Themes Isola Allegra Goodman

Power and Cruelty: Roberval’s Tyranny in Isola

Thematic Claim

In Isola, power and cruelty are not separate forces but a fused instrument of tyranny. Roberval exercises authority not merely to command but to systematically degrade his ward, Marguerite. He uses financial control, physical abuse, psychological torment, forced exile, and the manipulation of religious faith to break her will. Crucially, the novel also traces the limits of this cruelty: Marguerite’s survival becomes an act of reclaiming power, showing that cruelty can be endured and even transformed, though at great cost.

Three Plot Phases of Power and Cruelty

1. Financial and Psychological Enclosure (Chapter 1)

When Marguerite is nine, Roberval visits her château for the first time. He appears as an unfamiliar guardian who holds control over all her inheritance: “To him came the profit from my orchards and my meadows” (Chapter 1). He taunts her by opening a cabinet full of gold écus, then dismisses her without allowing her to keep it. Withholding even a small toy becomes a lesson in absolute possession. Marguerite’s desire for the cabinet—the first clear symbol of her denied agency—introduces the pattern: Roberval gives and takes away, using his power to create longing and then frustration.

2. Religious Manipulation and Physical Abuse (Chapter 12)

Roberval teaches Marguerite Psalms while interspersing sadistic punishment. After intercepting a letter in which Marguerite plans to escape, he forces her to read aloud verses about drowning, asking “What is it like to drown?” (Chapter 12). He then twists her arms behind her back until she cries out the verse “The arms of the wicked shall be broken.” This method—using Scripture as both weapon and mask—demonstrates his cruelty as a calculated pedagogy. He praises her when she performs well but relishes her failure, saying “He enjoyed my failings even more” (Chapter 12). The combination of sacred language and physical pain degrades her sense of self while reinforcing his authority.

3. Public Shame and Exile (Chapters 20–21)

When Roberval discovers Marguerite and Auguste together, his cruelty shifts from private to public. He shakes her violently, calling her “Cut. Out. Their. Tongues” (Chapter 20). He does not declare an immediate punishment but instead “cast his silence over us like mist,” using uncertainty as a weapon. Later, after Cartier’s escape enrages him, Roberval sentences both Marguerite and Auguste to be marooned. His speech is chillingly calm: “I will let you live together… As long as you can” (Chapter 21). He even gives Auguste his cittern, saying “And play it if you can”—a final mockery that repurposes art as an emblem of helplessness. The exile is designed as a slow death, leaving the couple to perish out of sight.

4. The Bear and Reclaimed Power (Chapter 27)

On the island, after Auguste dies, Marguerite faces a bear that has devoured his body. In that moment, rage replaces fear. She seizes Auguste’s gun and kills the bear, then decapitates it with an axe. The act is brutal and transformative: “The destroyer was destroyed… I worked until I could do no more, but even then I felt no relief” (Chapter 27). This violence is not redemption but a raw reclamation of agency. For the first time, Marguerite meets cruelty with equal force, breaking the cycle of submission.

Character and Symbol Connections

  • Roberval embodies power as a performance of godlike control. He uses religious rhetoric to sanctify his cruelty—quoting scripture while torturing. His power is insecure; he needs to dominate to feel secure.
  • Marguerite begins as a passive victim but grows into a survivor who internalizes and then overcomes the cruelty. Her killing of the bear is a direct inversion of Roberval’s cruelty: she becomes the hunter.
  • Auguste is a victim of both Roberval’s authority and his own loyalty. His refusal to apologize triggers the exile, and his death on the island underscores the cost of rebellion.
  • Damienne represents silent endurance. She is forced into exile because of her attachment to Marguerite, and her steadfastness provides a counterpoint to Roberval’s caprice.
  • The cittern (symbol link: cittern instrument) is offered by Roberval as a taunt—“play if you can”—but later Auguste’s instrument becomes part of their survival. It symbolizes how culture can be twisted into a tool of cruelty or repurposed for resilience.
  • The bear claw (symbol link: bear claw) represents the raw, non-human cruelty of nature, but also the power Marguerite seizes. She turns the predator into prey, adopting the claw as a mark of her own transformation.

Complexity and Contradiction

Roberval is not a one-dimensional villain. His cruelty is interwoven with moments of apparent kindness—teaching Marguerite music, releasing Auguste temporarily, even letting Damienne accompany the exiles. These gestures do not mitigate his cruelty but amplify its unpredictability, making his power more terrifying.

Marguerite’s own complicity must also be acknowledged. Early on she craves his approval: “I hoped that he would treat me as a daughter” (Chapter 12). This internal conflict makes her victimization more complex; she is trapped not only physically but psychologically.

Finally, the exile itself is a double-edged sword. On the island, Marguerite and Auguste initially embrace their freedom: “declared their freedom from her guardian” (Chapter 22). Yet this freedom is a slow death. The novel refuses to romanticize survival—Marguerite loses Auguste, Damienne, and eventually must fight a bear. The prologue’s haunting image of a woman wading into the sea after ships that refuse to stop suggests that even after rescue, the psychological scars of cruelty remain.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. How does Roberval use financial control as a form of cruelty in Chapter 1?
    Answer: Roberval controls all of Marguerite’s inheritance. He shows her a cabinet full of gold coins, promising a small portion for clothes and lessons, but then dismisses her without giving her any permanent possession. This withholding creates desire and dependence, teaching Marguerite that nothing is truly hers.

  2. In what way does the “whale sermon” in Chapter 19 foreshadow the exile?
    Answer: Roberval uses the whale attack to deliver a sermon about sin and punishment, vowing to “exile them like lepers from our gates.” He frames his authority as divine will, preparing the colonists—and Marguerite—for the harsh decree that follows.

  3. Why does Roberval give Auguste his cittern at the moment of sentencing?
    Answer: The cittern is a symbol of Auguste’s skill and cultural refinement. By offering it with the taunt “play it if you can,” Roberval mocks the futility of art in the face of death. It is a final assertion of power, reducing Auguste’s identity to a cruel joke.

  4. How does Marguerite’s killing of the bear reverse the power dynamics of earlier chapters?
    Answer: Throughout the novel, Roberval inflicts pain with impunity. When Marguerite kills the bear with Auguste’s gun and chops off its head, she replicates Roberval’s cruelty but on her own terms. The act is not just survival; it is an assertion of violent agency that she never had before.

  5. What does the prologue’s image of the stranded woman suggest about the limits of cruelty?
    Answer: The prologue shows a woman who survives marooning only to be abandoned by passing ships. The commander smiles and sails on. This suggests that cruelty can persist even after the initial act—the refusal to rescue is a final, invisible violence. Power, the novel implies, does not end with exile; it can continue in the form of indifference.