Love in Excess

“‘What’ said she, ‘have I beheld without concern a thousand lovers at my feet, and shall the only man I ever endeavored or wished to charm, regard me with indifference?’”

Alovisa says this when she is initially frustrated that D’elmont does not notice her. Alovisa is especially indignant because she is beautiful and wealthy, and accustomed to having many men woo her. This quotation helps to develop Alovisa’s character, and show part of why she becomes so obsessed with winning D’elmont: As someone who has always had everything she wanted, she feels entitled to have D’elmont as well.

“Tho’ he was not very vain, yet he found it no difficulty to persuade himself to an opinion that it was possible for a lady to distinguish him from other men.”

This quotation occurs when D’elmont first receives the anonymous letter from Alovisa declaring her love for him. At this point, D’elmont has not yet realized the effect he tends to have on women, but he immediately accepts that it is reasonable for a woman to become consumed with desire after setting eyes on him, introducing the theme of The Power of Passion. This quotation shows that D’elmont is confident, and potentially even egotistical; it also sets the stage for the pattern of virtually every woman who meets D’elmont falling wildly in love with him.

“Not that he was in love with her, or at that time believed he could be touched with a passion which he esteemed a trifle in itself, and below the dignity of a man of sense.”

This quotation describes D’elmont’s attitude towards Amena, and his overall perspective on love at the start of the novel.