Warning: There are a few spelling errors.
             'It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.'
             'What is essential is invisible to the eye,' the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
             -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
             The ending of Stendhal's, The Red the Black, is obscure. Julien Sorel is sentenced to death by guillotine for the crime of attempting to murder Mme. de Rênal, his former mistress. During his trial, Julien has the sympathy of the town and powerful figures of influence behind him; he could quite easily change the verdict of trial by simply claiming his act was a crime of passion. Yet Julien stubbornly insists, from the moment of the offense until the day of his death, that his crime was utterly premeditated and he deserves nothing short of death.
             The details of the crime are nebulous. Throughout his life, Julien devoted all his energy to perfecting his outward behavior in order to transcend humble, peasant, beginnings and achieve fame, wealth, and social status. On the very brink of achieving his goal (he had acquired estates, a title, the rank of lieutenant of the Hussars,) a letter from Mme. de Rênal, accusing him of deliberately seducing her, threatens to unravel Julien's carefully wrought future. After being informed of the letter, Julien leaves suddenly for Verrières, buys a pair of pistols, and shoots Mme. de Rênal in the middle of Mass. In the time between reading the letter and the shooting, the reader hears none of Julien's, usually prevalent, inner monologues, nor does he receive any commentary by the narrator. All that is given are a few objective details: 1.) Julien fails an attempt to write a legible letter, and 2.) Julien has a difficult time communicating with the gunsmith. These facts indicate that Julien was in no rational state, but the very sparsity of information leave...