The Lady and the Unicorn-Questions
A Reading Group Guide for Discussing Chevalier’s Novel
A set of five questions for reading groups to use when discussing the novel The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier.
1. Consider the conversation between Nicolas Des Innocents and Leon Le Vieux in the first chapter of the novel. “‘So what do you think about the Battle of Nancy?’ Leon asked. I shrugged ‘What does it matter? All battles are the same, non?’ ‘That’s like saying all women are the same.’ I smiled. ‘I repeat—all battles are the same.’” (9)
What does the preceding conversation tell you about Nicolas’s attitude towards women? Does it explain his obsession with Claude, the woman he never got? Is he interested in Claude because she is special or is he simply interested because she was a ‘battle’ he lost?
2. When Nicolas first realizes that Alienor is blind, he seems disenchanted. However, he soon becomes intrigued by her and when he discovers that her parents are planning on marrying her off to a man that is revolting to everyone but especially to Alienor with her heightened sense of smell, he leaves in anger. When he returns, he and Alienor have an affair, he paints her as the lady in Taste, and later Alienor has his child.
How does Nicolas’s relationship with Alienor contradict the thoughts mentioned in the quote in the preceding question? Do you think he loves her? Why do you think he painted her as Taste? Was he recording his conquest or was he revealing his heart?
3. At the end of the book, Claude’s lady, Beatrice, corners Nicolas and says “I’ve got you...I had to live nine months in Hell because of you. I made messages go astray because of you. I’m not going to let go now.” (244) Later Nicolas considers “Claude looked at her mother and then at me, her eyes bright with tears. We were both of us being punished.” (245)
Why do you think Beatrice wanted Nicolas so badly? Do you think Nicolas was a good husband to her? How was the marriage a punishment to Claude? To Nicolas? Was it a punishment to Beatrice?
4. Near the beginning of the book Claude and Nicolas discuss the purpose of art. “‘But anyway, you are an artist, non? Isn’t that what you do—imitate life?’ ‘I make things more beautiful than they are’”
Jean Le Viste, who commissions the tapestries, wants a battle scene that features his coat of arms prominently. For Le Viste the purpose of all art is to present his coat of arms to the world.
Later Nicolas has a conversation with Claude’s mother Genevieve de Nanterre. Genevieve doesn’t want the tapestries to lie as they would if a battle scene is painted depicting the Le Viste family in a battle they were not at. She wants the tapestries to convey examples of a spiritual nature to the audience in particular Claude.
What do you think the nature of art is? Who do you agree with? Are they all wrong about art? Or is art a composite of all their ideas?
5. Nicolas makes beautiful paintings for each of the tapestries and is reluctant to surrender them to the weavers. He is especially reluctant to allow them to make the cartoons needed to use as patterns for the weavings. He is quickly tutored by Philipe in the changes necessary to make a workable tapestry. In the end, Nicolas grudgingly accepts the fact that the tapestries are better for the changes.
Is art more inspiration or perspiration? Do you think talent makes the artists or their craftsmanship? What do you think Chevalier believes?
Chevalier, Tracy. The Lady and the Unicorn. Penguin Group, USA, 2004. ISBN-0-525-94767-1
More Resources for Chevalier's Novel
- Read a review of The Lady and the Unicorn.
- Learn about the major characters in The Lady and the Unicorn.
- Learn about the minor characters in The Lady and the Unicorn.
