Mauprat · Chapter
Chapter XI explained
Bernard awakens exhausted and doubts Edmée's promise of marriage.
What happens
Bernard awakens exhausted and doubts Edmée's promise of marriage. He sees M. de la Marche visiting and becomes jealous. In the drawing-room, Bernard kisses the wound on Edmée's arm in front of de la Marche, provoking a tense exchange. Edmée leaves with de la Marche, leaving Bernard humiliated. The chapter also includes a flashback to earlier debates between Bernard and Hubert, and the family's decision to move to Paris for the carnival.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Fidelity
Edmée's conflicting promises to Bernard and de la Marche, and Bernard's jealousy, highlight the theme of love and fidelity.
Social Class and Inequality
The abbé and Edmée discuss the impossibility of a marriage between Edmée and Bernard due to his coarse upbringing and low social refinement.
Moral Transformation
Bernard reflects on how the events of the previous night have changed him, and Edmée hopes that Paris will refine his character.
Characters to notice
- Edmée de Mauprat
Edmée discusses the impossibility of marrying Bernard with the abbé, but later shows tenderness toward Bernard while also maintaining her engagement to de la Marche.
- Bernard Mauprat
Bernard is consumed by jealousy and doubt, kisses Edmée's wound in front of de la Marche, and feels humiliated when Edmée leaves with de la Marche.
- M. de la Marche
De la Marche visits Edmée daily, reads the paper, and calmly responds to Bernard's provocation, escorting Edmée out of the room.
- Abbé Aubert
The abbé argues with Edmée about the folly of marrying Bernard and later discusses with her how to improve Bernard's behavior.
- Hubert de Mauprat
Hubert engages in heated debates with Bernard but quickly forgives him, showing fatherly solicitude.
Key passages
“How should that which is inevitable be impossible?”
Edmée argues that marrying Bernard is unavoidable, even if it leads to misery.
Edmée expresses fatalism about her situation.
“When Mauprat meets Mauprat … !”
Edmée threatens to kill Bernard if he becomes violent, referencing their shared family name.
Edmée shows her fierce independence and willingness to defend herself.
“I was no longer the man of the day before, and never again was I to be quite the man of Roche-Mauprat.”
Bernard feels transformed by the previous night's events, leaving his old self behind.
Bernard acknowledges a personal change.