Excerpts from Les Caprices de Marianne, translated on the fly
Follow-up to this post. Because I flailed a lot about how Coelio and Octave are totally Enjolras and Grantaire, if you take the interpretation that Marianne is an allegory, but I did not provide a whole lot of backup. But tonight I was flailing over IM to mmejavert, dug the play up on Wikisource, and did some on-the-fly translations. They are crappy and awkward, but they get the job done.
Glancing at the previous post is recommended if you aren't familiar with the plot at all.
COELIO
Octave! Oh, fool that you are! You have [un pied de rouge--a foot of red?] on your cheeks! Where does this decoration come from? Aren't you ashamed, in broad daylight?
OCTAVE
Coelio! Oh, fool that you are! You have a foot of white on your cheeks! Where does this black coat come from? Aren't you ashamed, in broad Carnival?
COELIO
What a life you lead! Either you're drunk, or I am myself.
OCTAVE
Either you're in love, or I am myself.
COELIO
More than ever, with the beautiful Marianne.
OCTAVE
More than ever, with this Chypre wine.
. . .
OCTAVE
[talking about why Marianne randomly fell for him out of all the hot guys she could've gone for, most notably Coelio] So where the hell is the reason for all that? Why does my pipe-smoke go to the right and not to the left? There's the reason for everything. Mad! Three times mad, the man who calculates his luck, who puts reason on his side! Celestial Justice holds a balance in her hands. The balance is perfectly fair, but all the weights are loaded. In one there's a gold coin, in the other a lover's sigh, in one there's a migraine, in the other there's the weather, and all human actions go from high to low according to her capricious weights.
. . .
OCTAVE
For me alone, [Coelio's] silent life was not a mystery. The long nights we spent together, like fresh oases in an endless desert--they have shed upon my heart the only drops of dew that have ever fallen on it. Coelio was the better part of myself; that part has ascended to heaven wth him. He was a man from another time; he knew life's pleasures and preferred solitude to them...
. . .
OCTAVE
She would have been happy, the woman who might have loved him.
MARIANNE
And wouldn't the woman who loved you be happy as well, Octave?
OCTAVE
I don't know how to love, Coelio alone knew. The ash that this tomb encloses is all that I've ever loved on earth, all that I ever will love. He alone knew how to pour into another soul all the wellsprings of happiness that were in his own. He alone was capable of a limitless devotion; he alone would have consecrated his entire life to the woman he loved, as easily as he would have braved death for her. I'm only a debauched man without a heart; I don't respect women; the love I inspire is like the love I feel, the passing intoxication of a dream.
...now picture all that with a couple of actors who randomly hug each other, kiss each other on the forehead, and give each other the "I am undressing you with my eyes" stare. (And a really hot, feisty Marianne who probably wouldn't have been happy to be interpreted as an allegory.) AND Coelio being draped in Marianne's scarf for the entire last scene, looking like he's covered in a flag. ALL THAT is what caused my "must not fangirl, must not fangirl, must not--holy crap this is really gay" reaction.
Glancing at the previous post is recommended if you aren't familiar with the plot at all.
COELIO
Octave! Oh, fool that you are! You have [un pied de rouge--a foot of red?] on your cheeks! Where does this decoration come from? Aren't you ashamed, in broad daylight?
OCTAVE
Coelio! Oh, fool that you are! You have a foot of white on your cheeks! Where does this black coat come from? Aren't you ashamed, in broad Carnival?
COELIO
What a life you lead! Either you're drunk, or I am myself.
OCTAVE
Either you're in love, or I am myself.
COELIO
More than ever, with the beautiful Marianne.
OCTAVE
More than ever, with this Chypre wine.
. . .
OCTAVE
[talking about why Marianne randomly fell for him out of all the hot guys she could've gone for, most notably Coelio] So where the hell is the reason for all that? Why does my pipe-smoke go to the right and not to the left? There's the reason for everything. Mad! Three times mad, the man who calculates his luck, who puts reason on his side! Celestial Justice holds a balance in her hands. The balance is perfectly fair, but all the weights are loaded. In one there's a gold coin, in the other a lover's sigh, in one there's a migraine, in the other there's the weather, and all human actions go from high to low according to her capricious weights.
. . .
OCTAVE
For me alone, [Coelio's] silent life was not a mystery. The long nights we spent together, like fresh oases in an endless desert--they have shed upon my heart the only drops of dew that have ever fallen on it. Coelio was the better part of myself; that part has ascended to heaven wth him. He was a man from another time; he knew life's pleasures and preferred solitude to them...
. . .
OCTAVE
She would have been happy, the woman who might have loved him.
MARIANNE
And wouldn't the woman who loved you be happy as well, Octave?
OCTAVE
I don't know how to love, Coelio alone knew. The ash that this tomb encloses is all that I've ever loved on earth, all that I ever will love. He alone knew how to pour into another soul all the wellsprings of happiness that were in his own. He alone was capable of a limitless devotion; he alone would have consecrated his entire life to the woman he loved, as easily as he would have braved death for her. I'm only a debauched man without a heart; I don't respect women; the love I inspire is like the love I feel, the passing intoxication of a dream.
...now picture all that with a couple of actors who randomly hug each other, kiss each other on the forehead, and give each other the "I am undressing you with my eyes" stare. (And a really hot, feisty Marianne who probably wouldn't have been happy to be interpreted as an allegory.) AND Coelio being draped in Marianne's scarf for the entire last scene, looking like he's covered in a flag. ALL THAT is what caused my "must not fangirl, must not fangirl, must not--holy crap this is really gay" reaction.