The Confrontation Between Mireille and Marat

Now you can read Katherine Neville's comments on Mireille and Marat and my response to her comments

NOTE from 2018: This was written about 20 years ago, and I have completely changed my mind since then.

(NOTE: page numbers refer to the hardcover edition)

The confrontation between Mireille and Marat is one of the most exciting and suspenseful parts of The Eight. It comes as a big surprise that Mireille, and not Charlotte Corday, kills Marat. Even when you read the book for the second time, knowing what is going to happen, the scene is very suspenseful. In this article, I will discuss the clues that tell you Mireille is going to kill Marat; then I will discuss the confrontation itself, along with the question of whether or not Mireille really wanted to kill Marat.

Clues that tell you Mireille is going to kill Marat

As I said in my article on Nim and Solarin, Katherine Neville does a wonderful job with giving you clues that you don't realize are clues until after you know what happens. There aren't as many clues to this surprise as there are to the surprise that Nim and Solarin are brothers, but they are definitely there.

In fact, the first clue comes in the very first chapter of the book. When Corday and her friend, Sister Alexandrine, come to Montglane, Katherine Neville describes Corday: "the other [Corday, not Alexandrine] bore a strong resemblance to Mireille..." (p. 8). When I first read the book, I did not think much about this, since I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't even know that Corday would come back later in the book. By the time I got to the Mireille/Marat chapter, I had completely forgotten about this. But when I read The Eight for the second time, knowing that Mireille and Corday looked alike, I noticed it right away.

After Valentine's death, Mireille talks about getting revenge on Marat (see p. 196, for example), but we don't really know yet what that's all about.

A very important clue comes when Mireille is in the desert. When Shahin tells her to put her mark on the falcon, she does not want to: "I cannot, "she said, pulling the ring away..."You must," Shahin said firmly. "Where will you get the strength to kill a man--if you haven't force enough to place your mark upon a bird?" "Kill a man?" she said. "Never!"..."Do not tell me you will not kill this man," Shahin said softly..."I can smell the revenge in you..." (p. 297).

Since I knew that Corday killed Marat, I did not really know what to think of this when I read the book for the first time. I thought of two possibilities:

  1. Mireille sends Corday.
  2. Corday gets there first.

I never even thought of the possibility that Mireille would kill Marat. Now that I know what happens, though, the conversation with Shahin makes perfect sense. (This brings up an interesting question: had any of you not heard of Corday or Marat before reading The Eight? If you didn't know what really happened between Corday and Marat, does this make it easier to guess that Mireille kills Marat?)

I did not notice any other clues before the Mireille/Marat chapter. If there are any others that I missed, please let me know.


The Mireille/Marat chapter, and how Katherine Neville builds up your suspense

When I first read The Eight, I began this chapter thinking, of course, that it was Corday who killed Marat, in spite of the conversation between Mireille and Shahin, which, as I said, I did not completely understand at the time. At the beginning of the chapter, Mireille comes back to David's house after being in the desert, and she starts asking him about Marat: "And Marat--where is he? For if that man learned of this [that Mireille is back in France], even our prayers would not help." (p. 347). A little later, she says, "Once united, it [the Montglane Service] will devour even Marat. I've returned to Paris to unleash this force. And I expect you to help me." (p. 347). This makes it sound as if Mireille, herself, did not want to kill Marat; she wanted the secret of the Montglane Service to destroy him. (But more of this later...) Because I thought that Corday killed Marat, I did not know what to think of this conversation between Mireille and David.

After this conversation, Katherine Neville switches to Corday with these words, "Another nun who could not wait was even then hastening toward Paris." (p. 348). Corday goes to the Deputy Lauze Duperret, asking about what happened to Mireille after the prison massacres; Duperret tells her "to interrogate the man who was responsible for the Terror. But I wouldn't recommend it. His name is Marat." (p. 349). I thought I knew what this was all about; it was going to set up the scene where Corday kills Marat. Of course I was completely wrong; this just tells you what a good job Katherine Neville does with making you think one thing is going to happen, when it turns out to be something completely different.

