The Room in the Dragon Volant · Chapter
The Naked Sword explained
The narrator falls asleep after supper and has a disturbing dream in which the Countess de St.
What happens
The narrator falls asleep after supper and has a disturbing dream in which the Countess de St. Alyre appears dead on a catafalque, pleading to be saved from being buried alive. He wakes to find Colonel Gaillarde staring at him. Later, the narrator encounters the Marquis d'Harmonville and learns more about Gaillarde's reputation. Returning to the inn, he witnesses a violent confrontation in which Gaillarde, sword drawn, blocks the Count and Countess de St. Alyre from leaving, accusing them of being vampires. The narrator steps in to defend the Countess, risking Gaillarde's attack.
Themes in this chapter
Danger and the Supernatural
The narrator's dream of the Countess's corpse and Gaillarde's accusations of vampirism create an atmosphere of supernatural threat.
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
Gaillarde's apparent madness versus his reputation as shrewd; the dream blurs the line between reality and illusion.
Innocence and Exploitation
The Countess appears vulnerable and in need of protection, while Gaillarde's aggression exploits the situation.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Falls asleep and has a prophetic dream; later intervenes in a confrontation to protect the Countess.
- Countess de St. Alyre
Appears in the narrator's dream as a corpse; later seen in travelling costume holding a white rose, pleading for help.
- Count de St. Alyre
Confronted by Colonel Gaillarde while trying to leave the inn; his face is partly covered by a black silk scarf.
- Colonel Gaillarde
Stares at the narrator after his dream; later engages in a furious altercation, brandishing a sword and accusing the Count and Countess of being vampires.
- Marquis d'Harmonville
Encountered by the narrator in a square; discusses Gaillarde's history and his own mysterious business.
Key passages
“I fancied myself in a huge cathedral, without light, except from four tapers that stood at the corners of a raised platform hung with black, on which lay, draped also in black, what seemed to me the dead body of the Countess de St. Alyre.”
The narrator dreams he is in a dark cathedral where the Countess's body lies on a black-draped platform lit by four candles.
The dream foreshadows danger and the theme of premature burial.
“The two people who approached now emerged from the darkness. One, the Count de St. Alyre, glided to the head of the figure and placed his long thin hands under it. The white-faced Colonel, with the scar across his face, and a look of infernal triumph, placed his hands under her feet, and they began to raise her.”
In the dream, the Count and Colonel lift the Countess's body as if to place her in a grave.
The dream associates both men with the Countess's potential doom.
“I was not sure of your red birds of prey; I could not believe you would have the audacity to travel on high roads, and to stop at honest inns, and lie under the same roof with honest men. You! you! both — vampires, wolves, ghouls.”
Gaillarde accuses the Count and Countess of being predatory supernatural creatures unworthy of mingling with honest people.
Gaillarde's outburst reinforces the supernatural theme and his violent paranoia.