Sarrasine

“Have you ever met one of those women whose startling beauty defies the assaults of time, and who seem at thirty-six more desirable than they could have been fifteen years earlier? Their faces are impassioned souls; they fairly sparkle; each feature gleams with intelligence; each possesses a brilliancy of its own, especially in the light.”

In this quote, Balzac directly addresses the reader with the second-person pronoun “you” in a rhetorical question that invites them to consider their own experience with beautiful women and to pay particular attention to the detailed, idealized description of the comtesse. This consideration of feminine beauty lays the groundwork for later exploration of The Artificiality of Gender Roles.

“This mysterious family had all the attractiveness of a poem by Lord Byron, whose difficult passages were translated differently by each person in fashionable society; a poem that grew more obscure and more sublime from strophe to strophe. […] [T]he enigmatical history of the Lanty family offered a perpetual subject of curiosity, not unlike that aroused by the novels of Anne Radcliffe.”

Lord Byron (1788-1824) was an English Romantic poet and one of the most famous literary figures in the world during his lifetime. His work was extremely popular in France during the early 19th century and had a massive impact on contemporary and subsequent writers. Anne Radcliffe (1764-1823) was an English Gothic novelist whose supernatural mysteries inspired many future science fiction, romance, and horror authors. Referencing these fashionable writers concisely and evocatively conveys the appeal and intrigue associated with the de Lanty family. It also frames the family’s backstory as one involving The Dangers of Obsession—a recurring idea in much Romantic and Gothic literature.

“I was summarizing in one last thought my reflections, in which black and white, life and death, were inextricably mingled. My wandering imagination, like my eyes, contemplated alternately the festivities, which had now reached the climax of their splendor, and the gloomy picture presented by the gardens. I have no idea how long I meditated upon those two faces of the human medal[.]”

In this quote, Balzac uses antithesis, the juxtaposition of opposites such as “black and white” and “life and death,” to create tension. He also includes the recurring motif of death’s omnipresence to create a “memento mori” effect, reminding readers of the ephemeral and fragile nature of life. The sentences are long and include many sub-clauses marked by commas, mimicking the rambling and circular pattern of the narrator’s meditations, giving the passage a stream-of-consciousness-like style.

“As I saw, beside that human ruin, a young woman whose bare neck and arms and breast were white as snow; whose figure was well-rounded and beautiful in its youthful grace; whose hair, charmingly arranged above an alabaster forehead, inspired love; whose eyes did not receive but gave forth light, who was sweet and fresh, and whose fluffy curls, whose fragrant breath, seemed too heavy, too harsh, too overpowering for that shadow, for that man of dust—ah! the thought that came into my mind was of death and life, an imaginary arabesque, a half-hideous chimera, divinely feminine from the waist up. 

‘And yet such marriages are often made in society!’ I said to myself.”

Balzac provides a lengthy and detailed description of the marchioness, as is characteristic of the Realist style, building up a picture of the character’s appearance to make her seem more tangible to the reader. The narrator’s idealized view of Madame de Rochefide reflects his amorous feelings and shows his unrealistic and objectifying view of women. The young woman’s description is juxtaposed with the contrasting and ultimately negative description of the elderly La Zambinella, who evokes the motif of death. As part of his broader interrogation of gender roles, Balzac critiques contemporary marriage customs, which create “unnatural” unions between such figures.

“‘He is too beautiful for a man,’ she added, after such a scrutiny as she would have bestowed upon a rival. 

Ah! how sharply I felt at that moment those pangs of jealousy in which a poet had tried in vain to make me believe! the jealousy of engravings, of pictures, of statues, wherein artists exaggerate human beauty, as a result of the doctrine which leads them to idealize everything.”

This quote explores the subversion of sexuality and gender norms by showing how the painted figure transcends traditional boundaries of sex and gender. Both the narrator and Madame de Rochefide seem to view the Adonis figure as a “rival,” reflecting the ambiguity of the model La Zambinella’s place within conventional gender binaries. The critique of art’s accuracy also contributes to the theme of Art and the Impact of Representation on Identity.

“Whenever there was a contest of any sort between a comrade and himself, it rarely ended without bloodshed. If he were the weaker, he would use his teeth. Active and passive by turns, either lacking in aptitude, or too intelligent, his abnormal temperament caused him to distrust his masters as much as his schoolmates.”

This description of Sarrasine’s character shows his innate predisposition for suspicion, violence, and excessive passion. These traits manifest in their most extreme form when Sarrasine becomes infatuated with La Zambinella, making him a key representative of the theme of the dangers of obsession.

“At the age of twenty-two Sarrasine was forcibly removed from the salutary influence which Bouchardon exercised over his morals and his habits. He paid the penalty of his genius by winning the prize for sculpture founded by the Marquis de Marigny[.] […] Not without profound sorrow did the king’s sculptor witness the departure for Italy of a young man whose profound ignorance of the things of life he had, as a matter of principle, refrained from enlightening.”

Balzac creates an ironic and ominous tone by framing a positive step in Sarrasine’s career as a major personal tragedy. He does this through language with negative connotations, such as “paid the penalty,” “forcibly removed,” and “sorrow.” Sarrasine’s “profound ignorance” leaves him vulnerable: As his experiences in Italy erode his naivete, Sarrasine descends into obsession and fits of unchecked passion, vindicating his teacher’s fears.

