# Signora Marchesa Crescenzi — The Charterhouse of Parma character guide

> Signora Marchesa Crescenzi in The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Marchesa Crescenzi, the Marchesa, Marchesa

**First appearance:** 0015-xiv

## Snapshot

Once Clelia Conti, now a married marchesa whose vow to the Madonna binds her against the love she still feels for Fabrizio.

## Who they are

As the Marchesa Crescenzi, Clelia occupies the position society always intended for her, yet her marriage is a cage built around a promise she made to save Fabrizio's life. She moves through Parma's drawing rooms with the composure of a woman who has renounced her own happiness, and the tension between her religious oath and her enduring attachment gives the novel its most painful restraint. Her choices in the middle arc test whether honour can be kept without destroying the person who keeps it.

## Links

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