and the world of finance. Though
there are many differences between these two novels, there are likewise
many points of similarity. We have to do with the same cunning observer,
and with one who did not consider the common people beneath his notice.
Marivaux has in his style of description many traits of the realist, as we
understand the term to-day. Witness the