# Chapter XV explained — The Revolt of the Angels

> Chapter companion for The Revolt of the Angels by Anatole France.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolt_of_the_angels_se/chapters/xv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolt_of_the_angels_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolt_of_the_angels_se/chapters