Essay Questions

What are the consequences of Pelléas and Mélisande's secretive love affair?

Mélisande is married to Glaud, and they have a son together. However, Mélisande truly loves Pelléas, and they are having a secretive love affair behind Glaud's back. As time goes, Glaud detects that there is something fishy going on between his wife and Pelléas. He uses his son to spy on his mother and uncle. The reality is shocking when the son confirms that his mother is having a secretive love affair. Glaud lays a trap, and when he catches his wife cheating with Pelléas, he kills him. Glaud turns to his wife and beats her until she is wounded. The pregnancy that Glaud's wife is carrying is Pelléas', but she gives a premature birth due to the injury she received from the beatings. Unfortunately, the baby girl dies. The reader can conclude that the wages of sin are death. Pelléas loses his life because of sleeping around with the wife of his brother.

How does the issue of ethical quandary come in the story 'Pelléas and Mélisande'?

The reader expects Mélisande to be a respectable wife because she was not coerced to marry Galaud. Similarly, the reader expects Pelléas to respect his brother's wife and keep a decent distance. However, Mélisande later realizes that she does not truly love Galaud because her true loves Pelléas. Therefore, Mélisande finds herself in a moral dilemma over choosing the right path for her happiness or remained obliged to her marriage. Balancing the two aspects becomes difficult, and Mélisande decides to meet her true love secretly. The truth will always come out whenever something is done in secret. Galaud discovers the affair, and the consequences are dire because he kills his brother and badly injures his wife.

What is the symbolic meaning of the title 'Pelléas and Mélisande'?

Pelléas and Mélisande symbolize infidelity. Mélisande is married to Galaud, but she betrays him by having a secretive sex affair with his brother. Mélisande is an evil woman driven by her sexual urges and temptations. After getting married to Galaud, she later realizes that she genuinely loves Pelléas, which is sardonic. Pelléas is a traitor who betrays his brother by secretly having sex with his wife. The paradox in this story is that two brothers are sharing one woman. At first, Pelléas is aware that Mélisande is his brother's wife, but he goes ahead to meet her secretly. When Galaud discovers this illicit affair, he ends his brother's life, which is a tragic ending.