Now you can read Katherine Neville's comments on
Mireille and Marat and my response to her
comments
NOTE from 2018: This was written about 20 years ago, and I have completely changed my mind since then.
(NOTE: page numbers refer to the hardcover edition)
The confrontation between Mireille and Marat is one of the most
exciting and suspenseful parts of The Eight. It comes as a big
surprise that Mireille, and not Charlotte Corday, kills Marat. Even when
you read the book for the second time, knowing what is going to happen,
the scene is very suspenseful. In this article, I will discuss the clues
that tell you Mireille is going to kill Marat; then I will discuss the
confrontation itself, along with the question of whether or not Mireille
really wanted to kill Marat.
As I said in my article on Nim and Solarin, Katherine Neville does a
wonderful job with giving you clues that you don't realize are clues until
after you know what happens. There aren't as many clues to this surprise
as there are to the surprise that Nim and Solarin are brothers, but they
are definitely there.
In fact, the first clue comes in the very first chapter of the book.
When Corday and her friend, Sister Alexandrine, come to Montglane,
Katherine Neville describes Corday: "the other [Corday, not Alexandrine]
bore a strong resemblance to Mireille..." (p. 8). When I first read the
book, I did not think much about this, since I didn't know what was going
to happen. I didn't even know that Corday would come back later in the
book. By the time I got to the Mireille/Marat chapter, I had completely
forgotten about this. But when I read The Eight for the second
time, knowing that Mireille and Corday looked alike, I noticed it right
away.
After Valentine's death, Mireille talks about getting revenge on Marat
(see p. 196, for example), but we don't really know yet what that's all
about.
A very important clue comes when Mireille is in the desert. When
Shahin tells her to put her mark on the falcon, she does not want to: "I
cannot, "she said, pulling the ring away..."You must," Shahin said firmly.
"Where will you get the strength to kill a man--if you haven't
force enough to place your mark upon a bird?" "Kill a man?" she said.
"Never!"..."Do not tell me you will not kill this man," Shahin said
softly..."I can smell the revenge in you..." (p. 297).
Since I knew that Corday killed Marat, I did not really know what to
think of this when I read the book for the first time. I thought of two
possibilities:
I never even thought of the possibility that Mireille would kill Marat.
Now that I know what happens, though, the conversation with Shahin makes
perfect sense. (This brings up an interesting question: had any of you
not heard of Corday or Marat before reading The Eight? If you
didn't know what really happened between Corday and Marat, does this make
it easier to guess that Mireille kills Marat?)
I did not notice any other clues before the Mireille/Marat chapter. If
there are any others that I missed, please let me know.
When I first read The Eight, I began this chapter thinking, of
course, that it was Corday who killed Marat, in spite of the conversation
between Mireille and Shahin, which, as I said, I did not completely
understand at the time. At the beginning of the chapter, Mireille comes
back to David's house after being in the desert, and she starts asking him
about Marat: "And Marat--where is he? For if that man learned of this
[that Mireille is back in France], even our prayers would not help." (p.
347). A little later, she says, "Once united, it [the Montglane Service]
will devour even Marat. I've returned to Paris to unleash this force.
And I expect you to help me." (p. 347). This makes it sound as if
Mireille, herself, did not want to kill Marat; she wanted the secret of
the Montglane Service to destroy him. (But more of this later...)
Because I thought that Corday killed Marat, I did not know what to think
of this conversation between Mireille and David.
After this conversation, Katherine Neville switches to Corday with
these words, "Another nun who could not wait was even then hastening
toward Paris." (p. 348). Corday goes to the Deputy Lauze Duperret, asking
about what happened to Mireille after the prison massacres; Duperret tells
her "to interrogate the man who was responsible for the Terror. But I
wouldn't recommend it. His name is Marat." (p. 349). I thought I knew
what this was all about; it was going to set up the scene where Corday
kills Marat. Of course I was completely wrong; this just tells you what a
good job Katherine Neville does with making you think one thing is going
to happen, when it turns out to be something completely different.
