#mathilde de la mole

[redonschimera]

julien sorel: the moon is beautiful tonight

mathilde de la mole: yeah

julien: you know who else is beautiful?

mathilde: who?

julien: bonaparte

mathilde, sighs: bonaparte...

[dripping-moonlight]

Julien Sorel would have a brat summer.

Mathilde is having the world's most intense chappel summer.

And Madame de Renal is having a Time to Sabrina Carpenter

[purecommemasolitude]

When Mathilde comes out for the obligatory ensemble song about the human condition after the protagonist of a French musical dies and she’s wearing her mourning wear….. and they don’t talk about it but it’s because her husband just got put to death…… aughhhh

[theaftermath-rpg]

CONOCE AL PERSONAJE: 05.

Caroline Brahm

1. Frase que te defina.

«De momento que sigo respirando, estoy bien».

2. 5 cosas sin las que no podrías vivir.

- Café o té del día. - Cuchillos de caza. Tres, mínimo. (Cuentan como uno, eh) - Mis gatos. - Una copia de “Los seres del nuevo mundo”, en su versión extendida y actualizada, de la Dra. Ivy Cox. - Pastillas para el dolor de cabeza.

3. La canción de la que nunca te cansas.

Sonne - Rammstein

4. ¿Qué haces cuando estás ansioso para calmarte?

Una profunda respiración y ya. No tengo el tiempo suficiente como para ir perdiéndolo en esas cosas.

5. ¿Cuál es la lección más valiosa que has aprendido este último año de tu vida?

Que a veces es mejor ir con el doble de capsulas para muestras biológicas de quimeras. No sabes cuando encontrarás un ejemplar interesante.

6. Dale un consejo a tu yo de 18 años.

Deja de pelearte con medio mundo y escucha de vez en cuando. Lo suicida no sorprende a ninguno de tus colegas, ni mucho menos ir de golpes por la vida.

7. Si pudieras extinguir una quimera para siempre, ¿cuál sería? ¿Y por qué el Blop?

¿Blops? Son fascinantes aún en su peligrosidad. Mejor imagina a una mole cefalópoda de más de seis metros de altura que lejos de ser torpe en tierra, bien puede matarte en menos de un suspiro por su rapidez. Ni mencionar que puede causar estragos con su tinta. Sequóligos, definitivamente.

8. Si se te presentara el genio de la lámpara, ¿qué tres deseos le pedirías?

Retroceder al menos unos diez años en el tiempo, darle vida eterna a mis gatos y tener una base de datos con información detallada de todas las quimeras existentes en el globo.

9. ¿Hay alguien a quien admires profundamente? De ser así, ¿quién es y por qué?

Difícil decir solo a uno, que tengo una lista bastante extensa (Veteranos, los estoy mirando a ustedes), pero un nombre destaca entre ellos. Aún cuando ya no está conmigo, mi hermana gemela. Estoy casi segura que de seguir viva, Mathilde hubiera terminado como comandante de la subdivisión Krait.

10. Dinos una cosa sobre ti que la gente asume erróneamente que te define o que tienes.

Que voy por la vida enojada o les deseo lo peor por lo seria que soy. Simplemente tengo un caso importante de Resting bitch face y que me gusta ir directo al punto, sin rodeos.

[liminal-roses]

Uta Chizuru as Mathilde de La Mole in The Red and The Black (2023)

[i-mybrunettelady]

Reverse Unpopular Opinion: French literature

dude this topic is so wide like? where does one start

i will, however, discuss my fav books i'd read for uni!! bc if i start otherwise there won't be any stops and i will get into periodisation which is... very vast as a topic lmao

friendly reminder i have a bookblr over on @eugenederastignac <3

molière: i love molière as a writer so much! his works are very timeless even if he was writing with the idea of his time in his head (as is expected) but the ideas he proposes are so valuable even today. he never makes his female characters marry the men their parents (fathers) chose for them, but always has them end up with the men they actually love. there's always a character of a wise servant, person of the people so to speak, whose wisdom supersedes that of their masters. he wrote plays to mock aristocracy, while his actual public was the very same aristocracy. he died playing the main character of a sick man in his own play, on the stage. idk much about his personal life, but that is irrelevant to my enjoyment of his work by and large. and also, idk what it says about me, but i find his comedies actually hilarious. (barring don juan, which is weirdly unfunny but also highly entertaining in its own way.)

