The Black Tulip

The Black Tulip is a historical novel and a work of Romantic poetry written by Alexandre Dumas, père, and first published in 1850.
Story
The story begins with a historic event of 1672: the lynching of the Dutch Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis, considered rebels against the upcomming stadtholder and the Prince of Orange, William III.
The plot takes place while tulip mania grips the Netherlands. The main fictional character, Cornelius Van Baerle, belongs to the natural school, whose motto was: "To despise flowers is to offend God", and thus followed the syllogism:
"To despise flowers is to offend God,
The more beautiful the flower is, the more does one offend God in despising it,
The tulip is the most beautiful of all flowers,
Therefore, he who despises the tulip offends God beyond measure". (p. 46, The Black Tulip)
The city of Haarlem had set the prize of 100,000 Francs to whoever could grow a black tulip. At stake was not only the prize, but fame and honour. Also, the gardener would perpetuate his name in history by the tulip's recorded name.
The prosperous Cornelius Van Baerle, godson of Cornelius de Witt, starts the liking of growing tulips in his state. Then he takes the challenge of growing the black tulip. But as an act of misfortune, his neighbour, Isaac Boxtel – also a gardener – watches his every move, and fearing Cornelius' success, starts plotting. Following unsuccessful schemes, Boxtel, moved by envy, denounces Van Baerle to Justice, because of Van Baerle's relation to the brothers De Witt who at the time were traitors of the nation.
Van Baerle is suddenly arrested, and condemned to a life sentence in prison. Dumas uses religious beliefs for dramatic effect, and also uses words such as "Fate", "Providence" and "Misfortune". Misfortune plays a major influence throughout the events of Van Baerle's life, but at the end turns out to be a major act of Providence, showing that God is always in control, both in sadness as in happiness.
In prison, Van Baerle meets the beautiful daughter of the jailer, Rosa Gryphus. Cornelius loses everything but had kept the bulbs of the tulips, which were expected to have black flowers. In midst of loss and sorrows, Rosa helps him to grow the flower in the jail. His growing affection for Rosa gives him courage to not give up his fancies and expectations. Rosa is seen as a brave and virtuous girl.
The philosophy of the book is summed up in the quote "Sometimes one has suffered so much that he has the right never to be able to say, ‘I am too happy.’" (p. 204 The Black Tulip).
The novel was originally published in three volumes in 1850 as La Tulipe Noire by Baudry (Paris). The Count of Monte Cristo, also by Dumas, has similar themes of love, revenge and faith.
Characters
William, Prince of Orange, afterward William III, King of England.
Louis XIV, King of France
Cornelis de Witt, inspector of dikes at the Hague
Johan de Witt, his brother, Grand Pensionary of Holland
Colonel van Deeken, aide-de-camp to William of Orange
Dr. Cornelius van Baerle, a tulip-fancier, godson of Cornelius de Witt
Mynheer Isaac Boxtel, his rival
Marquis de Louvois
Count Tilly, captain of the cavalry of The Hague
Mynheer Bowelt, deputy
Mynheer d'Asperen, deputy
The Recorder of the States
Master van Spenser, a magistrate at Dort
Tyckalaer, a surgeon at The Hague
Gerard Dow
Mynheer van Systens, burgomaster of Haarlem and president of its Horticultural Society
Craeke, a confidential servant of John de Witt
Gryphus, a jailer, Rosa's father
Rosa, his daughter, in love with Cornelius van Baerle
Reception
George Saintsbury described the novel as "charming in parts", but felt that Dumas had spun the story out to "an unconscionable length".
Adaptations
The first screen adaptation appears to have been a silent 1921 Dutch-UK co-production directed by Maurits Binger and Frank Richardson. Alex Bryce directed a well-regarded UK adaptation of the novel in 1937, with Patrick Waddington as Cornelius Van Baerle. A five-part BBC miniseries debuted in August 1956 with Douglas Wilmer in the lead role. A second British miniseries appeared in September 1970. In 1988, Australia's Burbank production company created a 50-minute children's animated film from a bowdlerised version of the story.
A musical adaptation was written in 2004 by Kit Goldstein, and premiered at Union College in February 2005.
See also
Assassinations in fiction
Tulip mania
References
External links
The Black Tulip full text at Google Books
eLook Literature: The Black Tulip - HTML version broken down chapter by chapter.
Webpage for The Black Tulip musical at kitgoldstein.com.
1850 French novels
Fiction set in 1672
Novels by Alexandre Dumas
Historical novels
Novels set in the 1670s
Novels set in the Dutch Golden Age
French novels adapted into plays
Cultural depictions of William III of England
Cultural depictions of Louis XIV
French novels adapted into films
Novels set in prison