“The Spectacles” is a short, humorous story by Edgar Allan Poe about a man who is love-struck one evening at the opera. Here’s a summary of “The Spectacles”.
“The Spectacles” Summary
The narrator has a story that adds to the truth of the expression, “love at first sight”. He’s twenty-two and was known as Napoleon Froissart until he legally changed his last name. To receive an inheritance from his distant relative Adolphus Simpson, he took the last name Simpson. He did so with some hesitation, as he felt a certain pride in his own name. It descended by marriages from Moissart, Voissart and Croissart down to Froissart.
Napoleon Simpson is good looking and doesn’t want to spoil his appearance by wearing glasses, which he needs. In the winter, he attends the opera with his friend Mr. Talbot. Simpson sees an exquisite and divine woman in a private box. Although her face is partly turned toward the stage and he can’t get a full view of it, he’s overcome by all her features. He stares at her for half an hour and falls madly in love.
When she turns her head, he sees she’s even more beautiful than he anticipated, yet, there’s something unsettling in her expression that he has a hard time identifying.
She’s accompanied by a gentleman and a strikingly beautiful woman. It’s too crowded for Simpson to move any closer to her. He points her out to Talbot who informs him she’s the celebrated Madame Lalande, a wealthy widow just arrived from Paris. He agrees to introduce Simpson to her tomorrow at one.
Simpson continues looking at her, again feeling disturbed by a certain gravity or weariness in her manner, but this only intensifies his feelings. She becomes aware of his gaze and blushes, eventually looking back at his through a double eyeglass for several minutes. He’s not offended by this boldness, as he usually would be.
Madame Lalande’s staring distracts the audience for a time but she doesn’t seem to notice. She turns her attention back to the performance but continues to look at him surreptitiously. She has some words with her gentleman companion and they both look at Simpson. She again takes out her eye-glass and surveys him carefully. Delirious with excitement, Simpson subtly bows his head to her.
He feels he’s crossed a line. He’s amazed when she looks at him again and returns the gesture. Overjoyed, his thoughts run wild with love.
The performance ends and Simpson tries to make his way closer to her but the crowd makes it impossible.
The next day, Simpson goes to Talbot’s at one. He’s informed Talbot left town after breakfast and won’t be back for a week. Simpson inwardly rages at his friend’s oversight and leaves.
While talking to a group of friends on the street (trying to get an introduction), Madame Lalande rides by in an open carriage, accompanied by the younger woman who was with her at the opera. Everyone remarks on her beauty, and of her companion. Simpson notices she smiled at him.
Simpson calls on Talbot every day, but after two weeks he’s still not back. He sees Madame Lalande again at the opera and realizes he must take matters into his own hands. After the play, he follows her home and notes her address. The next morning he sends her a letter pouring out his feelings.
She writes him back a short letter in broken English that’s positive but demure, signed “Eugenie Lalande”. Simpson tries to get a letter of introduction from Talbot but is unsuccessful.
Simpson had been watching Eugenie’s house and noticed she would walk on the grounds in the evening. Emboldened by the reception of his letter, he decides to visit. He approaches like an old friend and she responds in kind, so the servant backs away. They talk in French and he asks her to marry him.
Eugenie points out that his interest in meeting her is well-known among everyone, so the recency of their acquaintance can’t be hidden, making a quick marriage improper. Furthermore, he doesn’t know her well and is probably infatuated. He overcomes her objections with a speech about his devotion and admiration.
“The Spectacles” Summary, Cont’d
She raises one other point she’s sure he hasn’t properly considered. It’s generally considered improper for the wife to be older than the husband. Simpson doesn’t think she’s much older than he is and spurns this convention. He hopes she will reveal her age but she doesn’t. She drops a miniature which she tells Simpson to keep—it could give him the information he’s looking for.
He can look at it in the morning. Right now, he can go inside with her under the guise of an old acquaintance for a little gathering of French musicians. It’s dimly lit and the performances are very good. Madame Lalande performs herself, and sings beautifully. Simpson can’t go with her into the other room out of propriety, but he hears it.
They have a long, earnest conversation in which Simpson reveals all about himself, including the weakness in his vision and his aversion to spectacles.
Eugenie shows him the eye-glass she used at the opera. In exchange for the great favor, according to him, of marrying her, she wants a favor in return. Simpson agrees to whatever she demands. She wants him to conquer his weakness and wear spectacles. She gives him the eye-glass, which can be easily adapted for the purpose. He agrees to wear them if she’ll be his wife.
They make plans for tomorrow. He’ll go get a carriage from Talbot (who’s just returned) and come back with it and Talbot. When the gathering breaks up at about 2 a.m., Eugenie will sneak out unnoticed when they’ll go to a clergyman who’ll marry them. They’ll drop Talbot off and set out on a tour of the East.
Simpson leaves on his task, stopping only to inspect the miniature with the aid of the eye-glass. The inscription identifies Eugenie as twenty-seven.
The plan goes flawlessly. At two in the morning, they’re riding out of town as husband and wife. At about four, they stop at a village for an early breakfast and some rest. Sitting in the parlor, Simpson realizes this is the first time he’s been with Eugenie in full daylight.
She reminds him of his promise to wear the spectacles. He positions them carefully and Eugenie sits bolt upright. Thinking there’s something wrong with the glasses, he wipes them and puts them back. He’s horrified to see rouge and wrinkles. He springs to his feet in a rage.
“The Spectacles” Summary, Cont’d
She reveals she’s eighty-two. He calls her names and brings up the inscription, which said twenty-seven. That was taken fifty-five years ago as a portrait for her daughter by her first husband, Mr. Moissart.
The name throws him and Eugenie expounds on the marriages in her family history—her daughter married a Voissart, her granddaughter a Croissart, and her great-granddaughter a Froissart. Simpson reels from the list of names.
Furthermore, Eugenie’s descendant, Mr. Froissart, has a stupid son named Napoleon Froissart whom she hasn’t encountered yet. She faces him threateningly, tears off her wig of beautiful black hair and dances on it in a rage.
Falling into the chair, Simpson reveals he is Napoleon Froissart and he’s married his great-great-grandmother.
The scene ends and Simpson explains what happened. Madame Lalande kept the attractive bearing from her younger days and supplemented it with makeup, fake hair and fake teeth. She came to America with a young relative, Stephanie Lalande, in search of Napoleon Froissart, to make him her heir. At the opera, she noted the family resemblance and assumed he knew who she was. Talbot assumed he was smitten with Stephanie.
Eugenie ran into Talbot and uncovered what was going on. She wanted to punish him for making a fool of himself in public and arranged it with Talbot. He would delay the introduction. Everyone else assumed he was referring to the younger woman. The Madame Lalande who sang at the house was Stephanie; Eugenie accompanied on the piano.
The clergyman was fake and in on it. He, with Talbot at his side, drove the carriage that took the new “couple” out of town. They watched the embarrassing scene play out through a window.
So, Simpson isn’t married to his great-great-grandmother. She made him her heir and helped him marry Stephanie Lalande. He’s done with love letters and always wears his glasses.
I hope this summary of “The Spectacles” by Edgar Allan Poe was helpful.