El conde se encargó de pagarle a su joven amante clases de protocolo, de danza, de literatura, piano e historia. Esto, con el fin de convertirla en una gran dama de sociedad. Sin embargo, cuando la familia del conde Guiche se enteró de los orígenes de la joven que lo acompañaba lo obligaron a abandonarla.

Esto no tomó a Marie por sorpresa, así que aprovechó todo lo aprendido en sus clases de etiqueta para conquistar a otro pudiente caballero y, en efecto, lo logró, ya que muchos hombres embriagados de su belleza gastaban mucho dinero en complacerla.

En el año 1841, cuando Marie tenía 17 años, conoció al conde François-Charles-Edouard Perregaux, quien compró una mansión en Bougival para que vivieran su idilio de amor. Ya para ese entonces, Marie estaba aquejada de salud por la tuberculosis. Los gastos excesivos de la joven, así como sus tratamientos casi llevan a la ruina al conde, quien decidió vender la mansión para pagar deudas e irse a Londres.

Marie había convertido la mansión de Bougival en centro de tertulias literarias a las que asistían artistas reconocidos de París como Charles Dickens y Alejandro Dumas (padre). En esa época le pusieron el nombre de la "Divina Marie" y, de acuerdo con algunos de sus biógrafos era la cortesana mejor pagada de París. De hecho, ella no se limitaba en gastos: comía en los mejores restaurantes, tenía sirvientes, choferes y, normalmente, asistía al teatro teniendo siempre entre sus manos un ramo de camelias blancas.

En el año 1844 Marie comenzó una relación amorosa con Alejandro Dumas (hijo). Se dice que este se enamoró perdidamente de ella, pero que decidió terminar la relación, pues no soportaba verla con otros hombres y, para su desgracia, él no contaba con dinero suficiente para cubrir las demandas económicas de la joven. Sin embargo, hay algunas personas que señalan que el escritor la abandonó por temor a ser contagiado de tuberculosis.

_{Alejandro Dumas (hijo)Wikipedia}

_{Franz List Wikipedia}

_{Gustav Ernst von Stackelberg Wikipedia}

Marie, como toda hermosa flor, tuvo una esplendorosa vida, que acabaría a los 23 años, el 3 de febrero de 1847.

Su muerte conmocionó a muchos hombres; en especial a Alejandro Dumas (hijo), quien le escribió una elegía, que decía en unos de sus versos:

¡Pobre niña! Me dijeron que en vuestra última hora,
Un solo hombre estaba allí para cerraros los ojos,
(Alexandre Dumas, hijo).

Más adelante, en el año 1848, Alejandro Dumas (hijo) escribió su novela "La dama de las camelias", basándose en la vida de esta mujer que lo marcó sentimentalmente para siempre. En este texto se narra la vida de Margarita Gautier, una cortesana, amante de los excesos y de las relaciones amorosas por interés, quien fallece joven a causa de la tuberculosis. Uno de sus amante, Armand Duval, lamenta su partida, pues siente que es el único que la ha querido de verdad.

A continuación, les comparto un fragmento interesante de "La dama de las camelias":

¡Pobre chica! —iba diciéndome mientras volvía a mi casa—. No ha debido de morir muy alegremente, pues en su mundo no hay amigos más que cuando uno está bien».
Y, sin querer, no podía menos de compadecerme de la suerte de Marguerite Gautier.
Quizá le parezca ridículo a mucha gente, pero siento una indulgencia inagotable por las cortesanas, y no pienso tomarme la molestia de andar dando explicaciones sobre tal indulgencia.
Un día, cuando iba a recoger un pasaporte a la comisaría, vi cómo en una de las calles adyacentes dos gendarmes se llevaban a una chica. Ignoro lo que había hecho: lo único que puedo decir es que lloraba a lágrima viva abrazando a un niño de pocos meses, de
quien su detención la separaba. Desde aquel día ya no he podido despreciar a una mujer a simple vista.

Espero que les haya gustado la historia de esta mujer, cuya vida dejó una huella imborrable en la literatura universal.

Today I'm going to tell you about the short and intense life of Marie Duplessis, whose real name was Rose-Alphonsine Plessis.

_Wikipedia

There are flowers that grow in muddy lands, and that was the case of Marie Duplessis. This young woman was born on January 15, 1824, in Nonant-le-Pin, France. Her father was Marin Plessis, the son of a prostitute and a priest, who never acknowledged him. He was an alcoholic and worked as a street vendor. Her mother was Marie-Anne-Michelle Deshayes, a descendant of the French aristocracy who, in the wake of the French Revolution, had lost all her property and wealth. This couple had two daughters: Rose-Alphonsine and Delphine.

The Plessis' family life was precarious, which is why in 1829, when Marie was eight years old, her mother decided to go to work in Switzerland as a housekeeper for an aristocratic friend. Apparently, her goal was to work and then return for her daughters, but unfortunately, this did not happen, as she fell ill with tuberculosis and died shortly after.

