The Room in the Dragon Volant · Chapter
III: Death and Love Together Mated explained
The narrator, restless and infatuated with the Countess de St.
What happens
The narrator, restless and infatuated with the Countess de St. Alyre, prepares for supper while overhearing her sing a haunting chanson about death and love. He observes the tension between the Count and Countess, and his romantic fantasies intensify as he dresses meticulously in hopes of catching her attention.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Obsession
The narrator's infatuation with the Countess drives his actions, from dressing meticulously to eavesdropping, blurring the line between admiration and obsession.
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
The narrator misinterprets the Countess's song and the couple's interaction, projecting his own romantic fantasies onto their reality.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Restless and infatuated, he dresses carefully and eavesdrops on the Count and Countess, romanticizing the Countess's plight.
- Countess de St. Alyre
Sings a chanson about death and love; her voice is described as sweet and semi-contralto, with a mocking tone.
- Count de St. Alyre
Speaks with a reedy, nasal voice; rebukes the Countess for singing and shuts the window abruptly.
Key passages
“Death and Love, together mated, Watch and wait in ambuscade; At early morn, or else belated. They meet and mark the man or maid.”
Death and Love are partners in ambush, lying in wait to seize their victim at any hour.
The Countess's song foreshadows the dangerous entanglement of romance and mortality.
“Of all thin partitions, glass is the most effectual excluder of sound.”
Glass windows block sound better than any other thin barrier.
The narrator reflects on how the window cuts off his eavesdropping.