Short Fiction · Chapter
The Rendezvous explained
Madame Haggar delays her weekly rendezvous with her lover, the Viscount de Martelet, by loitering in a square, reflecting on the tedium and anxiety of their two-year affair.
What happens
Madame Haggar delays her weekly rendezvous with her lover, the Viscount de Martelet, by loitering in a square, reflecting on the tedium and anxiety of their two-year affair. She dreads the predictable routine of the meeting and the risk of scandal. While procrastinating, she encounters the Baron de Grimbal, who persuades her to abandon her appointment and visit his Japanese collection instead.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
The chapter explores the initial attraction that led to the affair, now faded into a burdensome routine.
Isolation and Loneliness
Madame Haggar feels trapped and alone in her secret, facing the monotony of the rendezvous without genuine emotional connection.
Gender and Power
The power dynamics are evident: she must navigate societal judgment and the risk of exposure, while her lover remains in control of the setting and routine.
Characters to notice
- Madame Loisel
The protagonist, referred to as Madame Haggar, who is torn between duty and desire as she delays her weekly rendezvous.
- Duc de Servigny
The Viscount de Martelet, her lover, who waits impatiently in his flat.
- Baron Mordiane
The Baron de Grimbal, a diplomat who intercepts Madame Haggar and invites her to see his Japanese collection.
Key passages
“She had on her hat and coat with a black veil down to her nose and another in her pocket to put over the first as soon as she got into the offensive four-wheeler.”
She wore a hat and coat with a long black veil, and carried a second veil to put on once she entered the cab.
Illustrates her elaborate precautions to avoid recognition.
“The idea of keeping him waiting pleased her and as she walked through the crowd she fancied she saw him getting impatient, looking at the clock, opening the window, listening at the door, sitting down and getting up again, not daring to smoke—as she had forbidden smoking on the days they met—and casting desperate glances at his box of cigarettes.”
She enjoyed making him wait, imagining his restless impatience as he checked the time and resisted smoking.
Reveals her passive resistance and the power she exerts through delay.
“She suffered from the intolerable memory of these appointments—on an average, one a week for the last two years—and the thought that there would be another one presently filled her with anguish.”
She dreaded the weekly meetings, which had become a painful routine over two years.
Highlights the emotional toll of the affair.
“He was there, waiting, dressed in a velvet suit lined with silk, very smart but rather ridiculous, and for two years he had never varied the way he received her, never made the slightest change, not in a single gesture!”
He waited in a velvet suit, handsome yet absurd, and his greeting had remained exactly the same for two years.
Emphasizes the monotony of their encounters.
“Besides, a woman must end by hating a man who for two years has forced her to put on her clothes a hundred and twenty times without a maid.”
A woman would inevitably come to resent a man who made her dress herself so many times without assistance.
Shows her growing irritation with the practical inconveniences of the affair.