Marie's mother's abandonment, as well as her sudden death, changed the girls' lives. Their father gave them to a maternal aunt. While at their aunt's house, one of her employees raped Marie, who was just 11 years old. This situation caused the aunt to return the girls to the house where their father lived. He, in turn, began to "prostitute his daughters."

When Marie was 15, a Gypsy circus troupe arrived in her town, and her father sold her to the circus. This is how Marie traveled to Paris.

In Paris, the young woman worked in various commercial establishments. She was delicately beautiful, and one day a restorer from the Montpensier Gallery, seduced by her beauty, rented her an apartment and gave her a salary to support herself.

This financial stability Marie acquired allowed her to visit some emblematic Parisian places, which were frequented by the wealthiest people in Paris. There she met Count Antoine Alfred Agènor de Guiche, who fell at her feet.

_{Antoine Alfred Agènor de Guiche Wikipedia}

Antoine began lavishing the young woman with luxuries and rented her a larger apartment. The first thing she did was change her name, adding the prefix "Du" to her surname to make it sound aristocratic. From that moment on, the young Rose-Alphonsine gave way to the courtesan Marie Duplessis.

The count paid for his young lover's lessons in protocol, dance, literature, piano, and history. This was intended to transform her into a great socialite. However, when Count Guiche's family learned of the origins of the young woman who was accompanying him, they forced him to abandon her.

This didn't take Marie by surprise, so she took advantage of everything she had learned in her etiquette classes to woo another wealthy gentleman, and indeed, she succeeded, as many men, intoxicated by her beauty, spent a lot of money pleasing her.

In 1841, when Marie was 17, she met Count François-Charles-Edouard Perregaux, who bought a mansion in Bougival for their romantic idyll. By then, Marie's health was already failing due to tuberculosis. The young woman's excessive spending and her treatments nearly ruined the count, who decided to sell the mansion to pay off his debts and move to London.

Marie had turned the Bougival mansion into a center for literary gatherings attended by renowned Parisian artists such as Charles Dickens and Alexandre Dumas (père). At that time, she was nicknamed "the Divine Marie" and, according to some of her biographers, was the highest-paid courtesan in Paris. In fact, she wasn't limited in her spending: she ate at the finest restaurants, had servants, chauffeurs, and usually attended the theater always holding a bouquet of white camellias.

In 1844, Marie began a relationship with Alexandre Dumas Jr. It is said that he fell madly in love with her, but decided to end the relationship because he couldn't bear to see her with other men and, unfortunately for him, he didn't have enough money to cover her financial demands. However, some people claim that the writer abandoned her for fear of contracting tuberculosis.

_{Alejandro Dumas (hijo)Wikipedia}

After the breakup with the writer. In 1845, Marie began a relationship with Franz List, a Hungarian composer, who left her in Paris to travel to other European countries where he became increasingly famous:

_{Franz List Wikipedia}

Marie's health was delicate, and despite having been abandoned by her last two loves, Dumas and List, she managed to marry the septuagenarian Count Gustav Ernst von Stackelberg. Apparently, it wasn't carnal love that the count felt for her, but rather compassion, for he saw in her a reflection of his young daughter, who had also died of tuberculosis. In her final days, the Count never left her side and cared for her with profound devotion.

_{Gustav Ernst von Stackelberg Wikipedia}

Marie, like any beautiful flower, had a splendid life, which ended at the age of 23, on February 3, 1847.

Her death shocked many people; especially to Alexandre Dumas Jr., who wrote an elegy for her, which included one of its verses:

Poor girl! I was told that in your last hour,
Only one man was there to close your eyes,
(Alexandre Dumas Jr.).

Later, in 1848, Alexandre Dumas Jr. wrote his novel "The Lady of the Camellias," based on the life of this woman who marked him emotionally forever. This text tells the story of Marguerite Gautier, a courtesan, a lover of excess and self-interested love affairs, who died young of tuberculosis. One of her lovers, Armand Duval, laments her departure, feeling that he was the only one who had truly loved her.

Below, I'll share an interesting excerpt from "The Lady of the Camellias":

Poor girl! I kept saying to myself as I walked back home. She must not have died very happily, for in her world there are no friends except when one is well."
And, unwittingly, I couldn't help but pity Marguerite Gautier's fate.
Perhaps it may seem ridiculous to many people, but I have an inexhaustible indulgence for courtesans, and I won't take the trouble to explain such indulgence.
One day, when I was going to pick up a passport at the police station, I saw two gendarmes taking a girl away in one of the adjacent streets. I don't know what she had done: all I can say is that she was weeping profusely, clutching a baby boy of just a few months, from whom her arrest separated her. From that day on, I have never been able to despise a woman at first sight.

I hope you enjoyed the story of this woman, whose life left an indelible mark on world literature.