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Irma Leopold
The French and dancing teacher at Appleyard College. Without a doubt the most popular and beloved of all the teachers and governesses, Mademoiselle is gentle, kind, thoughtful, and most of all curious about her students and their inner lives. She has a genuine affection for all the girls and unique relationships with each of them. Mademoiselle inspires the envy and dislike of her colleagues Miss Lumley and Mrs. Appleyard, yet she refuses to let herself be roped into their petty plays for power. Toward the end of the novel, Mademoiselle—perturbed not only by the senior girls’ disappearances but by the distressing emotional changes in the students left behind—begins to suspect that dark forces are at work at Appleyard College. Noticing Mrs. Appleyard’s declining mental state and worried over Sara Waybourne’s sudden, mysterious departure from the college (Mademoiselle is the only one to know Sara well enough to be disturbed by the prized possession she seems to have left behind) Mademoiselle writes to Constable Bumpher to let him know that something is not right at the school. Mademoiselle leaves Appleyard to marry a watchmaker in town, severing her ties to the school for the sake of her own sanity—but the narrator of the book reveals that the events of the summer and autumn of 1900 change the woman forever.
Mademoiselle Dianne de Poitiers Quotes in Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Picnic at Hanging Rock quotes below are all either spoken by Mademoiselle Dianne de Poitiers or refer to Mademoiselle Dianne de Poitiers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“I have instructed Mademoiselle that as the day is likely to be warm, you may remove your gloves after the drag has passed through Woodend. You will partake of luncheon at the Picnic Grounds near the Rock. Once again let me remind you that the Rock itself is extremely dangerous and you are therefore forbidden to engage in any tomboy foolishness in the matter of exploration, even on the lower slopes. […] I think that is all. Have a pleasant day and try to behave yourselves in a manner to bring credit to the College.”
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Chapter 12
Quotes
They see the walls of the gymnasium fading into an exquisite transparency, the ceiling opening up like a flower into the brilliant sky above the Hanging Rock. The shadow of the Rock is flowing, luminous as water, across the shimmering plain and they are at the picnic, sitting on the warm dry grass under the gum trees. […] The shadow of the Rock has grown darker and longer. They sit rooted to the ground and cannot move. The dreadful shape is a living monster lumbering towards them across the plain, scattering rocks and boulders. So near now, they can see the cracks and hollows where the lost girls lie rotting in a filthy cave.
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Mademoiselle Dianne de Poitiers Quotes in Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Picnic at Hanging Rock quotes below are all either spoken by Mademoiselle Dianne de Poitiers or refer to Mademoiselle Dianne de Poitiers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“I have instructed Mademoiselle that as the day is likely to be warm, you may remove your gloves after the drag has passed through Woodend. You will partake of luncheon at the Picnic Grounds near the Rock. Once again let me remind you that the Rock itself is extremely dangerous and you are therefore forbidden to engage in any tomboy foolishness in the matter of exploration, even on the lower slopes. […] I think that is all. Have a pleasant day and try to behave yourselves in a manner to bring credit to the College.”
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Chapter 12
Quotes
They see the walls of the gymnasium fading into an exquisite transparency, the ceiling opening up like a flower into the brilliant sky above the Hanging Rock. The shadow of the Rock is flowing, luminous as water, across the shimmering plain and they are at the picnic, sitting on the warm dry grass under the gum trees. […] The shadow of the Rock has grown darker and longer. They sit rooted to the ground and cannot move. The dreadful shape is a living monster lumbering towards them across the plain, scattering rocks and boulders. So near now, they can see the cracks and hollows where the lost girls lie rotting in a filthy cave.
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