Literally, this passage means that when Charles Darnay was deeply thinking in the presence of his uncle, the Monsieur was looking at him with more intent and emotion then he normally would look at anyone since he generally does not care one way or another, he's indifferent. What is being figuratively stressed in this massage; is Monsieur's double personality. He put on a mask, changed himself for a moment, so that his nephew would believe that he cared about what Charles had to say on the subject of how their family is hated; however, masks can be taken off and put back on whenever the wearer chooses. When Monsieur's mask is off, and he is his true personality, he does not care about anyone but himself, and when it's on, he can take on any persona he wishes to and feign whatever he likes to his nephew.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Gorgon's Head
"But, when his nephew, leaning an elbow on the table, covered his eyes thoughtfully and dejectedly with his hand, the fine mask looked at him sideways, with a strong concentration of keenness, closeness, and dislike, then was comportable with it's wearer's assumption of indifference" (128).
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4 comments:
I was about to say about how I had no idea how this was connected to doubles, but as I read further into the blog I saw what you meant. I would never have thought of that scene like that. Also, is it possible that Charles Darnay had two personalities? Because he had his person for when in england, and his person for when in france, and then a significant thing is that in this chapter, he decides to destroy the france personality and only become the england personality.
Ooh I like that point! I didn't think of that, but I could definitely see how that makes sense!
What part of his France persona is it that he dislikes? What part of himself does he seem to want to disinherit, and what part does he seem to value?
I would have never thought of an instance of duality within a single character so I think this is a really good idea. The way that Monsieur can kind of "take his mask off and on" is really interesting to me. Your post helped me to read into the character of Monsieur and learn more about it.
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