In the next section, Mireille buys the knife. Later on, I will talk about why she buys the knife, but now I'd like to discuss what I thought this was all about when I read the book for the first time. When my father read The Eight, I asked him when he first guessed that Mireille killed Marat, and he said, "When she buys the knife." Was this when I guessed it, too? Actually, I don't think so. At the time I read this part, I did not know that Mireille and Corday looked alike; I had forgotten what Katherine Neville said about Corday in the first chapter, and it isn't until a little later that Katherine Neville tells you, again, that they looked alike. I'm sure that, if I had remembered that Mireille and Corday looked alike, I would have guessed it by now. Interestingly, my father hadn't remembered what Katherine Neville had said in the first chapter, either. So, what did I think when I read about Mireille buying the knife? I guess I thought that she would give it to Corday or that, somehow, Corday would get it from her.

It is in the very next section that Corday comes to David's house to talk to Mireille. This is where we find out that Corday looks like Mireille, if we hadn't remembered it from the first chapter: "Though time had changed them both, they were still alike in appearance..." (p. 350). As soon as I read that they looked alike, I guessed what would happen (not every detail, of course, but by now I think I knew that Mireille would kill Marat). What Mireille says at the end of this section made me certain: "I don't plan to give my name... I'll give them yours." (p. 351).

Although I knew, basically, what was going to happen, I was still in suspense throughout the whole scene between Mireille and Marat. Again, this shows you what a good job Katherine Neville does, and, believe me, it works when you read The Eight for the second time, too. The first time I read it, I knew Mireille would kill Marat. But when? And why, exactly? How much would she find out from him? Would she get the pieces Marat had? There were still many unanswered questions. Also, Mireille's life was in danger the whole time she was with Marat. Marat could have killed her, and so could his "wife" Simonne. (Later on, I will discuss Marat's threats in more detail.) The threat to Mireille is what made it so suspenseful, even when I read The Eight again.

Mireille kills Marat just before Simonne breaks down the door, probably meaning to kill Mireille. After Mireille kills Marat, she is taken away to prison, with the crowd calling her a murderer (p. 356-357). As soon as Mireille is taken to prison, Katherine Neville switches back to David and his conversation with Robespierre. This is where we find out Robespierre knows that Mireille killed Marat (p. 358). Then, Robespierre tells David a long story about Rousseau and the ancient ritual in Venice. The amazing thing is that we're interested in the story, even though we're wondering what will happen to Mireille; the whole purpose of having the story in this place is to keep up our suspense about Mireille, but the story is interesting in itself.

After the story, we finally get back to Mireille, in the prison cell, two hours away from the guillotine. I knew that Mireille would not go to the guillotine; it was too early in the book for that. (Now, what if it had been later in the book? It would be even more suspenseful, because then we wouldn't even be certain that Mireille would escape the guillotine!) I guessed that, somehow, Corday would trade places with Mireille, but I didn't know exactly how it would happen.

The scene between Mireille and Corday in the prison is also very suspenseful; at first, Mireille does not want Corday to trade places with her: "How could she accept so great an offer?... "No!" she cried. "There cannot be another sacrifice on behalf of those dreaded pieces." (p. 369). (By the way, this is one of my serious disagreements with the review in the New York Times; the reviewer makes it sound as if Mireille was glad to let Corday go to the guillotine.) Also in this scene, we find out something we did not know before, although we probably suspected it: that Mireille is the Black Queen. Before Mireille and Corday trade places, Corday says, "We must defeat them... You're the only one who can do it. Don't you see, even now? Mireille--you are the Black Queen!" (p. 369). It is only after she finds out that she is the Black Queen that Mireille agrees to let Corday trade places with her.

After they trade places and Mireille leaves the prison, we have the scene where David and Robespierre come into the prison cell; David thinks, at first, that it is Mireille in the prison, but Robespierre knows it is Corday, and realizes what has happened. Since Robespierre knows that Mireille escaped, we know that Mireille is still in danger from him. (Actually, the first time I read this, I thought there might be more about the danger to Mireille from Robespierre. I wonder if this was something that was in the 1200-page manuscript, but was left out of the final version of The Eight.)

Then, in the very last section of this chapter, there is a surprise. Katherine Neville switches to Talleyrand in London, a few weeks after Mireille kills Marat; Talleyrand meets a woman who reminds him of Valentine. This woman turns out to be Catherine Grand, the White Queen. Almost as soon as Marat is dead, we meet Mireille's new enemy.


