THE UNIVERSE OF PAUL AND VIRGINIA
Tony Johannot (del), La Baie du tombeau, 1838
An exotic island, a colonial society
The plot of the novel is set in the île de France (Mauritius island), the main French island in the Indian Ocean, the « harbour of the Mascareignes », to quote the governor Mahe de La Bourdonnais. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre stayed there for three years (1768-1771), working as the King’s engineer and living in the capital Port-Louis. The novel is set during the period of the early years of the colony, between 1730 and 1740.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s the professional activities led him to visit the island and he developed a passion for its exotic flora. He regularly visited the Jardin des Pamplemousses botanical gardens. Totally impressed, as a botanist he took notes and wrote descriptions, noting the Creole names of plants and multiplied his descriptions of the natural environment of Mauritius. An ecologist ahead of his time, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre denounced the clearing of the land by the settlers for speculative reasons.
Having arrived full of enthusiasm and convinced that he would be happier in this new world, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre left the île de France disappointed and having lost his illusions. He continued to denounce the island’s administrative hierarchy, the small-mindedness of the settlers and horrors of slavery.
From his stay on the island was born a novel, nourished by his memories of a grandiose natural environment, the places he got to know, his disgust for the corrupt society, as well as a historical anecdote, that of the shipwreck of the vessel the Saint-Géran, which occurred in 1744 in fine weather and not during a cyclone.
Lambert (del.), Legrand (sc), Le changement de lait de Paul et Virginie (Change of wet-nurse for Paula and Virginie) (1), Dernière entrevue de Paul et Virginie (Paul and Virginie’s final conversation)(2), Embarquement de Virginie (Virginie’s departure) (3), Mort de Virginie (Death of Virginie) (4), around 1790-1800
A tragic story
Paul and Virginia are brought up as brother and sister, with no education other than that of the generous lush natural environment around them and the tenderness and communication bringing together the members of their little community.
During adolescence, the attraction between the two children changes in character, their friendship being replaced by love. The story becomes complicated when Virginia, of noble birth, receives a letter from her aunt and is sent to Europe to be educated.
Unhappy and unable to submit to the hypocrisy of European society, she decides to renounce her fortune and come back to her native island. Caught up in a shipwreck, she dies drowning before Paul’s eyes. A short time later, all the other members of this atypical family also die, from grief.
Like other fictional characters – Romeo and Juliette, Tristan and Isolde – Paul and Virginia symbolise perfect but tragic love. The novel awakens our emotions and brings tears to our eyes. At the time, it became a reference text for the education of young people and the morals of the bourgeoisie.
Tony Johannot (del), A. Revel (sc), Paul, Virginie, Mme de La Tour, Marguerite, in "Paul et Virginie", ed. Curmer, 1838
The characters of the novel
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre included nine main characters in his novel: two single mothers, Marguerite and Mme de La Tour, and their children Paul and Virginia; two slaves Marie and Domingue; an old man, the narrator; the governor Mahe de La Bourdonnais; and finally far away in Europe, and old aunt.
For Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Paul is dark skinned, his gentle black eyes lined with long eyelashes. His lively character always becomes calmer in the presence of Virginia. She has blond hair and blue eyes with coral coloured lips. Her character is sensitive and melancholic.
Mme de la Tour is a young noblewoman who is widowed a short time after arriving on the île de France. Pregnant and penniless, she is taken under the wing of Marguerite. The latter, a peasant woman from Brittany, is first seduced then rejected by a nobleman and takes refuge on the île de France where she gives birth. Marie works for Virginia’s mother; Domingue works for Paul’s mother.
