No. 4 · 1874
La Conquête de Plassans
The Conquest of Plassans
Abbé Faujas arrives in Plassans with a concealed political mission: the Empire's managers want the traditionally legitimist town to return government-approved deputies at the next elections. His method is a masterpiece of patience — he lodges with the Mouret family (François Mouret and his wife Marthe Rougon, daughter of Pierre and Félicité) under the guise of a humble, pious priest of modest means, then gradually cultivates the religious women of the town through his ostentatious devotion, builds a network of obligation and gratitude that covers the entire social fabric of Plassans, and delivers the vote. He accomplishes his mission. The human cost is the Mouret family. François — a quiet, methodical man whose entire happiness rests on domestic order — finds himself dispossessed room by room of his own house, his wife Marthe drawn away from him into a religious mania that Faujas deliberately intensifies because it is useful to him. She dies broken by what she has been made into. François, committed to the asylum at Les Tulettes (where his grandmother Adélaïde also lives), escapes and burns down the house with Faujas and his sister inside. Félicité Rougon, hearing of the fire from a safe distance, considers the political outcome satisfactory.
L'abbé Faujas arrive à Plassans chargé d'une mission politique secrète : livrer la ville à l'Empire. Il s'installe chez les Mouret, exploite méthodiquement la dévotion de Marthe Rougon jusqu'à la briser, dépossède François Mouret de sa maison et de sa raison. Mission accomplie : Plassans vote pour l'Empire. Prix humain : Marthe meurt, François incendie la maison avec Faujas à l'intérieur. Félicité Rougon juge le bilan politique satisfaisant.
Setting: Plassans