Did Mireille really want to kill Marat? Also, Mireille's attitude toward killing

When Mireille killed Marat, was it murder or self-defense? The New York Times reviewer makes her opinion very clear; she says that Mireille "murders" Marat. This is, however, one of my serious disagreements with her; I think it was self-defense, not murder. But before I talk about why I think so, I wanted to say something about Mireille's attitude toward killing.

In the first chapter of The Eight, when we meet Mireille and Valentine for the first time, Valentine says that she would rather marry a soldier than become a nun. Mireille tells her, "Soldiers are not always so very charming as you seem to think... After all, their business is killing people, not taking them to the opera." (p. 6). So, as you can see, at the beginning of the book Mireille does not approve of killing.

Even after Valentine's death, Mireille's attitude does not change. I have already mentioned the scene with Shahin, where Mireille says she would never kill anyone (p. 297). Mireille certainly wants revenge for Valentine's death. But does that mean she wants to kill Marat? I do not think so; I think she wants to bring him to justice, and keep him from finding the secret of the Montglane Service. She killed him because the scene between them turned into a situation where she really had no choice.

Mireille's life was in danger from Marat ever since the scene in the prison, where Valentine was killed; Mireille knew very well what danger she was in. Just before he orders Valentine's execution, after he tricks Mireille into telling him where the pieces are because he says he would spare Valentine's life if Mireille told him, Marat says to Mireille: "I shall hunt you down--you will pay!" (p. 173).

Later, when Mireille is in Corsica, she tells Napoleon's mother: "I've seen the hideous and evil nature of one who seeks them [the pieces]--who hunts me even now, and would kill me for what I know." (p. 265). So, Mireille knew all along that Marat wanted to kill her.

In the Mireille/Marat chapter itself, there are several things Mireille says to suggest that she does not really want to kill Marat. I've already mentioned one of them: when she comes back to David's house, she tells David that the Montglane Service will "devour" Marat (p. 347). It seems to me that Mireille's intention is to collect all the pieces and figure out the formula; she's depending on whatever is in the formula (and she doesn't know what that is) to destroy Marat. She's also trying to make sure that Marat never figures out the formula. I don't think that Mireille, herself, wants to kill Marat.

So, if Mireille doesn't want to kill Marat, why does she buy the knife? That is not entirely clear, but I think it was only to defend herself. She knew how dangerous it would be to go to Marat's house, but she also knew she had to go there to get the pieces that he had. (And I think that was her intention in going to Marat's house in the first place: to get the pieces from him.) She also knew that Marat wanted to kill her; it would be very difficult for her to get the pieces without a struggle. So, she needs something with which to defend herself. I think Mireille hopes that she won't have to use the knife, but it's always in the back of her mind that she might be forced to. In fact, something very interesting happens in the scene where Mireille buys the knife; just before she gets to the cutlery shop, Mireille sees "a cluster of butchers still smeared with the marks of their trade... Her glazed eyes focused on the blood on their bare arms, their white aprons. Closing her eyes, she pushed on through the narrow labyrinth." (p. 350). Clearly, Mireille is uncomfortable at the sight of blood; I think these lines also show her real attitude toward killing. When she sees the blood on the butchers' aprons, she is probably thinking of what might happen with Marat, but she still hopes that it won't.

In the next section, when she's talking to Corday, Mireille says that she's going to "confront the man who murdered my cousin... Five more nuns have disappeared in this last year. I think he knows what has become of them, and of the pieces in their charge." (p. 351; emphasis mine). To confront Marat--not to kill him; Mireille's intention seems clear. But then she says: "And I have a score to settle." (p. 351). What does she mean by this? I'm sure many people would think that this means Mireille wants to kill Marat. But I do not think this is the only meaning you can give to this sentence. "A score to settle" could mean only that Mireille wants to bring Marat to justice, not necessarily by killing him. It could simply mean that Mireille wants to prevent Marat from winning the Game.

