Continuation of a post which you can find here.
the TL;DR for the previous post: Valentine de Saint-Bris, the heroine/(I would argue but that’s for another time) protagonist of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s 1836 opera Les Huguenots has at least one, if not multiple, undiagnosed anxiety disorder(s). This point is not talked about...at all, but it makes sense due to clues scattered throughout the libretto.
Here’s Part II, aka ‘Why is this important for understanding her character development?’ (I think this’ll be shorter than the previous post but don’t count me on that.)
Let’s go back to where she starts. As established in Part I, Valentine starts off as a very nervous, anxious young girl who constantly worries about everything, especially what her father will think of her. True, she does have some boldness; she goes alone to her fiancé’s house to ask to be released from her engagement to him, but it’s worth pointing out that she only does this because (or at least under cover) of ‘the Princess of France specifically wants me to break up with you for this political marriage’ thing. In other words, she’s not willing to do it for herself.
While I covered a lot of different anxious tendencies Valentine has in Part I, one of the dead ringers is that she’s so concerned with what everyone thinks about her; whether she is ‘worthy’ to her father, her lover, her fiancé/(eventual) husband, the society around her, and God. The moment where she begins to break free is that Act III duet with Marcel where she overcomes her fears and decides to do something she feels so strongly about: she will break with her family and the codes adopted by her denomination in order to save someone she cares about- even though he rejected her as well. She’s still concerned about the possibility of betraying her father and her honor, but she takes that first step anyway.
Act IV also is a major step for her, as she stands in complete contrast to (almost) all her co-religionists, expressing her outrage at the planned massacre and her gratitude when Nevers steps up and bravely refuses to join in, as she openly offers him all her support, risking her father’s anger. And then there’s the duet. While this duet still shows she has a long way to go- she’s frightened by premonitions of impending doom and she still is extremely anxious- she stands her ground for almost twenty minutes, not letting Raoul go until he shows her firsthand the horrifying scenes of the massacre, at which point she stops asking him to stay. She realizes that he must go and help the Huguenots survive, and so, in a way (by fainting) she lets him. And here’s the thing: while she’s still terrified of what may happen, she decides to channel that fear into action. In a scene not depicted onstage but referenced in the libretto, Valentine goes to Queen Mother Catherine de Médicis herself, demands an interview, and manages to secure means of safe passage for Raoul and Marcel.
And so we come to the final scene. Valentine arrives at the Huguenot church, her world turned upside-down: her husband is dead, her true love will almost certainly die at the hands of her father, her faith and country are torn apart in horrific scenes of violence (you know that had Valentine survived, she would probably have had PTSD from this). In the midst of all this, she tries to find a way to save two of the people she loves most (especially the one she loves more than anyone or anything). And when they won’t take it, she converts to Protestantism.
Let me explain something: converting to Protestantism at this moment is probably the worst possible thing you could do. It’s signing your own death warrant, so not only has Valentine ensured her own death, but by definition, according to the doctrines of the Catholic Church, she has condemned herself to hell by committing the mortal sin of apostasy.
But here’s the thing: she no longer really cares (emphasis added):
VALENTINE
Non, non, non!
Je ne sais pas s'il faut risquer mon âme;
enfer ou paradis, je ne te quitte plus!
Oui, cette âme en tumulte, cette âme
ne reconnaît plus rien! Toi, tu maudis mon culte,
moi j'adopte le tien!
(No, no, no!
I do not know if I must risk my soul;
Hell or Heaven, I’m not leaving you anymore!
Yes, this soul in turmoil, this soul
recognizes nothing anymore! You, you curse my faith;
me...I adopt yours!
She no longer cares about anything that once held her back. Now she believes in love, she believes in the people she loves, and she believes in a God of love who crosses the dividing line that society has set. To her, this is enough.
She is no longer afraid of death, or anything else anyone can do to her, for that matter:
VALENTINE
Non, non, je ne crains rien de vous!
Rien de mortel ne reste en nous,
non, non, je ne crains rien!
Gloire à Dieu! Gloire à Dieu!
(No, no, I fear nothing from you!
Nothing mortal remains in us;
No, no, I fear nothing!
Glory to God! Glory to God!)
When she begs Raoul to not say anything under interrogation by Saint-Bris, I believe it is not because she’s afraid for herself, or even for him or Marcel; I believe it’s because she knows that for a parent to kill their own child is one of the worst sins a person can commit, and she doesn’t want her father to face the emotional trauma in this life or potential eternal damnation in the next because she loves him too much. (Also, added bonus: there’s a chance that neither Raoul nor Marcel dies in this scenario.)
But when Raoul cries, “Huguenot!”, Valentine immediately adds her voice in agreement: she has no fear anymore.
So she ends up shot and mortally wounded, her life hanging by a thread, and in her last moments, she faces the reality of her situation and does not shrink from it:
VALENTINE
Oui, c’est moi! Moi qui vais prier pour vous!
(Yes, it’s me! It’s I, who go to pray for you!)
She is completely devoid of any hatred, anger, or fear. Instead, her last words show that she has finally achieved what she wanted and fought for all along- the ability to love unconditionally without anything holding her back.
She has broken free.
