The Red and the Black

Julien goes to Mathilde’s box, feeling “intoxicated by love and desire” (441). She ignores the other people present, including her mother, and offers Julien guarantees of her love. This thrills Julien, and when he returns to his room, he thanks the series of letters which have allowed him to win back Mathilde’s love. Yet he is sure that he must continue in his approach, lest she turn against him again. When she comes to him in the library and suggests that they run away together, he resumes his coldness and his distance, curtailing his true emotions. He continues to copy out his letters to Mme. de Fervaques.

Mathilde feels, for the first time, “what it [is] to love” (446). Though she is submissive to Julien, she is more assertive and haughtier than ever to everyone else. Her love causes her to act recklessly, though Julien maintains his aloof disposition. Mathilde breaks through his distant demeanor by announcing that she is pregnant. This, she suggests, is the guarantee of her devotion that Julien sought, and now she is his “wife for ever” (447). Julien cannot maintain his false demeanor. He is tender to Mathilde, yet he pities her father for what will happen.