The Revolt of the Angels · Chapter
Chapter XV explained
Maurice, distraught over the loss of his guardian angel Arcade, seeks counsel from Abbé Patouille, who dismisses his experience as a hallucination and warns against the dangers of dissipation.
What happens
Maurice, distraught over the loss of his guardian angel Arcade, seeks counsel from Abbé Patouille, who dismisses his experience as a hallucination and warns against the dangers of dissipation. Meanwhile, Arcade and Zita discuss the suffering of humanity and Zita reveals her past earthly incarnations and her mission to liberate Heaven, inspired by Nectaire's flute.
Themes in this chapter
Rebellion and Revolution
Arcade and Zita discuss the new rebellion in Heaven, with Zita revealing her mission to liberate the celestial realm.
Religion and Blind Faith
Abbé Patouille's refusal to accept Maurice's angelic encounter exemplifies blind faith and denial of the miraculous.
Human Nature and Folly
Maurice's obsession with Arcade and Gilberte's jealousy highlight human irrationality and emotional folly.
Characters to notice
- Maurice d'Esparvieu
Bewildered and lonely after Arcade's departure, he seeks Abbé Patouille's help and places a newspaper ad to find his angel.
- Abbé Patouille
Dismisses Maurice's account as a dream or hallucination, insisting that good angels cannot revolt and that Maurice's troubles stem from dissipation and Delacroix's paintings.
- Arcade
Observes the suffering city from Montmartre with Zita, having left Maurice to pursue the rebellion.
- Zita
Confesses to Arcade her past lives among humans and her dedication to liberating Heaven, inspired by Nectaire's flute.
- Gilberte des Aubels
Meets Maurice for a rendezvous but feels neglected; she is uneasy about the idea of her guardian angel watching her.
- Nectaire
Mentioned as the old gardener whose flute playing moved Zita and Arcade, inspiring their rebellion.
Key passages
“People have a notion that they can lead a life of dissipation and disorder with impunity. They are wrong. The abuse of pleasure corrupts the intelligence and impairs the understanding.”
Abbé Patouille warns that indulgence in vice dulls the mind and leads to self-deception.
Patouille attributes Maurice's 'hallucination' to his immoral lifestyle.
“There is something, Arcade, that I must confess to you. It was no desire for a purer justice or wiser laws that hurried Ithuriel earthward. Ambition, a taste for intrigue, the love of wealth and honour, all these things made Heaven, with its calm, unbearable to me.”
Zita admits she descended to Earth not for justice but out of ambition and a craving for earthly pleasures.
Zita reveals her true motives for leaving Heaven and her subsequent transformation.