"Undertones"? Ah, it's true love, but they realise it too late! I don't think there's any non-sexual way of reading it! I did see a version of the play staged but so long ago...I'll get the adaptation script one day to jog my hopeless brain, but I do remember this scene as quite low-lit and slashy. Even in Wajda's version it retains that quality, which I saw as tragic, but I know some see as Wajda just being homophobic (deviant sexuality/diseased regime).

Heh - I bet Danton put it a hell of a lot more colourfully that Robespierre writes it (I love his 'I'll eat his brains and shit in his skull' line!)