Barbey d’Aurévilly
The Crimson Curtain
1. 17-23 What does the narrator find most interesting in the old Vicomte de Brassard, who is in the coach with him at the time his story begins? (Why is he like a powder-magazine? How does this affect his obedience to higher government officials and military officers and his chances of advancement? How does it affect his relation to others: his actions as a commander, drinker, and lover?). What is the relationship between his having seven mistresses and his desire, as a Dandy, to strut up and down the street showing off his wide chest and uniform?
2. 23-26 For the narrator, what is the fascination of dark outside the coach and the windows that the coach passes during the night? What does the narrator imagine behind the window with the crimson curtains? What is the Vicomte’s reaction to the window? Why does the narrator find the Vicomte’s reaction strange? How does this reaction relate to the narrator’s preceding description of the world outside the carriage at night? Why do you think the narrator finds the Vicomte’s reaction to the window so fascinating?
3. 26 bottom-33 What happened behind the crimson window according to the old Vicomte and how do you think it is similar to a “death” for him? What did the officers do to relieve the dullness of the small town where they were garrisoned during the Restoration (after Napoleon)? What did the soldiers do for amusement under Napoleon when young Vicomte was first there? Describe the couple with which the young Vicomte lives ?
[Maréchal Ney was a famous commander of some of Napleon’s armies. In 1813, Napoleon was in the process of losing the European empire he had conquered between 1805 and 1811. In 1814, he would be conquered and sent to the island of Elbe. In 1815, he escaped, gathered an army, and was finally defeated at Waterloo, after about 100 days in France. He was sent to the Island of St. Helens where he died, possibly of poisoning.]
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4. 33-35 What is the young Vicomte’s reaction to the daughter of the family with which he lives? What does he find particularly attractive in the daughter? What does her most attractive aspect seem to be saying to him?
5. 35-37 What about the way Alberte takes the Vicomte’s hand gives him an “inexpressible pleasure”? Why do you think? How does her act relate to his vision of her eyes? and to the act of her other hand turning up the wick of the lamp? How might that fear relate to the fear that the old Vicomte feels when he sees the window with the crimson curtains? and to the narrator’s initial reaction to the window when he imagined someone behind the curtain looking out at him?
6. 37-38top How do Alberte’s actions overturn the young Vicomte’s image of himself as a Lovelace (a seducer)? Did he think that she loved him? What then is the massive cause of his desire? How does young Vicomte’s image of himself relate to the old Vicomte’s reputation of being a Dandy, “a man, especially in the past, who dressed in expensive, fashionable clothes and was very interested in his own appearance” (Online Cambridge Dictionary)?