Mireille and Catherine are similar in many ways; they are both very
intelligent and courageous. They are adventurous and not afraid to take
risks. Also, they are somewhat reluctant at first. Catherine is
especially reluctant; at the beginning she does not want to have anything
to do with the chess set; Mireille is a little reluctant, too, though; you
can see this especially in the scene where Corday comes to rescue her from
the guillotine and tells her that she, Mireille, is the Black Queen. At
first Mireille seems reluctant to accept such an important role. But I
think it is even more interesting to look at the differences, instead of
the similarities, between Mireille and Catherine. The differences might
not be as obvious to the reader as the similarities, but they are
definitely there.
In my opinion, the main difference between Mireille and Catherine is
that Mireille is more emotional. She cries eight times (I counted);
Catherine never cries. Of course, Mireille's experiences are more
emotional than Catherine's; she sees her cousin murdered, she kills Marat,
she spends years trying to find the Abbess and finds her only when the
Abbess is about to die; I can think of many other examples. But even
though their experiences are different, I still think Mireille is the more
emotional of the two heroines. Also, Catherine is more analytical and
scientifically-minded than Mireille; this probably comes from her
background as a computer expert. Mireille, however, becomes more
scientifically-minded as the book goes on; we can see this especially in
the last chapter, when she's figuring out the formula. (In another
article, I will discuss the changes in Mireille's character, and how she
becomes more like Catherine later in the book.)
Mireille is quieter than Catherine. Interestingly, in this way she
might be closer to Katherine Neville's personality than Catherine is. In
the Publishers Weekly interview, when asked whether Catherine was
an autobiographical character, Katherine Neville said that Catherine
represents the more aggressive side of her personality, and that she is
really much quieter than Catherine is. Catherine may be tougher than
Mireille, but I am not sure of this; Catherine certainly uses more bad
language than Mireille, but that is probably because of the difference in
the times in which they live.
Mireille becomes more obsessed with the formula than Catherine does;
this is probably why she makes, and drinks, the elixir, while Catherine
does not. But, of course, Mireille has spent more of her life in the
search for the chess set. She is fifteen years old when the book begins
in 1790, and it is not until nine years later, in 1799, that she starts
solving the formula and making the elixir. The formula is not complete
until more than thirty years later, in 1830. That means she has spent
forty years in the search for the formula, and then she lives in danger
until 1973, when she leaves the Game. Catherine spends less than a year
in the search; her story begins in December 1972 and ends in September
1973.
Also, Mireille's life is more tragic than Catherine's. Catherine does
not lose anyone who is close to her, but Mireille loses the two people who
were closest to her before the story begins: Valentine and the Abbess.
She sees them both die tragically, because of the chess set. If you think
about it, by living to be 200 years old, Mireille outlives everyone who
was ever close to her: Talleyrand, Shahin, and her children. No wonder
she decided to live as a recluse after she drank the elixir, and that she
wanted to leave the Game! Catherine decides not to make the elixir; that
decision means that Catherine's life will not be as long as Mireille's,
but it will be less tragic. Of course, Catherine also had the advantage
of knowing what the elixir did; when Mireille drank the elixir, she had no
idea what it would do.
Copyright 1997 Vicki Kondelik.