In the next section, Mireille buys the knife. Later on, I will talk
about why she buys the knife, but now I'd like to discuss what I thought
this was all about when I read the book for the first time. When my
father read The Eight, I asked him when he first guessed that
Mireille killed Marat, and he said, "When she buys the knife." Was this
when I guessed it, too? Actually, I don't think so. At the time I read
this part, I did not know that Mireille and Corday looked alike; I had
forgotten what Katherine Neville said about Corday in the first chapter,
and it isn't until a little later that Katherine Neville tells you, again,
that they looked alike. I'm sure that, if I had remembered that Mireille
and Corday looked alike, I would have guessed it by now. Interestingly,
my father hadn't remembered what Katherine Neville had said in the first
chapter, either. So, what did I think when I read about Mireille buying
the knife? I guess I thought that she would give it to Corday or that,
somehow, Corday would get it from her.
It is in the very next section that Corday comes to David's house to
talk to Mireille. This is where we find out that Corday looks like
Mireille, if we hadn't remembered it from the first chapter: "Though time
had changed them both, they were still alike in appearance..." (p. 350).
As soon as I read that they looked alike, I guessed what would happen (not
every detail, of course, but by now I think I knew that Mireille would
kill Marat). What Mireille says at the end of this section made me
certain: "I don't plan to give my name... I'll give them yours." (p.
351).
Although I knew, basically, what was going to happen, I was still in
suspense throughout the whole scene between Mireille and Marat. Again,
this shows you what a good job Katherine Neville does, and, believe me, it
works when you read The Eight for the second time, too. The first
time I read it, I knew Mireille would kill Marat. But when? And why,
exactly? How much would she find out from him? Would she get the pieces
Marat had? There were still many unanswered questions. Also, Mireille's
life was in danger the whole time she was with Marat. Marat could have
killed her, and so could his "wife" Simonne. (Later on, I will discuss
Marat's threats in more detail.) The threat to Mireille is what made it
so suspenseful, even when I read The Eight again.
Mireille kills Marat just before Simonne breaks down the door, probably
meaning to kill Mireille. After Mireille kills Marat, she is taken away
to prison, with the crowd calling her a murderer (p. 356-357). As soon as
Mireille is taken to prison, Katherine Neville switches back to David and
his conversation with Robespierre. This is where we find out Robespierre
knows that Mireille killed Marat (p. 358). Then, Robespierre tells David
a long story about Rousseau and the ancient ritual in Venice. The amazing
thing is that we're interested in the story, even though we're wondering
what will happen to Mireille; the whole purpose of having the story in
this place is to keep up our suspense about Mireille, but the story is
interesting in itself.
After the story, we finally get back to Mireille, in the prison cell,
two hours away from the guillotine. I knew that Mireille would not go to
the guillotine; it was too early in the book for that. (Now, what if it
had been later in the book? It would be even more suspenseful, because
then we wouldn't even be certain that Mireille would escape the
guillotine!) I guessed that, somehow, Corday would trade places with
Mireille, but I didn't know exactly how it would happen.
The scene between Mireille and Corday in the prison is also very
suspenseful; at first, Mireille does not want Corday to trade places with
her: "How could she accept so great an offer?... "No!" she cried. "There
cannot be another sacrifice on behalf of those dreaded pieces." (p. 369).
(By the way, this is one of my serious disagreements with the review in
the New York Times; the reviewer makes it sound as if Mireille was
glad to let Corday go to the guillotine.) Also in this scene, we find out
something we did not know before, although we probably suspected it: that
Mireille is the Black Queen. Before Mireille and Corday trade places,
Corday says, "We must defeat them... You're the only one who can do it.
Don't you see, even now? Mireille--you are the Black Queen!" (p. 369).
It is only after she finds out that she is the Black Queen that Mireille
agrees to let Corday trade places with her.
After they trade places and Mireille leaves the prison, we have the
scene where David and Robespierre come into the prison cell; David thinks,
at first, that it is Mireille in the prison, but Robespierre knows it is
Corday, and realizes what has happened. Since Robespierre knows that
Mireille escaped, we know that Mireille is still in danger from him.
(Actually, the first time I read this, I thought there might be more about
the danger to Mireille from Robespierre. I wonder if this was something
that was in the 1200-page manuscript, but was left out of the final
version of The Eight.)
Then, in the very last section of this chapter, there is a surprise.
Katherine Neville switches to Talleyrand in London, a few weeks after
Mireille kills Marat; Talleyrand meets a woman who reminds him of
Valentine. This woman turns out to be Catherine Grand, the White Queen.
