De Laceys' exile
The De Laceys' exile represents one of the novel's most pointed demonstrations of how a single act of principled compassion can, under an unjust social order, lead to total ruin. The family—the blind patriarch De Lacey, his son Felix, and his daughter Agatha—had once lived in affluence and distinction in Paris, respected by their superiors and beloved by their equals. Their fall from this comfortable existence was not brought about by any vice or failure of their own, but by Felix's decision to help a man he believed to be the victim of a flagrant injustice.
Causes and Background
The chain of events that led to the De Laceys' exile began with the trial and condemnation of a Turkish merchant who had been living in Paris. The Turk was sentenced to death on charges that the public widely regarded as a pretext; it was widely judged that his religion and wealth, rather than any actual crime, had motivated the verdict. Felix happened to be present at the trial and was overcome with uncontrollable horror and indignation at the court's decision. He made a solemn vow on the spot to deliver the prisoner, and after many fruitless attempts to gain admittance to the prison, he discovered a strongly grated window in an unguarded part of the building that lit the Turk's dungeon. Visiting the grate at night, Felix made known his intentions. The Turk, amazed and delighted, tried to kindle Felix's zeal with promises of reward and wealth, but Felix rejected these offers with contempt. However, when Felix saw the Turk's daughter, Safie, who was allowed to visit her father and who expressed her lively gratitude through gestures, he could not help acknowledging to himself that the captive possessed a treasure that would fully reward his toil and hazard. The Turk quickly perceived the impression his daughter had made on Felix and secured him further by promising her hand in marriage once he was safe. Felix was too delicate to accept the offer outright, but he looked forward to the probability of the event as the consummation of his happiness. With the help of his father and sister, who aided the deceit by quitting their house under the pretense of a journey and concealing themselves in an obscure part of Paris, Felix procured passports in their names. On the night before the Turk's scheduled execution, the prisoner escaped, and Felix conducted the fugitives through France to Lyons and across Mont Cenis to Leghorn, where the merchant decided to wait for an opportunity to reach Turkish dominions.
What Happens: Discovery and Punishment
The French government was greatly enraged by the escape of their victim and spared no effort to detect and punish his deliverer. The plot was quickly discovered, and De Lacey and Agatha were thrown into prison. The news reached Felix in Italy and roused him from his dream of pleasure. The thought that his blind and aged father and his gentle sister lay in a noisome dungeon while he enjoyed the free air and the society of Safie was torture to him. He quickly arranged with the Turk that if the latter found a favorable opportunity to escape before Felix could return to Italy, Safie should remain as a boarder at a convent in Leghorn. Then, quitting the lovely Arabian, Felix hastened to Paris and delivered himself up to the vengeance of the law, hoping to free his father and sister by this proceeding. He did not succeed. They remained confined for five months before the trial took place. The result of the trial deprived them of their fortune and condemned them to a perpetual exile from their native country.
Consequences and Aftermath
The family found a miserable asylum in a cottage in Germany, where the monster discovered them. Their life there was one of grinding poverty and sorrow. Their nourishment consisted entirely of the vegetables from their garden and the milk of one cow, which gave very little during the winter. They often suffered the pangs of hunger, especially the two younger cottagers, who would place food before the old man while reserving none for themselves. Felix, who had once been bred in the service of his country, was now the saddest of the group, his heart preyed upon by the ingratitude of the Turk and the loss of his beloved Safie. He could have endured poverty, and while this distress had been the reward of his virtue, he gloried in it; but the treachery of the Turk, who, on discovering Felix's ruin, insultingly sent him a pittance of money and quitted Italy with his daughter, was a misfortune more bitter and irreparable. The arrival of Safie at the cottage infused new life into Felix's soul, but the family's precarious existence was ultimately shattered when the monster's attempt to befriend the blind De Lacey was violently interrupted by Felix, who tore the creature from his father and drove him away. The horror of the encounter forced the family to abandon even this humble refuge, and the monster, in his despair, burned the cottage to the ground. The De Laceys thus disappear from the narrative, their fate a testament to how the virtuous can be crushed by the very systems they try to oppose.
