Marie-Claude Character Analysis

Franz’s wife and Marie-Anne’s mother. Marie-Claude owns an art gallery, and she and Franz have a loveless marriage. Franz believes that Marie-Claude is weak, and that she can’t live without him, but this proves untrue after Franz tells her about his affair with Sabina and Marie-Claude kicks him out. Even though Marie-Claude is not in love with Franz, she will not consent to a divorce, a play to power which keeps her in control over him. Franz is assaulted in Bangkok after the Grand March, and Marie-Claude convincingly plays the role of grieving wife, even sitting next to Franz’s bed as he dies. Franz is unable to speak in his final days, and he keeps looking at Marie-Claude, who is certain that his eyes are asking her forgiveness. She forgives Franz and continues the role of the grieving wife at his funeral, where Franz’s girlfriend sits in the back and cries. It is likely that Franz was not seeking Marie-Claude’s forgiveness in his final days and that his stare was more indicative of hate or disgust. Still, Marie-Claude ignores this, as do all the people at Franz’s funeral, who all know that Franz and Marie-Claude’s marriage was over. This willful disregard for the truth is yet another example of kitsch, which Kundera argues cannot be escaped.