La Morte Amoureuse

"La Morte Amoureuse"
Author	Théophile Gautier
Country	France
Language	French
Genre(s)	Fantasy short story
Published in	La Chronique de Paris
Publication date	1836

"La Morte Amoureuse" is a short story by written by Théophile Gautier and was published in La Chronique de Paris in 1836. It tells the story of a priest named Romuald who falls in love with Clarimonde, a beautiful woman who turns out to be a vampire.

Plot summary

The story opens with the elderly Romuald recounting a strange adventure during his youth. The day of his ordination many years ago, he saw a beautiful young woman in the church. He heard her voice promising to love him and to make him happier than he would be in Paradise, if he would just leave the church. However, he was in the middle of his vows, and before he knew it, he had finished the ceremony. As he left the church, a cold hand grasped his arm and he heard a woman say "what have you done!" When he turned around, she had disappeared. On his way back to the seminary, he was greeted by a page who gives him a card reading, "Clarimonde, Palace Concini."

He continued his studies, but he was plagued by the memory of Clarimonde and regretted taking his vows. Finally, he was notified of his new parish in the country. As he was leaving town with Sérapion, an older priest who mentored him, he looks back on the town, which was covered in shadow with the exception of a golden palace on a hill. He asked Sérapion about the palace, and Sérapion answered that it was the Palace Concini, where Clarimonde the courtesan lived. He told Romuald that it was a place of great debauchery.

Romuald lived quietly in the country, pining over Clarimonde, for an indefinite period of time. One night, a man on horseback arrived asking the priest to come quickly and offer last rites to his mistress. Romuald went to a mysterious castle in the country where he saw Clarimonde dead. In his grief, he kissed her, and his kiss brought her back to life.

He woke up three days later at his home, and his maid told him that he had been brought back by the same horseman with which he left. After that, he had fallen into a fever and remained unconscious. Romuald believed that all that had passed with Clarimonde had been a dream; but a few days later, she appeared to him in his room. She looked dead, but beautiful, and she told him to prepare for a trip.

The second night, she returned, but she looked vibrant and alive. The two of them went to Venice and lived together. During the day, Romuald performed his duties as priest, and at night, he was Seignior Romuald of Venice. One night, he refused to take the sleeping draught that Clarimonde offered him each evening, and he realized that she was drinking his blood while he slept. However, Romuald admitted that he would have gladly given all his blood for her.

Eventually, this life took its toll on Romuald, and Sérapion began to suspect what was happening. Sérapion took Romuald to Clarimonde's tomb and revealed her body, miraculously preserved thanks to Romuald's blood. Sérapion poured holy water on Clarimonde's corpse, and she turned to dust.

Back in the present, Romuald tells his audience that this was the greatest regret of his life and suggests that his listeners never look at a woman, lest they meet the same fate.

Characters

• Romuald, a young priest who falls in love with Clarimonde
• Clarimonde, a courtesan who is revealed to be a vampire
• Sérapion, a priest who discourages Romuald's relationship

Analysis and significance

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Colors and Orientalism

Gautier originally wanted to be a painter, having studied under Louis Rioult. However, Gautier was dismissed in 1829, and he began to write fiction instead. His friend Gérard de Nerval, also a famous writer, introduced him to Eugène Delacroix in 1830.

Delacroix was a leader in the French Romantic school who was instrumental in bringing Orientalism to France, and had a creative influence on Gautier. Gautier gives homage to Delacroix in the opening sentence of his La Morte Amoureuse when he compares Romuald's dream life to a "normal life of Sardanapalus." This is an allusion to Delacroix's painting "La Mort de Sardanapale" (English: "The Death of Sardanapale"), considered to be a masterwork of both Delacroix and his movement.

The references to Orientalism in the story are numerous. Gautier uses colors associated with Orientalism throughout his work: red, green, white, silver, and gold. Each of these colors are the foundation of a symbolism of colors in La Morte Amoureuse. This is particularly notable in the descriptions of Clarimonde, with her green eyes, her red lips (with red drops of blood), her white skin, her silver voice, her green and gold traveling gown, etc.

External links

• "Clarimonde", full-text (English, different title), 1908, translated by Lafcadio Hearn, at Project Gutenberg
• "The Dead Leman", full text (English, different title), in Théophile Gautier's short stories, G.P. Putnam, 1909, translated by George Burnham Ives, via Internet Archive
• (French) "La Morte Amoureuse", full-text
• (French) La Morte Amoureuse, audio version