The Lady of the Camellias - La Dame aux Camélias is a novel by Alexandre Dumas Jr that was published in 1848, and later adapted for the stage.
The source of inspiration for the creation of Marguerite Gautier, the novel's main character, was Rose Alphonsine Plessis known as Marie Duplessis a beautiful young woman born into poverty in a little town of Normandy in Western France.
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Marie became a prostitute in her early teenage to escape her low condition and went to Paris where she became a courtesan to many wealthy aristocrats and even to Dumas a couple of years before her death
The sadest part of the story is that Marie Duplessis died in agony from tuberculosis at the age of 23 in 1847.
Of course for the puritan minds of the time the beautiful Marie was just a " scandalous woman", the queen of the Parisian demi-monde, and nobody apart from her doctor and servants mourned for her!
Dumas published his novel a year after Marie' death.
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Camellias were named after the Jesuit botanist and missionary to the Philippines Georg Joseph Kamel(1661-1706), who was also known as Camellus.
There are 100 to 250 varieties of camellias, a flower shrub that is native to Eastern and Southern Asia.
The flowers of the camellia open in late winter and may be pink, red or white, or have varigated colors.
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The pink camellia flower means longing, the white means adoration, perfection or loveliness, and the red flower means you are a flame in my heart...
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Camelias shrubs are very popular in France and you will find them in most gardens, very often in red as they tend to complement the colours of the other Spring flowers that grow under our latitudes.
To see more on France and Parisvisit Travelfranceonline
The source of inspiration for the creation of Marguerite Gautier, the novel's main character, was Rose Alphonsine Plessis known as Marie Duplessis a beautiful young woman born into poverty in a little town of Normandy in Western France.
Marie became a prostitute in her early teenage to escape her low condition and went to Paris where she became a courtesan to many wealthy aristocrats and even to Dumas a couple of years before her death
The sadest part of the story is that Marie Duplessis died in agony from tuberculosis at the age of 23 in 1847.
Of course for the puritan minds of the time the beautiful Marie was just a " scandalous woman", the queen of the Parisian demi-monde, and nobody apart from her doctor and servants mourned for her!
Dumas published his novel a year after Marie' death.
Camellias were named after the Jesuit botanist and missionary to the Philippines Georg Joseph Kamel(1661-1706), who was also known as Camellus.
There are 100 to 250 varieties of camellias, a flower shrub that is native to Eastern and Southern Asia.
The flowers of the camellia open in late winter and may be pink, red or white, or have varigated colors.
The pink camellia flower means longing, the white means adoration, perfection or loveliness, and the red flower means you are a flame in my heart...
Camelias shrubs are very popular in France and you will find them in most gardens, very often in red as they tend to complement the colours of the other Spring flowers that grow under our latitudes.
To see more on France and Parisvisit Travelfranceonline