FR: Les papillons, c'est tellement beau

[declaum]

Bonjour.

The passage, from Le petit prince, that troubles me is the following:

Il faut bien que je supporte deux ou trois chenilles si je veux connaître les papillons. Il paraît que c'est tellement beau.

I've looked at four different translations of the second sentence and they all translate the second sentence as if "c'est" were referring to "les papillons". Here are two examples:

"I must bear two or three caterpillars if I want to know butterflies. They seem so beautiful".
"I will have to put put with a caterpillar or two if I want to experience butterflies. I hear they're so beautiful."

So my question is if in this passage, "c'est beau" can only refer to butterflies in general (as in "Les fleurs, c'est beau"), or if it could also be interpreted as referring to "connaître les papillons", and therefore could adequately be translated as:

I hear it's so beautiful.

In sum, when there's a clause and a noun before "c'est + adjective", can it refer to any one of them, in general (depending on context, of course)? And in this particular context, can "c'est" refer to the clause or the noun?

Merci d'avance.

 

[Yendred]

So my question is if in this passage, "c'est beau" can only refer to butterflies in general (as in "Les fleurs, c'est beau"), or if it could also be interpreted as referring to "connaître les papillons"

I think it refers to butterflies in general.
We would not say "c'est beau de connaître les papillons", but something like c'est génial, c'est intéressant, c'est passionnant, ...

 

[olivier68]

Remember that a "child" is speaking, here. He just wishes to have an opportunity to see butterflies. This seem to explain the choice of using plural (in the English translations) in the second sentence.

 

[Maître Capello]

So my question is if in this passage, "c'est beau" can only refer to butterflies in general (as in "Les fleurs, c'est beau"), or if it could also be interpreted as referring to "connaître les papillons"

It would be possible from a pure grammatical standpoint, but it would not be natural in your context because we say C'est beau, les papillons, but it wouldn't make much sense to say C'est beau de connaître les papillons as suggested by Yendred.

Remember that a "child" is speaking, here. He just wishes to have an opportunity to see butterflies. This seem to explain the choice of using plural (in the English translations) in the second sentence.

The plural in English has nothing to do with the fact that a child is speaking; an adult would say the same. C'est is in the singular in French, but a plural must be used in English to convey the right meaning:

Je veux connaître les papillons. Il paraît que c'est tellement beau. → I want to know butterflies. I hear they're so beautiful.
Je veux connaître les papillons. C'est ce que je souhaite ardemment. → I want to know butterflies. I'm craving it.

See also FR: <pluriel>, c'est / ce sont - accord du verbe.