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1.
The Lady and the Unicorn is based on real tapestries of the same name.
Does the knowledge that The Lady and the Unicorn is based on real events
and people affect your reading? If so, how?
2. The novel is structured around the making of the tapestries, from
their conception to their completion. The lives of the people involved
in their creation are altered. What does this suggest about the
interconnectedness of life and art?
3. In The Lady and the Unicorn, each character has a different
understanding of the function of art. Is it, as Claude believes "to
imitate life" or is it as Nicolas des Innocents suggests, "to
make things more beautiful than they are?"
4. In Girl with a Pearl Earring and in The Lady and the Unicorn, Tracy
Chevalier seems to suggest that art and desire are intertwined. How does
she do this? Do you agree? Similarly, both novels also seem interested
in the relationship between the viewer and the viewed.
5. The novel is written from a number of points of view. What does this
allow Tracy Chevalier to achieve? Nicolas des Innocents's point of view
is pivotal. Can you explain why?
6. Is Nicolas des Innocents as innocent as his name suggests? What does
he learn by the end of the novel?
7. The tapestries feature a unicorn and a lady. In the novel, a unicorn
is a symbol that has a very different meaning for each character. What
does the unicorn represent to Nicolas des Innocents? To Jean LeViste?
What else does the unicorn mean?
8. The each tapestry represents a different sense with the exception of
the sixth. In this one, the lady is holding the necklace she wears in
the other five tapestries as she stands in front of a battlefield tent,
with a lion and the unicorn holding the flaps of the entrance open.
Emblazoned above the entrance in gold is the phrase "A Mon Seul
Desir" ("To My One Desire"). Some interpret this tapestry
as a renunciation of the five senses; others argue that it shows love is
the sixth sense and the tapestry is an introduction to seduction. The
novel offers an interpretation through Nicolas des Innocents who says
that the tapestries "aren't just about a seduction, but about the
soul too." What does the sixth tapestry mean to you?
9. How are secrets important in this novel?
10. In The Lady and the Unicorn the relationship between mothers and
daughters is explored. How is the relationship between Claude and
Genevieve different from the relationship between Alienor and Christine?
How are they similar? What do they suggest about the way mothers and
daughters interacted with each other at this point in time?
11. In this novel, Tracy Chevalier describes the position of women at
this point in history. What was their primary role? How did the novel's
different women-Genevieve, Claude, Alienor, and Christine-deal with the
limitations places upon them by society? Is Claude right when she says,
referring to the convent, "A place that is a paradise to Maman and
a prison to me. But that is what a lady's life is, I've found."?
12. The novel takes place in Paris and in Brussels. We learn of the
snobbery of the French towards the Belgian people and get a real sense
of how these two societies were different. How does this opposition
contribute to the novel?
13. How does Philippe de la Tour's job as the cartoonist foreshadow the
part he will play in Alienor's life?
14. Are the tapestries the only works of art in this novel? What else
could be considered a work of art?
15. Leon le Vieux at the end of the novel says, after "poking at
the lavender and rosemary bushes, 'I'm always surprised how resilient
these are in winter'?quot; What else could he be referring to?
16. The Lady and the Unicorn takes place during two years, starting
during Lent-Eastertide 1490 and ending in Septuagesima 1492. How does
the compression of the events into two years contribute to the novel's
power?
17. In the novel's last scene, Genevieve tells Nicolas that the tapestry
describing touch is her favorite. She explains that she likes it best
because "she is very clear, that lady-clear in the soul. She's
standing in a doorway, on the threshold between one life and another,
and she's looking forward with happy eyes." Nicolas tells us that
his inspiration is quite different, that he had sought to describe
Christine "standing in the doorway to the workshop, pleased that
she would be weaving. What does Genevieve's interpretation reveal? What
does Tracy Chevalier seem to suggest about the very nature of art in
Genevieve's interpretation and Nicolas's intent?
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