Calvary · Chapter
III explained
The narrator reflects on his failed literary ambitions, feeling that his published work lacks originality and is merely a pastiche of other writers.
What happens
The narrator reflects on his failed literary ambitions, feeling that his published work lacks originality and is merely a pastiche of other writers. He envies the self-contentment of mediocrity and longs to return to Saint-Michel. He experiences insomnia and a deep sense of despair, contrasting his own darkness with the love others possess. He recalls the virgin of Saint-Michel and the mystical love of his childhood. Later, he obsessively searches for Juliette in the Bois de Boulogne, mistaking another woman for her. He visits Lirat, who reveals Juliette's scandalous reputation and delivers a bitter tirade against women, love, and the destructive power of female influence on artists.
Themes in this chapter
Art and Artistic Identity
The narrator grapples with his lack of originality and talent, feeling that his writing is a mere imitation of others, and longs for the supreme joy of creating something truly his own.
Love and Corruption
The narrator's obsessive pursuit of Juliette and Lirat's tirade against women illustrate love as a destructive force that corrupts and ruins artists, as seen in the stories of Charles Malterre and Lirat's teacher.
Memory and Childhood
The narrator recalls the virgin of Saint-Michel and the mystical love of his childhood, contrasting the purity of those memories with his current despair and obsession.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The narrator is consumed by self-doubt about his writing, experiences insomnia, and becomes obsessively fixated on Juliette, searching for her in the Bois and dressing carefully for the first time.
- Juliette Roux
Juliette is the object of the narrator's obsession; he hopes to see her in the Bois but fears meeting her. Lirat describes her as beautiful but foolish, malicious, and unfaithful to Charles Malterre.
- Lirat
Lirat reveals Juliette's identity and her scandalous behavior, delivers a passionate and misogynistic tirade about the destructive power of women over artists, and becomes agitated and angry during the conversation.
- Charles Malterre
Charles Malterre is mentioned by Lirat as Juliette's current lover, who is being deceived and ruined by her; he is described as good-natured but foolish in love.
Key passages
“Following the caprices of my memories, aroused by the intermittent light of my recollections, I expressed the thoughts of one and used the style of another; none of the ideas or style belonged to me.”
Driven by fleeting memories, I borrowed thoughts and styles from others, and nothing in my work was truly my own.
The narrator admits his lack of originality as a writer.
“For this moment of supreme joy I would be willing to sacrifice my future, my wealth, my life; I would be willing even to kill!”
I would give up everything, even commit murder, for the joy of creating something truly original and beautiful.
The narrator expresses his desperate desire for artistic achievement.
“Why dissemble? There I hoped to meet Juliette. Yes, certainly I hoped it, but at the same time I feared it.”
I admit I went to the Bois hoping to see Juliette, though I was also afraid of actually meeting her.
The narrator's conflicted feelings about Juliette are revealed.
“But artists, men of our calibre with big hearts and big brains—when these are lost, strangled, killed!—You understand?”
When great artists are destroyed by women, it is a tragedy because humanity loses something precious.
Lirat warns the narrator about the destructive power of women over artists.