The Red and the Black

In The Red and the Black, the figure of Mathilde’s ancestor, Boniface de La Mole, is a symbol of the romantic myth of aristocratic heroism that both Mathilde and Julien seek to emulate. Boniface de La Mole, Julien is told, was a 16th-century French nobleman and a supposed lover of Queen Marguerite de Valois. He was beheaded for allegedly plotting against King Charles IX, and legend holds that Marguerite preserved his severed head out of love and devotion. Julien learns of the story when Mathilde appears in mourning dress on the anniversary of her ancestor’s tragic death. In this moment, the extent to which the family legend endures shows the aristocratic surroundings into which Julien is entering. He is a parochial figure, the son of a peasant, and now he is dining at the table of a family directly descended from important historical figures. The way in which Mathilde chooses to honor the death of her ancestor (while her other family members are indifferent) symbolizes the extent to which she is captured by the past. Mathilde may not enjoy how the patriarchal values of the Bourbon Restoration limit her potential, but she treasures the drama and the