Sarrasine: Analysis of Major Characters
"Sarrasine: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricate relationships and contrasting embodiments of beauty within a Parisian salon setting. The narrator, a perceptive young man, reflects on the superficiality of his surroundings while sharing the tale of Zambinella, a fascinating character who oscillates between beauty and grotesqueness. Central to the narrative is Ernest-Jean Sarrasine, a sculptor driven by obsessive love for Zambinella, whose eventual revelation as a castrato leads to tragic consequences. Madame de Rochefide, the beautiful marquise, represents a chaste beauty that ultimately withdraws from erotic experiences, highlighting the complexities of desire.
Zambinella, transformed from a beautiful young boy into a captivating female singer, becomes a pivotal figure that shapes Sarrasine's fate. The Lanty family, including Count de Lanty and his wife, add layers of intrigue, with their own mysterious wealth and beauty influencing the dynamics at play. Marianina, their daughter, mirrors both her mother's and Zambinella's beauty, while her brother Filippo epitomizes youthful male beauty. The interplay of these characters showcases themes of obsession, identity, and the often-elusive nature of beauty, making "Sarrasine" a rich exploration of aesthetic and emotional complexities within a social milieu.
Sarrasine: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Honoré de Balzac
First published: 1831 (English translation, 1899)
Genre: Novella
Locale: Paris, France
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The 1820's
The narrator, a young Parisian who frequents the Parisian salons, where powerful, ambitious men and beautiful, desirable women entertain themselves at lavish soirées. He is set apart from the other guests by his awareness of the superficiality of his life and by his desire to discover the forms of beauty that will lead to truth. Each of the other characters possesses a type of beauty, on which he reflects. He tells his companion, the Marquise de Rochefide, the story of one of the guests, Zambinella.
Madame de Rochefide (rohsh-FEED), a beautiful marquise who possesses pure, transparent beauty. She has accompanied the narrator to a soirée at the Paris townhouse of the Lanty family. She is fascinated by a painting she sees there, and the narrator agrees to tell her the story of the model for the nude Adonis of the painting. After hearing the story, she decides that she will become the most chaste woman of her generation and will keep her ravishing beauty only for herself, thus closing the door on the possibility of an erotic experience with the narrator.
Ernest-Jean Sarrasine (ehr-NEHST-zhahn sah-rah-SEEN), a young sculptor with an impetuous nature and wild genius. He is rather ugly and always badly dressed, and he has had little experience with women. He began his career in poverty but became famous when he won a major sculpture prize. His prize money took him to Italy, where he attended an operatic performance in Rome and fell in love with a singer, Zambinella. His love for her is obsessive and as impetuous and wild as his general behavior. Again and again he returns to the opera to wonder at her perfection. He spends the intervening hours composing one drawing after another of her in every conceivable form. He sees her as absolute female beauty embodied. When he discovers that she is a castrato, he tries to kill her and is himself killed instead. His obsession for Zambinella thus leads to insanity and death.
La Zambinella (zahm-bee-NEHL-lah), a castrato who sings soprano roles at the opera in Rome. She is exquisitely beautiful, with an expressive mouth; heavy, voluptuous eyelids framed by dark curved lashes; a perfect oval face; and a dazzling white complexion. She is protected by Cardinal Cigognara, who was responsible for having transformed a beautiful young man, a member of the Lanty family, into this beautiful woman. Zambinella is at the Lanty party and is now a grotesque old man whose decrepitude is concealed beneath a blond wig and a mask of carefully applied makeup; he is bedecked with sparkling jewels. This bizarre figure is the subject of the story that the narrator tells to Madame de Rochefide—Zambinella was the model for the Adonis of the painting. The character is a constantly changing figure in the novella, a beautiful young Italian boy who is castrated and transformed into Zambinella, who creates the illusion of a beautiful female singer. The singer is the model for a statue created by the sculptor Sarrasine, who was madly in love with Zambinella; finally, the statue becomes the model for the painting of a perfectly beautiful Adonis.
The Count de Lanty (lahn-TEE), a wealthy resident of Paris at whose home the narrator and his companion see Zambinella, a relative of the Countess de Lanty. The source of the Lanty fortune is a mystery.
TheCountessdeLanty, the wife of the Count de Lanty. She is thirty-six years old and possesses a vibrant beauty. Her face is marked by an extraordinarily intelligent expression; she is a coquette and a powerful siren at the same time. Her beauty has been inherited by her children and is the type that fires Sarrasine's irrational passion for Zambinella.
Marianina de Lanty (mahr-yah-NEE-nah), a sixteen-year-old girl whose beauty is like that of a sultan's daughter in an Eastern tale. She has her mother's beauty, which is also shared by her mother's relative, Zambinella. She shares a beautiful singing voice as well with Zambinella, a voice that embodies secret poetry. Marianina sings in the room where the guests are gathered at the Lantys' party, and her voice draws the grotesque old man who fascinates the narrator and his companion.
Filippo de Lanty (fee-LEE-poh), Marianina's brother, who shares his sister's marvelous beauty. He resembles Antinous, the paragon of youthful beauty, but is even more slender. His primary role in the novella is to represent the mother and sister's beauty in male form.