la légende des siecles

In La Confiance du Marquis Fabrice light and shadow are very skilfully managed. We
see the little princess Isora making her toilet in the early morning, when everything is
fresh and bright. It is in the dawn that she loves to play. But the banquet of death takes
place at night in a dimly lighted hall, when the lack of clear light adds to the horror of
the scene. Note the Rembrandtesque effects in such phrases: 'aux tremblantes clartés,'
'l'ombre indistincte,' 'à travers l'ombre, on voit toutes les soifs infâmes,' and it ends in 'le
triomphe de l'ombre,' a phrase in which the literal and the figurative are subtly blended
together. On the other hand, how everything sparkles and gleams in Le Mariage de
Roland! Olivier's sword-point glitters like the eye of a demon, while Durandal shines as
he falls on his foeman's head; the sunshine is all round them in the day, and the night
passes quickly; sparks fly from the weapons as they strike one another, and light up the
very shadows with a dull flash. Take again La Rose de l'Infante. Everything round the
little princess is bright: 'le profond jardin rayonnant et fleuri,' 'un grand palais comme au
fond d'une gloire,' 'de clairs viviers,' 'des paons étoilés.' The very grass, too, seems to
sparkle with diamonds and rubies. But Philip is a dark shadow, half hidden in mist:
On voit d'en bas une ombre, au fond d'une vapeur,
De fenêtre à fenêtre errer, et l'on a peur.
He is always dressed in black:
Toujours vêtu de noir, ce tout-puissant terrestre
Avait l'air d'être en deuil de ce qu'il existait.
No light is ever seen in his palaces:
L'Escurial, Burgos, Aranjuez, ses repaires,
Jamais n'illuminaient leurs livides plafonds.
His eye shines, it is true, but it is a gleam that suggests a darkness beneath:
Sa prunelle
Luit comme un soupirail de caverne.
Note again the oppressive darkness of the opening lines of Pleine Mer, in which the
only touch of light is the winding-sheet of the waves, and contrast it with the
atmosphere of light which surrounds the ship in Plein Ciel, where even the night is
bright:
La Nuit tire du fond des gouffres inconnus
Son filet où luit Mars, où rayonne Vénus.
Le Crapaud is wrapped in the light of sunset:
Le couchant rayonnait dans les nuages roses;