Madame Character Analysis in Never Let Me Go

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Madame (whose real name is Marie-Claude) is a Hailsham benefactor. She is described as an elegant, aloof woman of an ambiguous age. Toward the beginning of the novel, we learn that Madame used to visit Hailsham a few times a year to collect the students’ best artwork, which she was rumored to keep in a personal gallery. The students were never told why Madame collected their artwork, only that it was important and a great honor.

When Kathy is around eight, Ruth speculates that Madame is afraid of the students. Amused that a grown-up could be frightened of children, a group of girls decide to swarm around Madame during her next visit to assess her reaction. However, their mood shifts from amused to distressed when they realize that Madame is genuinely repulsed by their close proximity, the same way that someone might be disgusted by a large spider. Kathy recalls how Madame froze in shock and seemed to repress a shudder when the group of students came close to her. Her reaction was a traumatic moment for Kathy and her friends because they were “not prepared” to be seen in such a negative light. Her interaction with Madame is an essential component to Kathy’s development because it is the first time in her life that she realizes she and her fellow students are different from the people in the outside world. Madame’s revulsion is also significant to the reader because it is one of the first indicators that the Hailsham students are not normal children. Ishiguro intentionally keeps his readers in the dark at the start of the novel and does not tell us that the Hailsham students are clones until the end of Part One, generating tension within the narrative.

Madame is obviously revolted by the students. However, as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that she is a more nuanced character than readers are initially led to believe. To begin with, Kathy recalls how Madame sobbed while watching a young Kathy dance to the song “Never Let Me Go.” At the end of the novel, we learn that Madame was mourning the loss of a kinder and gentler past, one that was let go in the name of a harsh new future. In Kathy, she saw a little girl holding onto the old world and pleading for it to never let her go. We also learn that Madame and Miss Emily started Hailsham in the first place because they were a part of a progressive movement that wanted to treat the clones with humanity instead of simply regarding them as organ-farms. Madame even collected the children’s art as proof that they had souls like regular people. However, the movement that Madame belonged to lost its hold on the public and, like Hailsham, exists no more. As a result, Madame represents a kinder, empathetic past that has been forgotten in the face of technological advancement.

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