ing, so easy to explain that one
sometimes wonders at the wilfulness of the characters in failing to set
the matter right until the end.[105] As in all of his plays, marriage
follows closely upon the solution of the difficulty; it has been said that
his lovers "s'aiment le plus tard qu'ils peuvent, et se marient le plus
tot qu'il est possible." [106] With the respect which we have seen in
Marivaux for the marriage relation, we are not surprised to note in his
characters such fear of _poorly assorted unions_, that it is only with
much questioning into their own and each other's hearts, and with manifold
misgivings, that they are brought at last to say the final word.

Marivaux is the first of the French writers of comedy to treat love
seriously,[107] but, though he freed the theme from the malice or
flippancy with which it had been treated by his predecessors, he was
nevertheless a stranger to that intense and passionate love that we have
come to associate with the romantic drama. Some have gone so far as to say
that it is not _amour_ at all that he portrays, but only _amour-propre_.
It is a gentle, courtly love, respectful, almost reverential, though not
confiding. "Marivaux pense et dit de l'amour ce qu'en pensait, ce qu'en
disait l'auteur de la premiere partie de ce _Roman de la Rose_,

Ou l'art d'Amour est toute enclose.

Par sa fine sentimentalite, par sa casuistique amoureuse, par son gout
pour l'allegorie, Marivaux aurait fraternise, au XIIIe siecle, avec le
suave Guillaume de Lorris."[108] His drama is eminently psychological.
"J'ai guette dans le coeur humain," says Marivaux "toutes les niches
differentes ou peut se cacher l'amour lorsqu'il craint de se montrer, et
chacune de mes comedies a pour objet de le faire sortir d'une de ces
niches."[109]

The absence of the broad comic of Moliere, Regnard, or Beaumarchais is
conspicuous. The comedies of Marivaux rarely provoke more than a smile,
and never bursts of merriment. The pathetic is no less lacking, and yet
the interest never flags. Where, then, is their charm? It lies in the
brilliant dialogue and in the interest Marivaux has been able to awaken in
the psychological development of love in the hearts of the chief
characters. With so much similarity, it is yet wonderful to note the
variety that the author has been able to introduce into his comedies,
which some critics and envious ones of his time have dubbed, one and all,
as so many _Surprises de l'amour_,