Princess
Golaud writes to his brother, "I found her all in tears one evening, beside a spring in the forest where I had lost myself. I do not know her age, nor who she is, nor whence she comes…Just as I found her by the springs, a crown of gold had slipped from her hair and fallen to the bottom of the water. She was clad, besides, like a princess, though her garments had been torn by the briers” (Act 1, scene iii).The metaphoric princess underscores Melisande’s extraordinary beauty. Gould is automatically fascinated by her upon seeing her; thus, restrains himself from upsetting her by questioning her about her circumstance.
“Blind Madman”
Golaud explains, “But I cannot understand how it came to pass. I was hunting quietly in the forest. All at once my horse ran away, without cause. Did he see anything unusual?… I had just heard the twelve strokes of noon. At the twelfth stroke he suddenly took fright and ran like a blind madman against a tree” (Act 2, scene 2 ).The allegorical ‘blind madman’ explicates the horse’s obliviousness of his act of rushing. The horse rushed as if it did not see the tree resulting in crash. Obviously, the horse is triggered by a dreadful sight that elicits its inexplicable reaction.
Child
Arkel states, “He (Golaud) is past the age to marry and he weds like a child, a little girl he finds by a spring…. That may seem strange to us, because we never see but the reverse of destinies” (Act 1, scene 3). Comparing Golaud’s matrimony to a child’s surmises that Arkel is not impressed by the circumstances under which Golaud weds Melisande. In the view of Arkel, the marriage is not proper because it occurs spontaneously without consulting adults like the king. A marriage between children cannot be deemed as a commendable union.
