The Black Tulip
- ISBN-10
- 8171674429
- ISBN-13
- 9788171674428
- Pages
- 360
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1902
- Publisher
- Collier
- Author
- Alexandre Dumas
Description
One of Dumas' last novels of historical fiction, The Black Tulip tells the story of the 1672 lynching of Johan de Witt, the Dutch Grand Pensionary, and his brother, Cornelius, by a mob of Dutch men. The event has been considered one of the most painful episodes in Dutch history and is described by Dumas with great intensity in the novel. The plot surrounds two fictional characters and their lives in the 18 months following the lynching. The reader gathers that the main characters are directly related to the episode in the middle of the novel, adding to the understanding of how dramatic the event was for the Dutch people. The novel's minor plot revolves around the countrywide gardening competition that would award any man or woman who could grow a black tulip a substantial monetary prize. Once a middle-class man seems to be close to achieving this feat, he is arrested and thrown in prison. Dumas ends the novel with the prisoner meeting and falling in love with the prison guard's daughter, the recounting of the horrible 1672 lynching, and the famous quote by Cornelius de Witt: "One has sometimes suffered enough to have the right never afterwards to say 'I am too happy.'"
