Summary
A chilling exploration of performativity and perception, "Babbling Tongues" unfolds within the seemingly tranquil domesticity of elderly Joseph Moreau and his youthful spouse, Therese. Their charitable act of sheltering the penurious playwright Paul Savary inadvertently ignites a conflagration of societal whispers, insinuating an illicit liaison between Therese and their guest. The insidious tendrils of rumor compel Paul to seek separate lodgings, yet the insidious murmurations persist, culminating in a public confrontation. Paul, defending his honor, accepts a challenge to a duel, only for Joseph, consumed by a complex cocktail of pride and proprietary indignation, to usurp his place. The ensuing combat proves fatal for Joseph, who, mortally wounded, stumbles back to Paul's sanctuary. There, he discovers Therese, present not for an assignation, but to implore Paul to eschew the impending duel. In his final, agonizing breaths, Joseph condemns the perceived treachery of the pair, a moment of profound dramatic irony that shatters with the subsequent revelation: the entire tragic tableau is but the intricate fabric of Paul's nascent theatrical creation, being recited to a captivated Joseph and Therese. It's a masterful narrative sleight-of-hand, dissecting the fragility of truth and the potent, often destructive, alchemy of artistic illusion.
When elderly Joseph Moreau and his young wife Therese offer refuge to starving young dramatist Paul Savary, gossips begin to spread rumors of a love affair between the wife and the writer. For the good of all concerned, Paul moves into separate quarters. One day Paul overhears the gossip again at a café and challenges the purveyor of the lie to a duel. Moreau, for his own satisfaction, takes Paul's place in combat and is mortally wounded. Moreau staggers to Paul's apartment where he discovers Therese, who has come to beg the writer to refuse to fight. The husband dies cursing the traitorous couple, and then it is revealed that the whole incident was the narrative of Paul's new play, which he is reciting to Moreau and Therese.
