Identity and Displacement

Characters grapple with their identities in a world of exile and shifting allegiances—Adèle is torn between her royalist upbringing and liberal ideals, while Cosmo feels like a stranger in foreign lands, and the émigrés struggle to define themselves after the Revolution.

Cosmo, an Englishman in Genoa, experiences a sense of being an outsider, navigating unfamiliar social and political terrain.

Cosmo's identity as an Englishman is highlighted, while the mysterious man's national and political affiliations remain ambiguous, reflecting the displacement of individuals in a post-war Europe.

The D'Armands, once part of the French aristocracy, now live as penniless exiles in London, their identities reshaped by displacement and loss.

Cosmo's desire to avoid meeting anyone he knows and his observation of the changing social landscape highlight themes of identity and displacement.