Quick Facts
French playwright who immortalized the tragic courtesan Marguerite Gautier in La Dame aux Camélias, became a moralist of the theatre, and spent his life stepping out of his famous father's shadow.
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Life Journey
Born Alexandre Dumas on July 27, 1824, the illegitimate son of the already-famous Alexandre Dumas and a seamstress named Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay. The stigma of illegitimacy would mark his entire life.
His father finally recognized him legally. But the damage was done - young Alexandre had experienced the shame of illegitimacy, the whispers, the exclusion. He never fully forgave.
Met Marie Duplessis, a famous courtesan known for her beauty and her camellias. Their affair was brief but transformative. She would become the model for Marguerite Gautier.
Marie Duplessis died of tuberculosis at age twenty-three. Dumas fils was devastated. He would immortalize her in his most famous work.
Published 'La Dame aux Camélias' as a novel. The story of Marguerite Gautier, the consumptive courtesan who sacrifices herself for love, was an immediate sensation.
The theatrical version of 'La Dame aux Camélias' premiered to enormous success. Sarah Bernhardt would make the role legendary. Verdi adapted it as 'La Traviata.'
Premiered 'Le Demi-Monde,' coining the term for the half-world of women of dubious respectability. Dumas fils established himself as a moralist of the theatre.
Married Princess Nadezhda Narychkine after years of relationship. The marriage brought stability and respectability - things his father had never sought.
His father died at his house in Puys. Despite their complicated relationship, Dumas fils was with him at the end. He would spend years defending and explaining the elder Dumas's legacy.
Elected to the Académie Française, recognition his father never received. The honor validated his different path - moral drama rather than adventure.
By the 1880s, had written a series of thesis plays addressing social issues: illegitimacy, adultery, women's status. Theatre as moral instruction was his mission.
Alexandre Dumas fils died on November 27, 1895, in Paris. He had outlived his father by twenty-five years, carved his own path, and left behind Marguerite Gautier - immortal despite everything.