the red and the black, stendhal: one of my fav books of all time. i am lowkey in love with the protagonist, julien sorel. but what draws me in is the way he writes - stendhal's style of writing is somewhere between the sentimentality of romanticism and harshness of realism, and has been dubbed subjective realism; it reminds of my own style, with a lack of description unless it's very meaningful, which allows for rich and powerful personalities to shine through. three main characters - julien and his two lovers, louise de rênal and mathilde de la mole - are all so wonderfully fleshed out. i love how julien's life is less shaped by the men in his life, barring napoleon, and moreso by the women. mathilde is a wonderfully written female character, even by modern standards and especially given the fact that the book was written in 1830. stendhal likes writing violent women and it shows, esp in the character of mathilde! i have seen people thinking julien may be some flavor of asexual too, although it's not a theory i personally subscribe to, and i can see where they're coming from. if that helps sell the book better, here it is.

father goriot, balzac: the book that helped me realize i was bastardsexual when i was 16. has the pretty, ambitious, morally questionable/morally downfallen protagonist, who is the name behind my bookblr! i've read that book twice, and every time i'm so in love with it. has some questionable social takes sometimes, esp on a gay-coded character, but it's centuries old and that's expected. it reads as a miseducation in a lot of ways and a corruption of eugène's morals.

the counterfeiters, gide: questionable writer life choices aside, this book's structure is truly a fascinating one. character work is amazing, and it uses a technique i like to use myself, which is letting other characters form the opinion of the reader about another! there are interesting writer interludes and opinions that never permeate the story, but they're there. there are dorian grey-esque gay themes that are not subtext, they're quite overt for its time, and there is an uncle-nephew gay relationship? other than that, i loved the realism of the characters' personalities, their well formed social positions, the ways they're all related to each other. best part is the diaries of the counterfeiters, notes gide made as he was writing the book, which show that he thinks of his characters as 1) separate from himself and doing what they think, not what he wants them to do, 2) what we would now consider to be an oc! a blorbo oc! his thoughts on art and writing are so interesting too and they DO permeate the story greatly, especially in edouard's diary :) if you can get through the weird structure of the book, it's absolutely amazing

[gringolet]

found your post about polyamory solving love triangles and wondered where the theory julien sorel is asexual comes from? as an ace myself i appreciate that interpretation btw

i cowrote that post w my bestie rey, so i forwarded the question to them and here is their answer!

OK so this is the scene where he first has sex-- we are very explicitly told he *does not enjoy it*, that he is undergoing it only because he feels he has a masculine duty to be sexually active:

It becomes very clear in the subsequent pages that he *does* love mme de rênal-- lack of love is not the issue. He becomes far more comfortable with sex as he falls truly in love with her, but sex is a followup to romantic love

God I forgot he's so freaked out by Mathilde propositioning him that he monologues for an entire chapter worrying about all the ways it could be an evil scheme to ruin him

Compare to his first time having sex with mathilde-- he's still halfway convinced this is an evil plot, and while Mathilde is essentially forcing herself into this encounter through a sense of duty to what she believes Julien wants + a deeply rebellious streak, Julien spends the entire time... analyzing the situation? Remarking on how weird it is?

And then the next day he only starts to feel happy as though he's received a promotion. This is a status box to be checked for him, it is a symbol, it is NOT a past time for fun, at least not at this point with mathilde

Anyway that's the evidence I have off the top of my head that Julien forces himself into sexual encounters in order to pursue a sense of masculinity and status rather than the joy of having sex. He DOES eventually enjoy having sex with mme de rênal at least, but that comfort only comes after he has truly fallen in love with her

Anyway. There's something very acespec about him and I love him. Also he totally had a crush on monsieur de la mole's nephew and the chevalier

—rey my bestie rey

[earnshawww]

mathilde de la mole is a freakish goth girl wannabe with a superiority complex and i love her for it 💖

[7r0773r]

The Red and the Black by Stendhal, translated by Charles Tergie

Too proud to speak of her disappointments even to her friend Madame Derville, she imagined all men were like her husband, or M. Valenod, or the sub-prefect Charcot de Maugiron. The coarseness and brutal insensibility to everything that did not concern money or station or the Cross, the blind hatred for every manifestation of reason that opposed their wishes, seemed natural to the sex, like the wearing of boots. (p. 45)

***

M. de Rênal was then walking very close to them, and his presence increased Julien's anger. Then for the first time he felt that Madame de Rênal was leaning on him. The sensation caused him horror. He repulsed her violently, disengaging his arm.

