Analysis Of The Mansion Scene In Horseman On The Roof

In the mansion scene from Horseman on the Roof, the sexual tension between Pauline and Angelo reaches its height. The whole movie builds up their relationship, culminating in this scene where they find themselves alone together in a remote mansion. In the mansion they make a fire in the living room, and they sit drinking wine together. At this point, Pauline drunkenly confesses to having romantic feelings for Angelo. Along with Pauline’s confession, the fact that they are all alone in the middle of nowhere makes Angelo uncomfortable; he knows exactly where this conversation will lead if he were to say how he felt about her. Instead, he resolves that he must leave the mansion and continue his journey to Italy without Pauline. Upon hearing this, she taunts Angelo, saying his mother probably discouraged him from spending a night alone with a woman. He counters this, bringing up the point that he never seemed wild enough by his mother’s standards.

Contrary to Pauline’s hypothesis, Angelo’s fear of having sex with her most likely stems from the fact that he himself was born out of wedlock. His father was never there for him; he doesn’t want to bring someone into the world who would have that same experience as him. He wanted to be more honorable than his father, so he was willing to abandon Pauline if it meant he would not repeat his father’s mistake. As Pauline sees Angelo’s firm stance won’t be swain, she decides to go to bed. When Pauline begins scaling the staircase, she collapses due to the symptoms of cholera which start to take hold of her. Angelo takes her back down by the fire and starts to strip off her clothes so that he can rub her body to keep her circulation going, but she says she would rather die than have him see her naked. Despite this protest, Angelo takes off all Pauline’s clothes and rubs her body with alcohol. Ultimately, Angelo saves Pauline’s life by keeping her circulation going like this.

This whole sequence of events demonstrates that while Angelo loves Pauline and wants to protect her, he knows the risks of them becoming romantically involved. He doesn’t want to be like his own father, having an illegitimate child that he abandons. Additionally, Angelo cannot bring himself to accept the idea that he would be having sex with a married woman, and he holds himself to a code of honor which that would violate.