Almost as soon as Marat is dead, we meet Mireille's new enemy.
When Mireille killed Marat, was it murder or self-defense? The New
York Times reviewer makes her opinion very clear; she says that
Mireille "murders" Marat. This is, however, one of my serious
disagreements with her; I think it was self-defense, not murder. But
before I talk about why I think so, I wanted to say something about
Mireille's attitude toward killing.
In the first chapter of The Eight, when we meet Mireille and
Valentine for the first time, Valentine says that she would rather marry a
soldier than become a nun. Mireille tells her, "Soldiers are not always
so very charming as you seem to think... After all, their business is
killing people, not taking them to the opera." (p. 6). So, as you can
see, at the beginning of the book Mireille does not approve of
killing.
Even after Valentine's death, Mireille's attitude does not change. I
have already mentioned the scene with Shahin, where Mireille says she
would never kill anyone (p. 297). Mireille certainly wants revenge for
Valentine's death. But does that mean she wants to kill Marat? I do not
think so; I think she wants to bring him to justice, and keep him from
finding the secret of the Montglane Service. She killed him because the
scene between them turned into a situation where she really had no
choice.
Mireille's life was in danger from Marat ever since the scene in the
prison, where Valentine was killed; Mireille knew very well what danger
she was in. Just before he orders Valentine's execution, after he tricks
Mireille into telling him where the pieces are because he says he would
spare Valentine's life if Mireille told him, Marat says to Mireille: "I
shall hunt you down--you will pay!" (p. 173).
Later, when Mireille is in Corsica, she tells Napoleon's mother: "I've
seen the hideous and evil nature of one who seeks them [the
pieces]--who hunts me even now, and would kill me for what I
know." (p. 265). So, Mireille knew all along that Marat wanted to kill
her.
In the Mireille/Marat chapter itself, there are several things Mireille
says to suggest that she does not really want to kill Marat. I've already
mentioned one of them: when she comes back to David's house, she tells
David that the Montglane Service will "devour" Marat (p. 347). It seems
to me that Mireille's intention is to collect all the pieces and figure
out the formula; she's depending on whatever is in the formula (and she
doesn't know what that is) to destroy Marat. She's also trying to make
sure that Marat never figures out the formula. I don't think that
Mireille, herself, wants to kill Marat.
So, if Mireille doesn't want to kill Marat, why does she buy the knife?
That is not entirely clear, but I think it was only to defend herself.
She knew how dangerous it would be to go to Marat's house, but she also
knew she had to go there to get the pieces that he had. (And I think that
was her intention in going to Marat's house in the first place: to get the
pieces from him.) She also knew that Marat wanted to kill her; it would
be very difficult for her to get the pieces without a struggle. So, she
needs something with which to defend herself. I think Mireille hopes that
she won't have to use the knife, but it's always in the back of her mind
that she might be forced to. In fact, something very interesting happens
in the scene where Mireille buys the knife; just before she gets to the
cutlery shop, Mireille sees "a cluster of butchers still smeared with the
marks of their trade... Her glazed eyes focused on the blood on their
bare arms, their white aprons. Closing her eyes, she pushed on through
the narrow labyrinth." (p. 350). Clearly, Mireille is uncomfortable at
the sight of blood; I think these lines also show her real attitude toward
killing. When she sees the blood on the butchers' aprons, she is probably
thinking of what might happen with Marat, but she still hopes that it
won't.
In the next section, when she's talking to Corday, Mireille says that
she's going to "confront the man who murdered my cousin... Five
more nuns have disappeared in this last year. I think he knows what has
become of them, and of the pieces in their charge." (p. 351; emphasis
mine). To confront Marat--not to kill him; Mireille's intention
seems clear. But then she says: "And I have a score to settle." (p. 351).
What does she mean by this? I'm sure many people would think that this
means Mireille wants to kill Marat. But I do not think this is the only
meaning you can give to this sentence. "A score to settle" could mean
only that Mireille wants to bring Marat to justice, not necessarily by
killing him. It could simply mean that Mireille wants to prevent Marat
from winning the Game.
