'tu' and 'vous' in Leroux

Archived for my reference, so I don't have to go looking all this stuff up again...

Interestingly, 'tu' does get used in Leroux -- Christine and Raoul are both very well-brought-up, but they occasionally slip when yelling at/to each other: "tais-toi donc, Raoul!" "Eh bien, dis, maintenant!" "Christine, aie pitié! Je vais mourir dans la forêt... loin de toi!" "Raoul! souffres-tu?" "va donc, Christine, ma femme adorée!"( Read more... )

Edit: (from comment on Phantom Thoughts Part 8)

Erik uses both to Christine, for example: in the scene overheard by Raoul he initially says Vous devez être bien fatiguée? (You (vous) must be very tired?) and then, momens later, Ton âme est bien belle, mon enfant, et je te remercie (Your soul is a beautiful thing, my child, and I thank you (tu)).
I'm sure the deliberate switch here is supposed to be conveying all sorts of overtones, but I don't know what... At a guess, he is switching to a more 'paternal'/priestly form of address, but that's a fairly wild stab in the dark.

He uses 'vous' to her after he reveals himself up until the unmasking, when he starts yelling at her with 'tu': "Tu as voulu voir! Vois!" (So this is what you wanted to see -- then look!)
He continues to do so during their next directly reported conversation, after he has kidnapped her and tied her up, but when she quotes him as saying 'I restore you your liberty on condition you wear this ring' he is using 'vous' in the interim, and I'd guess he probably reverts at the point where he is weeping and clutching the hem of her skirt; at this point he is once again treating her with respect.( Read more... )