Fortunately M. de Rênal did not notice this new piece of impertinence; it was noticed only by Madame Derville. Her friend burst into tears. At that moment M. de Rênal was throwing stones at a little peasant girl who was walking over a corner of the orchard. (p. 61)

***

With that singular creature the weather was almost continually a storm. (p. 68)

***

"That's how women are," remarked M. de Rênal; "there's always something wrong with those complicated machines." And he walked away, jeering. (p. 74)

***

The great evil in little French towns, as well as in other communities ruled by popular vote, as in New York, is that people cannot forget that there exist such men in the world as M. de Rênal. In a town of twenty thousand inhabitants, such men as he form public opinion, and public opinion is a terrible thing in countries that have a constitution. Your friend, a noble, generous spirit, living a hundred leagues away, judges you by the public opinion of your town, formed by the fools or knaves whom chance has given the means of floating on the surface. Woe to him that is in any way distinguished! (p. 140)

***

"You look cross," said the Marquise de la Mole to Mathilde; "yet let me tell you, that is not proper at a ball." (p. 263)

***

When anyone offended Mademoiselle de la Mole, she could revenge herself with a remark so well turned and apparently so innocent that the wound it inflicted would be aggravated the more one thought of it. When the matter concerned her pride, she could be positively cruel. Indifferent to the aims of her family, she always seemed cold in their eyes.

After all, aristocratic drawing-rooms are nice only to speak of when one leaves; but that is all. After the first few days the chill politeness becomes an obsession; that Julien found out after his first disillusion.

"Politeness," he said to himself, "then, is only the mask of a bad temper in the vulgar." (p. 278)

***

AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER tells of the intimacy with which he had lived with a tiger. He had raised it and was always caressing it, but he always kept a loaded revolver on his table. (p. 379)

***

It was midnight when the judge of the assizes summed up the case. He was obliged to stop; the sound of the clock sounded ominously in the midst of the silence and anxiety.

"There is the beginning of my last day," thought Julien. He was soon seized by his idea of duty. Up to this point, he had mastered his emotion and kept to his resolution not to speak; but when the judge of the assizes asked him if he had anything to say, he arose. He saw before him Madame Derville's eyes, shining brilliantly in the light. "Is she crying on my account?" he asked himself.

"Gentlemen of the jury," he said, "I can brave contempt now, and I will speak. Gentlemen, I have not the honor of belonging to your class; you see in me only a peasant who rebelled against the lowliness of his station.

"I ask no favor of you," continued Julien, firmly; "I am not deceiving myself. Death is awaiting me, and that will be just. I have made an attempt on the life of a woman who was worthy of the highest respect and consideration. Madame de Rênal was like a mother to me. My crime is atrocious, for it was premeditated; I therefore deserve death, gentlemen of the jury. But if I should appear less culpable, I see men here who, without stopping to think of any allowance to be made for youth, would like to punish and discourage forever, through me, a class of young men who, born in a lowly station in life and borne down by poverty have the good fortune of becoming well educated, and have dared to mix up with what the pride of the rich calls 'society.'

"That is my crime, gentlemen, and I shall be punished with a greater severity, since I am not judged by my peers. I do not see on the juror's bench any rich peasant, but only bourgeois who are feeling they have been outraged." (pp. 424-25)

***

"I have loved the truth—where is it? There is everywhere hypocrisy, or, at least, charlatanism, even among the most virtuous and the greatest." [Julien's] lips expressed disgust. "No, man cannot be proud of man!" (p. 439)

***

". . . . Oh, nineteenth century! A huntsman discharges his fowling piece in the forest, his prey falls, and he rushes forward to get it. His boots destroy an ant hill and crush the ants, and not only the ants but also the eggs. The most philosophical among the ants would only know of a black body, immense, frightful— the huge boot that crushed their dwelling amid much noise and the flash of red flame.

