In what does the originality of the comedies of Marivaux consist? In general, one may say, in his treatment of love, their prevailing theme. "Chez mes confreres," says Marivaux, "l'amour est en querelle avec ce qui l'environne, et finit par etre heureux, malgre les opposants; chez moi, il n'est en querelle qu'avec lui seul, et finit par etre heureux malgre lui. Il apprendra dans mes pieces a se defier encore plus des tours qu'il se joue, que des pieges qui lui sont tendus par des mains etrangeres." It is true that throughout his plays the lovers rarely encounter any hindrance from without. There is very little action or intrigue. The dialogue, witty, brilliant, and ingenious, is all-important, and the denouement often depends upon a misunderstanding, 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]