“For the first time in his life he heard the music whose charms Monsieur Jean-Jacques Rousseau had extolled so eloquently at one of Baron d’Holbach’s evening parties. The young sculptor’s senses were lubricated, so to speak, by Jomelli’s harmonious strains. The languorous peculiarities of those skillfully blended Italian voices plunged him in an ecstasy of delight. He sat there, mute and motionless, not even conscious of the crowding of the two priests. His soul poured out through his ears and his eyes. He seemed to be listening with every one of his pores.”

Balzac references Rousseau (1712-1778), one of the major writers and philosophers of the French Enlightenment. Rousseau wrote seven operas and was known for his passionate belief that Italian music was superior to French music. The translation’s use of the alliterative pairs “mute and motionless,” “conscious” and “crowding,” and “ears” and “eyes” echoes the passage’s subject matter by creating a sense of musicality. The music’s overwhelming impact on Sarrasine is also registered figuratively and hyperbolically through his physical and spiritual response: “[H]is soul pour[s] out,” and he “listen[s] with every one of his pores.”

“‘What do you fear?’ queried Vitagliani, the most celebrated singer in the troupe. ‘Go on, you have no rival here to fear.’ 

After he had said this the tenor smiled silently. The lips of all the guests repeated that smile, in which there was a lurking expression of malice likely to escape a lover.”

In this quote, Balzac uses the unexplained “malice” and amusement of the guests to foreshadow the impending anagnosis—moment of revelation—when Sarrasine discovers La Zambinella’s identity. The presence of negative ulterior motives beneath a façade of friendliness creates tension and a mood of unease, while Vitagliani’s rhetorical question prompts the reader to imagine potential reasons to justify Sarrasine’s fear.

“‘I esteem you, but as for love, do not ask me for that; that sentiment is suffocated in my heart. I have no heart!’ she cried, weeping bitterly. ‘The stage on which you saw me, the applause, the music, the renown to which I am condemned—those are my life; I have no other. A few hours hence you will no longer look upon me with the same eyes, the woman you love will be dead.’”

This quote subverts expectations by framing fame, including typically positive aspects of it such as “applause” and “renown,” as a “curse.” This reflects Balzac’s condemnation of the practice of creating castratos, as he implies that the operation that primes them for a life in show business also prohibits them from experiencing any other pleasures in life. While this erases some of the complexities of real castrati’s lived experiences, La Zambinella’s lament highlights the negative side of art. The strong negative language (“suffocated,” “bitterly,” etc.) as well as the dramatic exclamation that he has “no heart” create a strong sense of pathos, inviting sympathy for La Zambinella and showing the depth of his emotional anguish. The final ominous proclamation foreshadows the impending revelation of his gender.

“‘[W]ould you venture to say now that you are not a woman?’ […]

The morning passed all too swiftly for the amorous sculptor, but it was crowded with incidents which laid bare to him the coquetry, the weakness, the daintiness, of that pliant, inert soul. She was a true woman with her sudden terrors, her unreasoning caprices, her instinctive worries, her causeless audacity, her bravado, and her fascinating delicacy of feeling.”

Sarrasine’s response to La Zambinella’s “terror” of a snake reflects contemporary stereotypes of womanhood that are later revealed to be ironic given that La Zambinella is a man. This encapsulates how Balzac uses the figure of the castrato to critique gender norms. The long list of “feminine” characteristics shows the extent of Sarrasine’s misapprehension, building tension in the lead-up to the novella’s climax. The rhetorical question shows Sarrasine’s determined self-delusion, foreshadowing the devastating effect of his eventual disillusionment.

“Have you sisters who resemble you? No. Then die! But no, you shall live. To leave you your life is to doom you to a fate worse than death. I regret neither my blood nor my life, but my future and the fortune of my heart. Your weak hand has overturned my happiness. What hope can I extort from you in place of all those you have destroyed? You have brought me down to your level. To love, to be loved! are henceforth meaningless words to me, as to you. I shall never cease to think of that imaginary woman when I see a real woman.”

This dramatic monologue reflects the depth and strength of Sarrasine’s emotions in the wake of discovering La Zambinella’s identity. The use of short sentences, exclamation marks, and rhetorical questions conveys passion and turmoil, building up momentum through the emotional climax of the novella. Highly charged negative language such as “doom” and “meaningless” shows the extent of Sarrasine’s disillusionment and despair.

“Madame, Cardinal Cicognara took possession of Zambinella’s statue and had it reproduced in marble; it is in the Albani Museum to-day. In 1794 the Lanty family discovered it there, and asked Vien to copy it. The portrait which showed you Zambinella at twenty, a moment after you had seen him as a centenarian, afterward figured in Girodet’s Endymion; you yourself recognized the type in Adonis.”

This recitation of the artwork’s provenance is key to the theme of art because it shows how many layers of artistic interpretation and intercession lie between the true La Zambinella and how he is perceived and remembered. The matter-of-fact account lends authority to the narrator’s story by acting as proof while simultaneously undermining the tale, as it is unclear how he has such a detailed account of private events that occurred long ago in another country.