The Room in the Dragon Volant · Chapter
VII: The White Rose explained
The narrator, after felling Colonel Gaillarde with his walking stick, escorts the Countess de St.
What happens
The narrator, after felling Colonel Gaillarde with his walking stick, escorts the Countess de St. Alyre to her carriage. She presses a white rose into his hand as a farewell token. He bribes the innkeeper to avoid legal trouble and learns that the only available horses have been taken by Monsieur Droqville. He persuades Droqville to share his carriage to Paris. During the journey, the Marquis d'Harmonville (Droqville) becomes a companion; they drink coffee and chat, but the narrator falls into a strange, paralyzed state while the Marquis sleeps. The Marquis mistakes his paralysis for deep sleep and leaves him in the carriage while he and the servant refresh at an inn.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
The narrator's paralysis is mistaken for sleep by the Marquis, highlighting the gap between appearance and reality.
Love and Obsession
The white rose given by the Countess symbolizes a secret romantic attachment that drives the narrator's actions.
Danger and the Supernatural
The narrator's sudden, inexplicable paralysis introduces an eerie, supernatural element to the journey.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Describes his violent encounter with Colonel Gaillarde, his receipt of the white rose from the Countess, and his subsequent journey to Paris with the Marquis d'Harmonville.
- Colonel Gaillarde
Attacked by the narrator with a walking stick, knocked unconscious, and later attended by a surgeon who suspects a fractured skull.
- Countess de St. Alyre
Gives the narrator a white rose as a secret token before departing in her carriage with the Count.
- Count de St. Alyre
Flees the scene quickly after the altercation, leaving the Countess to be escorted by the narrator.
- Marquis d'Harmonville
Revealed to be Monsieur Droqville; shares the carriage with the narrator, drinks coffee, tells stories, and mistakes the narrator's paralysis for deep sleep.
- St. Clair
The narrator's servant; provides information about the Countess and assists during the journey.
Key passages
“I may never see you more, and, oh! that I could forget you. Go—farewell—for God's sake, go!”
The Countess whispers to the narrator that she may never see him again and wishes she could forget him, urging him to leave immediately.
Expresses the Countess's conflicted emotions and the urgency of their secret parting.
“I pressed her hand for a moment. She withdrew it, but tremblingly pressed into mine the rose which she had held in her fingers during the agitating scene she had just passed through.”
The narrator briefly holds her hand; she pulls away but gives him the white rose she had been clutching during the violent scene.
The white rose becomes a tangible symbol of their secret connection.
“I had lost the power of closing them. I would have rubbed my eyes, but I could not stir my hand, my will no longer acted on my body—I found that I could not move one joint, or muscle, no more than I could, by an effort of my will, have turned the carriage about.”
The narrator realizes he cannot close his eyes or move any part of his body; his will has no effect on his limbs.
Describes the onset of a terrifying paralysis that leaves him fully conscious but immobile.