The threat to Mireille's life is clear from the very beginning of the
scene between Mireille and Marat. One of the first things he says to her
is: "You'll never leave this place alive" (p. 353). This makes it
perfectly clear that Marat means to kill her. He also knows what
Mireille's intention is in coming to his house: "If you want to kill me,
you haven't much time. But I think you want information more..."
(p. 354; emphasis mine). Marat sees Mireille with the knife and knows
that she might kill him, but he also knows that she came to get the pieces
and to find out about the nuns who died.
Besides the threat to Mireille's life, there is another threat to her
from Marat: to turn her over to the evil side. He says, "Between the two
of us... we could control half the board." (p. 354) and, later: "Your only
hope is to join forces with us and unite the pieces." (p. 355). Would
Marat have killed Mireille, even if she had gone over to his side (not
that she ever thought of such a thing)? He probably would have. After
all, he killed Valentine when he had promised not to; there is no reason
why he wouldn't have done the same to Mireille.
There is a lot that Mireille wants to find out from Marat, that he
doesn't tell her. When she tells him that Talleyrand had taken her pieces
to England, Marat says, "My God, this is more than I'd hoped for!... He's
in England!... My God--she can get them!" (p. 355). Mireille does not
know what he means by this. Who is "she"? Why are the pieces in danger
in England? And where are Marat's pieces? She never gets to find out--at
least, not from Marat. When his "wife" Simonne comes pounding on the
door, probably meaning to kill Mireille, Mireille is forced to kill Marat
before he can tell her all she needs to know.
Marat actually dares Mireille to kill him. One of the last things he
says to her is: "You little coward!" (p. 355). Now, why does Marat say
this? I'm sure he does not really think she's a coward. I think he is
testing her, because he's not sure she can really kill him. Marat
actually wants Mireille to kill him: "He wanted her to kill him, she
realized in terror." (p. 356). Why does Marat want Mireille to kill him?
I thought of three possibilities:
#1 doesn't seem very likely to me. Neither does #2, since it would
mean that Marat knew Mireille would escape the guillotine. I think #3 is
the most likely; Marat thought that Mireille would go to the guillotine
after she killed him. If Marat had to die, he wanted to be sure Mireille
died, too, so she could never have the pieces. Marat's threat--the way he
dares her to kill him--just when Simonne bursts into the room, is what
forces Mireille to kill him. If she hadn't killed him at that moment,
Simonne (or even Marat himself) would have killed her. To me, this sounds
like self-defense, not murder.
Although Mireille kills Marat in self-defense, Robespierre makes people
think it was murder. I'm not certain why he does this, but one reason
might be to turn Mireille's friends against her. If they thought Mireille
was a murderer, they might go over to Robespierre's side or, at least,
stop supporting Mireille.
Unfortunately, Robespierre, Mireille's enemy, is the first person
besides Mireille and Corday to know that it was Mireille, and not Corday,
who killed Marat. How does he find out? I'm not sure, since he had never
actually seen Mireille or Corday before the trial. Of course, he had
David's portrait of Mireille, but if Mireille and Corday really looked so
much alike, how would he know that the woman at the trial was not Corday?
My only guess is that he saw the 8 on Mireille's hand at the trial; Corday
would not have had an 8 on her hand.
Robespierre uses what he knows to make Mireille sound worse than she
is. The first person he tells is David; he probably chose David on
purpose, since he knew David was weak and would tell other people what he
knew. On the day after Mireille kills Marat, Robespierre tells David:
"it's your ward Mireille who assassinated Marat!" (p. 358;
emphasis mine) and, a little later, "She murdered Marat in cold blood for"
the pieces (p. 358). He wants to make David think that Mireille is a
murderer. Unfortunately, David never has a chance to hear the truth from
Mireille, since she had left the prison before he got to her prison cell.
He always believes that it was murder.
A few years later, David tells Napoleon and Talleyrand his version of
the story. This is exactly what Robespierre had hoped for (although
Robespierre is dead by this time). We can be sure that David told them it
was murder, because Talleyrand says, "where she conducted this
crime you tell me of." (p. 474; emphasis mine). Fortunately,
Talleyrand loves Mireille so much that it doesn't matter to him. It
doesn't seem to bother Napoleon, either; when Mireille's son meets him in
Egypt, Napoleon says, "I am General Bonaparte, young man--a close friend
of your mother. But why has she not come with you?" (p. 512). If
Napoleon had turned against Mireille, he would not have called himself her
friend, or wished to see her.