The threat to Mireille's life is clear from the very beginning of the scene between Mireille and Marat. One of the first things he says to her is: "You'll never leave this place alive" (p. 353). This makes it perfectly clear that Marat means to kill her. He also knows what Mireille's intention is in coming to his house: "If you want to kill me, you haven't much time. But I think you want information more..." (p. 354; emphasis mine). Marat sees Mireille with the knife and knows that she might kill him, but he also knows that she came to get the pieces and to find out about the nuns who died.

Besides the threat to Mireille's life, there is another threat to her from Marat: to turn her over to the evil side. He says, "Between the two of us... we could control half the board." (p. 354) and, later: "Your only hope is to join forces with us and unite the pieces." (p. 355). Would Marat have killed Mireille, even if she had gone over to his side (not that she ever thought of such a thing)? He probably would have. After all, he killed Valentine when he had promised not to; there is no reason why he wouldn't have done the same to Mireille.

There is a lot that Mireille wants to find out from Marat, that he doesn't tell her. When she tells him that Talleyrand had taken her pieces to England, Marat says, "My God, this is more than I'd hoped for!... He's in England!... My God--she can get them!" (p. 355). Mireille does not know what he means by this. Who is "she"? Why are the pieces in danger in England? And where are Marat's pieces? She never gets to find out--at least, not from Marat. When his "wife" Simonne comes pounding on the door, probably meaning to kill Mireille, Mireille is forced to kill Marat before he can tell her all she needs to know.

Marat actually dares Mireille to kill him. One of the last things he says to her is: "You little coward!" (p. 355). Now, why does Marat say this? I'm sure he does not really think she's a coward. I think he is testing her, because he's not sure she can really kill him. Marat actually wants Mireille to kill him: "He wanted her to kill him, she realized in terror." (p. 356). Why does Marat want Mireille to kill him? I thought of three possibilities:

  1. He realized what a monster he was.
  2. He wanted Mireille to hate herself for the rest of her life.
  3. He wanted to die, but he wanted to take Mireille with him, thinking that she would go to the guillotine.

#1 doesn't seem very likely to me. Neither does #2, since it would mean that Marat knew Mireille would escape the guillotine. I think #3 is the most likely; Marat thought that Mireille would go to the guillotine after she killed him. If Marat had to die, he wanted to be sure Mireille died, too, so she could never have the pieces. Marat's threat--the way he dares her to kill him--just when Simonne bursts into the room, is what forces Mireille to kill him. If she hadn't killed him at that moment, Simonne (or even Marat himself) would have killed her. To me, this sounds like self-defense, not murder.


How Robespierre makes it sound like murder

Although Mireille kills Marat in self-defense, Robespierre makes people think it was murder. I'm not certain why he does this, but one reason might be to turn Mireille's friends against her. If they thought Mireille was a murderer, they might go over to Robespierre's side or, at least, stop supporting Mireille.

Unfortunately, Robespierre, Mireille's enemy, is the first person besides Mireille and Corday to know that it was Mireille, and not Corday, who killed Marat. How does he find out? I'm not sure, since he had never actually seen Mireille or Corday before the trial. Of course, he had David's portrait of Mireille, but if Mireille and Corday really looked so much alike, how would he know that the woman at the trial was not Corday? My only guess is that he saw the 8 on Mireille's hand at the trial; Corday would not have had an 8 on her hand.

Robespierre uses what he knows to make Mireille sound worse than she is. The first person he tells is David; he probably chose David on purpose, since he knew David was weak and would tell other people what he knew. On the day after Mireille kills Marat, Robespierre tells David: "it's your ward Mireille who assassinated Marat!" (p. 358; emphasis mine) and, a little later, "She murdered Marat in cold blood for" the pieces (p. 358). He wants to make David think that Mireille is a murderer. Unfortunately, David never has a chance to hear the truth from Mireille, since she had left the prison before he got to her prison cell. He always believes that it was murder.

A few years later, David tells Napoleon and Talleyrand his version of the story. This is exactly what Robespierre had hoped for (although Robespierre is dead by this time). We can be sure that David told them it was murder, because Talleyrand says, "where she conducted this crime you tell me of." (p. 474; emphasis mine). Fortunately, Talleyrand loves Mireille so much that it doesn't matter to him. It doesn't seem to bother Napoleon, either; when Mireille's son meets him in Egypt, Napoleon says, "I am General Bonaparte, young man--a close friend of your mother. But why has she not come with you?" (p. 512). If Napoleon had turned against Mireille, he would not have called himself her friend, or wished to see her.

