November 2024, His Excellency Eugene Rougon Ch 8-11

Discussion

Eugene continues to try to consolidate more power. IMHO the Emperor tried to warn him of a balance, but Eugene doesn't understand or heed his warning. People are starting to fall away from him?

Yes, chapter 8 describes the failed assassination attempt, which fulfills Clorinde’s prediction made in the opening paragraphs of the chapter, and Rougon’s calculation that in a time of sudden catastrophe the Emperor would turn to him once again.

We get an in-depth look at Rougon’s methods, once back in power, in Chapters 9 and 10. Zola’s use of small but telling details—the strident colour of Mme Correur’s gown, the overly-long wait for the detonation of the mine heralding the construction of a railway tunnel in Niort—give us a vivid picture of the rotten heart of the Second Empire.

Despite Rougon's authoritarian diatribe at the Council meeting in Chapter 11, I feel sorry for him. He has attained power on the backs of his friends, but now he's feeling how small that base is and how easily swayed. He's never had popular support, although in part that's why the Emperor chose him. He needed a strong hand, now he doesn't. Eugene will be discarded, something Eugene never did with his friends. Although he couldn't always meet their needs (Madame Correur's brother for example), he never forgot the people from his past and always pulled them up with him.