54 pages • 1-hour read
The Marriage Plot
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Symbols & Motifs
Roland Barthes’s A Lover’s Discourse
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness.
When Madeleine enrolls in semiotics 201, it is in an effort to resist the academic mainstream in favor of what feels to her like a countercultural movement: critical theory. As the popularity of French post-structuralist Jacques Derrida sweeps campus, Madeleine grows eager to join in—ironically, her attempt to resist the norm draws her into another kind of conformity, as she adopts a fad and then organizes her personal life in accordance with its tenets. Setting out to construct a dating life that goes against the traditions upheld by authors like Jane Austen and George Eliot (and her conventional parents), Madeleine finds Roland Barthes’s A Lover’s Discourse—another work of post-structuralist theory—and instantly applies its sensibilities to her own love life. The book argues that love is, in truth, a perpetual state of anticipation for love to arrive. In this way, all love is unrequited, and a lover never fully attains the object of their affection. Madeleine comes to feel as though the book’s philosophies are indisputably true. Thus, it is ironic that she becomes so angered when Leonard, unable to put his feelings for her into words, uses the book to express his love for Madeleine.
Though the book is theoretical, Madeleine seeks to put this theory into practice when she and Leonard initially break up, growing increasingly certain that if she cannot be in a relationship with Leonard, then she is meant to live in a kind of limbo state in which she is plagued by her unrequited love for him. This state offers no real comfort, however, and is short-lived when Madeleine renews their relationship upon the event of Leonard’s mental health crisis before graduation.
This theory accurately illustrates the dilemma that Mitchell faces: He lives in a state of unrequited love but, unlike Barthes, is certain that this state is not permanent. He stubbornly maintains an optimistic view on love throughout much of the novel, certain that Madeleine will one day arrive at the realization that she is meant to be with him. Like Madeleine, he wallows in his heartbroken state, refusing to get over Madeleine, but for different reasons than Madeleine does when she and Leonard experience their first breakup.
Pilgrimages
The trip that Mitchell takes to Europe and India after college serves as a kind of religious and spiritual pilgrimage, though Mitchell does not directly describe it in this way. For a religious person, a pilgrimage is a journey made either to a sacred place or for a spiritual purpose, whether it be in search of atonement or enlightenment. Throughout the novel, Mitchell explores numerous religious doctrines in search of a means by which to pursue enlightenment. His type of pilgrimage is distinct from traditional religious pilgrimages in that he has not yet solidified his spiritual beliefs. He is certain, however, that doing good work is essential to reaching an enlightened state and that his failure to aid in the most difficult tasks at the Calcutta hospital is a sign of his spiritual failing.
Importantly, the place to which Leonard and Madeleine move when Leonard begins his fellowship is named Pilgrim Lake. This creates a parallel between their experiences and Mitchell’s, suggesting that one (or both) of them is on a kind of journey as well. However, Leonard is ironically stagnant in the first few months at Pilgrim Lake: Affected by the side effects of his bipolar medication and mentally under-stimulated by the work he is assigned to in the lab, he is in a state of stasis, rather than of growth. After a few months of struggling with the side effects of his bipolar medication, Leonard sets out to manage his medication—and, thus, his condition—on his own, embarking on a type of journey to establish the self. It is during the time at Pilgrim Lake, too, that Madeleine discovers the academic subject that she wishes to pursue (Victorianism). With her newfound sense of direction, she is able to move in the direction of fulfilling her ambitions to enter a graduate program.
Leonard’s Enlightened Experience
When Leonard and Mitchell meet unexpectedly at the New York City party at the end of the novel, Leonard describes an experience he had while in Europe. He tells Mitchell that the event is a secret, suggesting that he has told no one else—not even Madeleine—about it. Leonard describes feeling as though he was lifted off the ground—as if levitating—and believing that he had floated above the earth. Though he admits to Mitchell that he knows he was in a manic state at the time, the experience felt real and not like a hallucination. He wonders if this was a kind of religious experience or a moment of enlightenment.
The event’s significance for Leonard is that it confirms his belief that his mental illness is a desirable state—closely related to genius and inspiration. When he is approaching or in a manic state, Leonard grows convinced that mania is a rare but positive trait—had it been harmful, he reasons, it would have died out with natural selection. Leonard interprets his religious experience as further proof that his illness is, in fact, a superpower.
This event is also significant because of the impact it has on Mitchell. Having spent the past year attempting to both reach enlightenment and win the love of Madeleine, Mitchell identifies with Leonard for the first time. Rather than regarding Leonard as an enemy, Mitchell understands the common ground they share. It is Leonard’s story that causes Mitchell to realize the irrationality of his own quests for both enlightenment and Madeleine.
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