Social Science and Human Research Bulletin

This paper investigates the moral and philosophical dimensions of deception in romantic relationships through a close literary analysis of Pierre de Marivaux’s Le Jeu de l’Amour et du Hasard and La Double Inconstance. By integrating Campbell Brown’s harm-based deception theory, the study challenges absolutist ethical models, particularly those of Jennifer Matey and Tom Dougherty, that regard deception as inherently invalidating consent. Instead, it argues that deception, when strategically employed without causing significant harm, can foster genuine emotional connection and facilitate informed consent. The paper positions Marivaux’s theatrical use of disguise and mistaken identity as dramatizing this more flexible ethical model. Through this harm-sensitive lens, the plays are read not as moral cautionary tales but as nuanced explorations of how intimacy, autonomy, and trust are navigated through socially complex performances. The research contributes a novel ethical framework for evaluating deception in literature, bridging philosophical ethics, literary theory, and psychology. Drawing interdisciplinary connections with recent African postcolonial and theological texts, including works by Igbinovia O. et al. The paper also proposes future directions for comparative analysis across cultural contexts. These include psychoanalytic studies of denial and evasion, gendered readings of agency in disguise, and the theological significance of narrative misrecognition. The study ultimately reframes deception as a potential vehicle for ethical clarity and romantic liberation.

deception, consent, autonomy, Marivaux, harm-based theory, literary ethics

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