So, as it turns out, Robespierre's plan does not work at all. As far
as we know, David never told anyone besides Napoleon and Talleyrand, and
the two people he did tell did not turn against Mireille. Napoleon
continued to support her, and Talleyrand continued to love her, even
though they thought she had murdered Marat.
I think Mireille felt guilty about killing Marat, even though she
really had no choice. After all, it went against everything she believed.
She certainly thinks about Marat several times after she kills him,
sometimes when we don't expect her to be thinking about Marat.
The first time she thinks about Marat is in the prison cell, before
Corday comes to rescue her: "Mireille's first night here had been Bastille
Day--July 14--the night after she'd killed Marat." (p. 367). This is only
to be expected; it has only been a few days since she killed Marat. She
still has the wound on her head that someone had given her when she was
captured, and, of course, she thinks that she will go to the guillotine
for killing Marat.
It seems that she thought of Marat again, shortly after she got out of
the prison, since she wrote about the whole episode in her diary. All we
see is: "I left the prison with great trepidation..." (p. 420), and then
she talks about going back to the desert. But before she wrote about
leaving the prison, she must have written about what got her there;
otherwise it would make no sense. We don't know exactly when she wrote
this in her diary; it was probably after she went back to the desert.
(And it really is too bad that we don't know what happened to Mireille in
the desert, before she left for England; she must have thought about Marat
when she was in the desert.)
The next time Mireille thinks about Marat is when she's in England, and
she can't find Talleyrand: "As the rain beat upon her bare head, she heard
the hideous voice of Marat..." (p. 432). This is one of those times when
we don't expect her to be thinking about Marat. It's been six months
since she killed him, and she's so upset about not finding Talleyrand that
we wouldn't expect her to think about anything else besides Talleyrand.
The fact that she thinks about Marat tells you that she's still upset
about it.
After Mireille can't find Talleyrand, she cries in the gazebo (p.
432-433). It seems to me that she is thinking of several things here.
Not finding Talleyrand is what sets it off, but there must be many other
things she is crying about. I'm sure that killing Marat is one of
them.
We don't see Mireille for over four years after she goes to England.
The next time she thinks of Marat is in 1799 (six years after she killed
him), when Talleyrand says, "David told me about Marat." (p. 509). Her
reaction is interesting: "Mireille shook her head as if to rid herself of
the thought." (p. 509). Obviously, Mireille is still upset about it after
six years. She also doesn't like it that Talleyrand knows. Why does that
upset her? She knows that Talleyrand still loves her. I think the only
explanation is that she feels guilty.
Shortly afterwards, Mireille says something very interesting. She
tells Talleyrand that she wants to end the Game because of all the deaths
it has caused: "I saw them all die--Valentine, the abbess, Marat.
Charlotte Corday gave her life for me!" (p. 510). Why does she mention
Marat here? Mireille loved Valentine and the abbess, in a way, and she
liked Corday, but she killed Marat! Possibly, what she's saying is that
the Game forced her to do something that was against her nature. Also,
Marat might have been responsible for his own death, in a way; if he
hadn't been such a monster, Mireille would not have killed him. Was it
the Game that made him a monster? I don't know; he might very well have
been a monster without the Game, but the Game probably made him even
worse.
The last time Mireille thinks about Marat is in the same scene with
Talleyrand, when Talleyrand asks her, "Hasn't enough blood been spilled?"
"I no longer wish for revenge," Mireille said, seeing before her eyes the
horrid face of Marat..." (p. 510). Again, why does she think about Marat?
I'm sure that the "blood" Talleyrand mentions refers to Valentine and
Corday, and possibly the other nuns who died. It's interesting that, of
all the people who have died because of the Game, Mireille thinks of
Marat, the one she killed. This shows that she still feels guilty, but we
can also see that she has matured since she killed Marat. She does not
wish for revenge now; at the time she killed Marat, she wanted revenge for
Valentine. But did she mean to kill Marat, or did she want to get revenge
in some other way? It is possible that she meant to kill him, but I think
that she wanted to get revenge by collecting all the pieces. She killed
Marat only when circumstances forced her to do so.
Copyright 1997 Vicki Kondelik.