"And so death, life, eternity, is a mystery. It is simple only when one can comprehend it. The ephemeral insect is born at nine o'clock in the morning of a summer's day, to die at five o'clock in the afternoon. Does it know what night is? Give it five hours more of existence and it will know all that is meant by 'night.' And so I—I shall die at twenty-three! Give me five years yet to live with Madame de Rênal." Then Mephistopheles-like, he began to laugh. (p. 440)

[pazodetrasalba]

Girlboss, and The Many Worlds of Fiction

Dear Caroline:

I imagine the reason for considering uncool the representation of girlbosses in fiction would stem from the fact that such is the current default position, with orthodox 'strong woman' narratives galore that Social Justice Warriorhood likes to promote in movies, books and series. And yet however boringly normative, I find it would make perfect sense for you. One of the pleasures of literature stems from seeing alter egos of oneself and one's choices, as well as how they react/interact/affect the different fictional worlds in which they are immersed. In a way, it works like a playful take on the 'many worlds interpration' of QM, where you are actually seeing one of those infinite paths in which a version of you deals with the same and with different issues.

Identification also works, albeit a bit less effectively, with characters that have nothing to do with oneself, usually when they are the focus of the narrative. This brings to mind an ethical case made for literature which I read some time ago, and the gist of which goes something like this: because literature puts us inside other people's minds, feelings and complexities, it can allow us to cultivate our empathy, understanding and openness to persons and situations very different from us and our concerns, and can even help us overcome prejudices and stereotypes which are all too much a staple fare of our mindsets and the simple, pleasing and false narratives they engender.

Conversely, though, there is also the danger that reading's Theater of the Mind might make you latch to very wrong and inadequate characters and to make the wrong extrapolations from fiction to the real world. In my case, when I was an Angry Young Man, I got into an unhealthy habit of reveling in frustrated, clever, rancorous and vengeful figures like Shakespeare's Richard III, Saladin Chamcha in The Satanic Verses, Javert in Les Misérables or Satan in Paradise Lost.

As for yourself, you are one of a piece, Caroline, and I can't quite picture a literary correlate to your fascinating character and personality (in this, as in so many things, reality does surpass fiction). At most, I think I see some aspects of you in Stendhal's Mathilde de La Mole. Exactly which ones is something I leave for your intellectual curiosity to find out.

Quote:

“There are people who think that things that happen in fiction do not really happen. These people are wrong.”

Neil Gaiman

[igraine-aux-blanches-tresses]

Honnêtement les gens ils faut regarder Le Rouge et le Noir l’opéra rock ! Julien Sorel est un idiot odieux mais il est magnifique et il sait bien chanter! Mathilde de la Molle est un mood constant et elle se fout de la gueule de la société ! Je l’aime !!!!

[stendhal-le-rouge-et-le-noir]

Julien Sorel (Côme), with Elisa (Cynthia Tolleron) and Mathilde (Julie Fournier) - Le Rouge et Le Noir l’Opéra Rock

[dripping-moonlight]

rip mathilde you would've loved miss misa amane

[swanlake1998]

myriam ould-braham photographed performing as mathilde de la mole in pierre lacotte's le rouge et le noir by fracinema

[andessence]

not me clowning over mr julien sorel le-rouge-et-le-noir and his sensitive and angry bitch behavior.... not me losing it over ms. mathilde de la mole le-rouge-et-le-noir and her rich girl goth stylings

[frostcluster]

Recently I watched 2 takarazuka shows starring Aran Kei, Scarlet Pimpernel and the Red and the Black, which happen to be 2 shows that should have a head of the main character but didn’t: Percy’s wax head(fake), made by Marie Grosholtz, is omitted in takarazuka version as he uses other tricks; Julien Sorel’s head(real), is not retrieved by Mathilde in takarazuka version as the show just ends with his death.

I like the changes; But when I realized that Marie Grosholtz and Mathilde de la Mole are both played by Yumesaki Nene, I couldn’t help drawing 2 Yumesaki Nene holding Aran Kei’s head….