So, as it turns out, Robespierre's plan does not work at all. As far as we know, David never told anyone besides Napoleon and Talleyrand, and the two people he did tell did not turn against Mireille. Napoleon continued to support her, and Talleyrand continued to love her, even though they thought she had murdered Marat.


After Mireille killed Marat, how did she feel about it?

I think Mireille felt guilty about killing Marat, even though she really had no choice. After all, it went against everything she believed. She certainly thinks about Marat several times after she kills him, sometimes when we don't expect her to be thinking about Marat.

The first time she thinks about Marat is in the prison cell, before Corday comes to rescue her: "Mireille's first night here had been Bastille Day--July 14--the night after she'd killed Marat." (p. 367). This is only to be expected; it has only been a few days since she killed Marat. She still has the wound on her head that someone had given her when she was captured, and, of course, she thinks that she will go to the guillotine for killing Marat.

It seems that she thought of Marat again, shortly after she got out of the prison, since she wrote about the whole episode in her diary. All we see is: "I left the prison with great trepidation..." (p. 420), and then she talks about going back to the desert. But before she wrote about leaving the prison, she must have written about what got her there; otherwise it would make no sense. We don't know exactly when she wrote this in her diary; it was probably after she went back to the desert. (And it really is too bad that we don't know what happened to Mireille in the desert, before she left for England; she must have thought about Marat when she was in the desert.)

The next time Mireille thinks about Marat is when she's in England, and she can't find Talleyrand: "As the rain beat upon her bare head, she heard the hideous voice of Marat..." (p. 432). This is one of those times when we don't expect her to be thinking about Marat. It's been six months since she killed him, and she's so upset about not finding Talleyrand that we wouldn't expect her to think about anything else besides Talleyrand. The fact that she thinks about Marat tells you that she's still upset about it.

After Mireille can't find Talleyrand, she cries in the gazebo (p. 432-433). It seems to me that she is thinking of several things here. Not finding Talleyrand is what sets it off, but there must be many other things she is crying about. I'm sure that killing Marat is one of them.

We don't see Mireille for over four years after she goes to England. The next time she thinks of Marat is in 1799 (six years after she killed him), when Talleyrand says, "David told me about Marat." (p. 509). Her reaction is interesting: "Mireille shook her head as if to rid herself of the thought." (p. 509). Obviously, Mireille is still upset about it after six years. She also doesn't like it that Talleyrand knows. Why does that upset her? She knows that Talleyrand still loves her. I think the only explanation is that she feels guilty.

Shortly afterwards, Mireille says something very interesting. She tells Talleyrand that she wants to end the Game because of all the deaths it has caused: "I saw them all die--Valentine, the abbess, Marat. Charlotte Corday gave her life for me!" (p. 510). Why does she mention Marat here? Mireille loved Valentine and the abbess, in a way, and she liked Corday, but she killed Marat! Possibly, what she's saying is that the Game forced her to do something that was against her nature. Also, Marat might have been responsible for his own death, in a way; if he hadn't been such a monster, Mireille would not have killed him. Was it the Game that made him a monster? I don't know; he might very well have been a monster without the Game, but the Game probably made him even worse.

The last time Mireille thinks about Marat is in the same scene with Talleyrand, when Talleyrand asks her, "Hasn't enough blood been spilled?" "I no longer wish for revenge," Mireille said, seeing before her eyes the horrid face of Marat..." (p. 510). Again, why does she think about Marat? I'm sure that the "blood" Talleyrand mentions refers to Valentine and Corday, and possibly the other nuns who died. It's interesting that, of all the people who have died because of the Game, Mireille thinks of Marat, the one she killed. This shows that she still feels guilty, but we can also see that she has matured since she killed Marat. She does not wish for revenge now; at the time she killed Marat, she wanted revenge for Valentine. But did she mean to kill Marat, or did she want to get revenge in some other way? It is possible that she meant to kill him, but I think that she wanted to get revenge by collecting all the pieces. She killed Marat only when circumstances forced her to do so.

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Copyright 1997 Vicki Kondelik.