Line #37 Literature/TheWomanWithTheVelvetNecklace


1	[[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/la_femme_au_collier_de_velours.jpg]]
2
3	''La Femme au collier de velours'' is a 19th century French novel by Creator/AlexandreDumas, ''père.'' A recognized classic of the "Fantastique" genre.
4
5	[[Creator/ETAHoffmann Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann]], commonly just "Hoffmann," is a German art student/musician/poet DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife with his friend Werner. Hoffmann and Werner plan on going to Paris, but most plans are put off by a lack of funds. However, just when they're ready to go, Hoffmann falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Antonia, a pure and sweet musician's daughter, and stays behind in Germany to prepare for their wedding while Werner trots off to Paris. It isn't long, though, before Hoffmann itches to join Werner. Antonia lets him go, with [[HeroicVow only two conditions,]] and it's off to Paris!
6
7	Just one thing Hoffmann forgot about. UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution is in full swing.
8
9	His very first day, he witnesses the beheading of Madame Du Barry, and is deeply disturbed. Unable to take in the art in the museums, and with no way to find his friend Werner, he goes to the Opera, where he finds [[FemmeFatale Arsène.]] She's incredibly beautiful, absolutely unattainable, and Hoffmann doesn't take long to decide he ''must'' have her. What follows is one man's descent into vice, lust, and the frenzy of Paris during the Terror -- and, possibly, complete insanity.
10
11	-----
12	!! Tropes Used in This Work Include:
13
14	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Arsène, Antonia, and Mme du Barry.
15	* CaptainObvious: The snuffbox ''had snuff in it!''.
16	* CelibateHero: Hoffman will not pursue any romances other than with Antonia. Or so he promises.
17	* CompensatingForSomething: See the note about pipes below.
18	* ContrivedCoincidence: He just ''happens'' to run into his friend Werner in Paris when neither knows where to find the other -- then when he loses Arsène he happens to find her again in the Place de la Révolution.
19	* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:Arsène is dead -- or possibly not even real -- from the moment that Hoffmann found her in the Place de la Révolution.]]
20	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Hoffmann has trouble getting through to France. So he takes out his pipe -- his big, hefty pipe like all Germans have -- and shows it to the French border patrol, who are stunned because they have such little, ineffectual pipes. They are so impressed by the amount of tobacco he stuffs into his enormous pipe that they let him enter France.
21	* ElegantClassicalMusician: Hoffmann falls even more in love with Antonia after hearing her sing and play the harp.
22	* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: Although the very sexy Arsène is French, the narrator does not say she is desirable because she is French. Instead, Hoffmann's fiancée, Antonia, is half-German and half-Italian (the two races which Dumas says compete for the title of most beautiful), and [[MixedAncestryIsAttractive explicitly owes her attractiveness to her heritage]].
23	* FatBastard: Arsène’s current paramour.
24	* FemmeFatale: Arsène is bad news from the get-go, and the strongest sign of this is probably her guillotine necklace.
25	* GayParee
26	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Antonia's golden hair sets off her angelic aspect (complete with golden harp, beautiful singing voice, and her sweet and chaste nature). Antonia is the ultimate good woman, in contrast to dark-haired Arsène, the ultimate bad girl.
27	* HeroicVow: See above.
28	* HesitantSacrifice: Mme du Barry. This is based on historical anecdote, telling that the woman's last lines before she was lowered before the guillotine were "Just one minute more, sir! One more minute!"
29	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: The main character, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, better known as Creator/ETAHoffmann, was an actual writer of fantastic stories which often explored the boundaries of madness, and his critics were prone to accusing him of being mad himself. He would have been just 17 when the events of ''La femme au collier de velours'' supposedly took place; the character in the story is somewhat older.
30	* IGaveMyWord: And Hoffmann, idiot that he is, breaks it.
31	* KarmicTwistEnding
32	* LosingYourHead: Mme Du Barry. Also, [[spoiler: Arsène. It's only her velvet necklace that keeps it on.]]
33	* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Antonia, chaste and loving bride-to-be, and Arsène, lascivious and cruel dancer, respectively embody this dichotomy.
34	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In this case, maybe magic maybe [[spoiler: madness.]]
35	* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: That doctor with the snuffbox with the little skull on it.
36	* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Arsène.
37	* ProlongedPrologue: ''Sixty pages!'' About some old man who likes to talk about his toads that live for six hundred years.
38	* RuleOfSymbolism: Loads and loads of symbolism. Hoffman first sees Antonia as she is coming out of church, her head modestly bowed. Her mother died in an opera of ''[[Myth/ClassicalMythology Alcèste]],'' a story about the most loving and self-sacrificing wife in history. Then, he first sees Arsène as she plays the spirit of "Spring" (like the Springtime of the French republic), and later Arsène dresses as a Maenad. His last encounter with Arsène, he finds her sitting at the feet of the guillotine, alone, at night, in the Revolution Square.
39	* SexyDiscretionShot: [[spoiler: Hoffmann and Arsène, after a wild evening of piano playing and dancing, fall into bed together. Cut to the next morning.]]
40	* ShoutOut: Many, as is normal for French literature. Particular note is Arsène’s costume as ‘Erigone,’ a Maenad from Myth/ClassicalMythology who committed suicide.
41	* StoryWithinAStory: Or frame story.
42	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Is Hoffmann going insane? Is he a recent escapee from a mental hospital? Or is the story that he's a recent escapee from a mental hospital merely a coverup for a story that is far more bizarre and horrifying?
43	* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Antonia's mother, and [[spoiler: Antonia herself]].
44	* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: Antonia and her dad -- who had previously been UglyGuyHotWife.
45	* UncannyValley: Arsene. At the start, she's an incredibly beautiful and graceful dancer. But when Hoffman finds her alone -- after he's gotten word that she was executed -- she moves in a strange way, like a puppet, and speaks in a flat, emotionless voice. She also doesn't react when a burning hot coal touches her foot, won't eat, and when she drinks a little champagne, the champagne trickles out from underneath her velvet necklace. It turns out, [[spoiler: she was DeadAllAlong and somehow reanimated -- [[AllJustADream or may have been an insane hallucination from the start]].]]

Context Literature / TheWomanWithTheVelvetNecklace