Compare and Contrast Blanche and Sister Marie - Essay Example

College Compare and Contrast Blanche and Sister Marie Blanche de la Force, the daughter of a strong unbeliever, in a setting based on the era of the French revolution, is one of the main characters in Gertrud Von Le Fort’s “The Song at the Scaffold.” Another main character is Sister Marie, a leading nun in the convent, who is very confident of her faith and is not scared by death threats that come from the French revolutionary (Le 34). Sister Marie is confident that all the other nuns apart from Blanche will stick to their faith if the threat that they are given is fulfilled.

Blanche and Sister Marie have some similar traits that can be seen from their actions. However they also have a number of things that differentiate them. Some of their similarities include their faith and beliefs, while their differences mainly come due to their level of sacrifice for the church. Sister Marie is seen to be more dedicated to the church as compared to Blanche. Both Sister Marie and Blanche are strong believers in Christ. When Sister Marie is left in charge after the death of mother superior, she has no fear over the death threats that are given to her and her fellow nuns.

Instead she insists that they stay intact and that they do not lose their faith. When the Chevailier de la Force, Blanche’s brother come to take her home due to his fear of the safety of the convent, Blanche blankly refuses to go with him and maintains that she wants to remain in the convent and do Gods work. However she is frank to admit latter to Sister Mary about her fears which raises a lot of questions about Blanche’s possibility of remaining in the convent. When the officer come to the convent and announces that all the nuns should dress like everyone else Sister Marie is quoted saying “Nuns will continue to serve no matter how they are dressed.

” This shows how courageous sister Marie is, a similar trait that Blanche also has, seen from the way that she informs her brother that she is not going home with him (Le 56). After the death of mother superior, Sister Marie proposes to the other nuns that they should take a vow of martyrdom. She however insists that all of them must agree and she asks them to take a secret vote which they all agree but their vote count reveals that one of them is against the plan. After everyone has agreed Blanche runs away to her father’s place.

This shows us that she is a deserter and that she never wanted to take part in the plan. Sister Marie runs after her just to bring her back to the convent and serve her mission, this act shows us that the two had different levels of sacrifice to their faith. Sister Marie is very confident about her faith and she is even ready to die while Blanche on realizing t hat death is about to come she runs away to her father’s place to serve as a servant as she used to before. We learn that Blanche is someone who does not stick to what she says but instead keeps changing.

We also learn that sister Marie is a person who can do anything to protect her faith and that she does not keep changing like Blanche. In the second act, sister Marie is seen not to be as pretty as Blanche by the way that she talks about her appearance. Blanche on the other hand thinks that she is so pretty that any man would love to marry her and keep her as his wife even if she runs away from the convent. This gives us a glimpse of their difference in appearance. When Blanche is brought to the convent and kept under the care of mother superior, the mother superior informs her that it is the duty of the nuns to guard the order, she also informs her that the convent is not a hiding place but a place to serve god.

Later when her brother come to pick her up we learn from her confession to Sister Marie that Blanche is not in the convent because of the faith rather she is here because of her fear of her father. However Sister Marie is in the convent because of her faith not because she is running away from something. On the other hand Blanche’s resolution to retreat from the world is due to her fear and not because of any faith. We see a contradiction between the personality of Blanche and Sister Marie from this.

In the long run Blanche comes back to join the nuns in singing as they match to be prosecuted showing that she has finally accepted to join the nuns. Blanche and Sister Marie have almost similar traits. However they also have a number of things that differentiate them. It is however important to note that sister Marie has more similar traits with Blanche as compared to the few differences that they may have between them. These differences come about due to their background. Blanche was brought up by a non believer and her coming to the convent is a step towards her faith showing that she beat all odds to become a nun.

Work cited Le, Fort G, and Olga Marx. The Song at the Scaffold. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1933. Print.