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So I watched La Traviata yesterday and was looking up a little basic info beforehand. Verdi’s character, the OG golden hearted hooker with a tragic fate, named Violetta, is based on Dumas’ novel Lady of the Camelias, where she’s named Marguerite, in turn based on a real -life high class sex worker in 19th c. France, known for her beauty, her famous lovers and having died of tuberculosis at 23. Her name was Marie Duplessis, but her actual birth name was Alphonsine Plessis. Now adding “du” to her surname makes sense because it sounds fancier, and I guess Alphonsine is a bit dowdy and unglamorous, but I wonder why she changed it to Marie that must have been the name of every other woman at the time. Maybe she wanted something classic and respectable? Thoughts as to the name change to the other iterations of this figure ‘s name? She’s also known as Camille in Cukor’s film version starring Greta Garbo and basically Satine in Moulin Rouge! is also a variation on this character.

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“Someone once said that it wasn’t so hard to do right; what was hard was to know what was right to do.”

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William X. Kienzle

This message was edited 6/16/2025, 6:59 AM