# Marie de Vandenesse — A Daughter of Eve character guide > Marie de Vandenesse in A Daughter of Eve by Honoré de Balzac. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Vandenesse, Marie, de Vandenesse, the Comtesse Marie **First appearance:** 0001-a-daughter-of-eve ## Snapshot Raised in a mother's purgatory and wed into a paradise of trust, this charming countess finds her carefully built virtue tested by a poet's dangerous attention. ## Who they are Marie-Angélique de Granville passes from strict Catholic upbringing into a marriage Félix designs as a masterwork of education and indulgence. Charming, spontaneous, and schooled in every social grace, she becomes one of the most striking women of her time—yet her very innocence leaves her exposed to Raoul Nathan's flattery. Her struggle between gratitude to a husband who made her and desire for a man who awakens her animates the novel's moral center. ## Relationships ### [Raoul Nathan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/raoul_nathan) _romantic_ Marie, a married woman, engages in a passionate and secretive affair with the ambitious journalist Raoul Nathan, risking her social standing. ### [Comte Félix de Vandenesse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/comte_felix_de_vandenesse) _family_ Comte Félix de Vandenesse is Marie's devoted but somewhat distant husband, whose political ambitions often overshadow their marriage. ### [Du Tillet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/du_tillet) _social_ Du Tillet is a social acquaintance of Marie de Vandenesse, moving in the same aristocratic circles and occasionally involved in her financial affairs. ### [Eugénie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/eugenie) _family_ Eugénie is Marie's loyal and protective younger sister, sharing a close bond and often advising her on personal matters. ### [Florine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/florine) _rivalry_ Florine and Marie de Vandenesse are rivals for Raoul Nathan's affection, leading to jealousy and covert hostility. ### [Raoul Nathan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/raoul_nathan) _romantic_ Marie, a married woman, engages in a passionate and secretive affair with the ambitious journalist Raoul Nathan, risking her social standing. ### [Raoul Nathan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/raoul_nathan) _romantic_ Marie, a married woman, engages in a passionate and secretive affair with the ambitious journalist Raoul Nathan, risking her social standing. ### [Comte Félix de Vandenesse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/comte_felix_de_vandenesse) _family_ Comte Félix de Vandenesse is Marie's devoted but somewhat distant husband, whose political ambitions often overshadow their marriage. ### [Florine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/florine) _rivalry_ Florine and Marie de Vandenesse are rivals for Raoul Nathan's affection, leading to jealousy and covert hostility. ### [Eugénie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/eugenie) _family_ Eugénie is Marie's loyal and protective younger sister, sharing a close bond and often advising her on personal matters. ### [Eugénie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/eugenie) _family_ Eugénie is Marie's loyal and protective younger sister, sharing a close bond and often advising her on personal matters. ### [Du Tillet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/du_tillet) _social_ Du Tillet is a social acquaintance of Marie de Vandenesse, moving in the same aristocratic circles and occasionally involved in her financial affairs. ## In the story ### [A Daughter of Eve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/chapters/a-daughter-of-eve) The protagonist, a young countess feeling restless in her comfortable but passionless marriage. ### [Sisterly Confidences](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/chapters/ii-sisterly-confidences) The Countess, distraught and desperate, confesses her passionate love for Nathan and seeks a loan to save him from debtors' prison. ### [A Man of Note](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/chapters/iv-a-man-of-note) Attends the concert and feels an immediate, terrifying shock of attraction upon seeing Nathan. She compares him to her husband Félix and struggles with guilt over her feelings. ### [Love Versus Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/chapters/vi-love-versus-society) Falls completely for Raoul, seeing their love as a noble mission; she begins to manage his work and appearance, finding joy in secret devotion. ### [Suicide](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/chapters/vii-suicide) Away in the country, she corresponds passionately with Nathan, idealizing him as a genius and lover. ### [VIII: A Lover Saved and Lost](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/chapters/viii-a-lover-saved-and-lost) Desperately schemes to raise forty thousand francs to save Nathan, oscillating between noble and degrading plans. ### [IX: A Husband’s Triumph](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/chapters/ix-a-husband-s-triumph) Confronted by her husband, she is overwhelmed by his generosity and burns Nathan's letters, later traveling to Italy to recover. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters/marie_de_vandenesse - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_daughter_of_eve_se/characters