Jules Verne's sci-fi novel (co-authored with André Laurie) "Five Hundred Million Begums": summary, characters

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Jules Verne is an icon of science fiction and adventure literature. Films, performances and musicals are made based on the writer's world-famous novels. He is the author of seventy novels, which he wrote in 77 years of his life.

A brief description of the life and work of the writer

Jules Verne was born in the city of Nantes (France). The father was a lawyer and therefore wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. The future writer in his youth was not eager to study the laws, and even once, in secret from his family, he enrolled as a cabin boy on a ship that sailed to India. But his dreams of the sea and wanderings were not destined to come true: the boy was sent home a couple of hours later, and the ship sailed to distant lands without him. He expressed his love for adventure and the sea many years later in books.

The writer studied law in Paris and successfully passed the qualifying exam, which allowed him to work as a lawyer, but he did not want to devote his life to jurisprudence. Jules Verne began to write plays, some productions were successful at the Historical Theater. In the future, the writer worked as a broker, secretary attheater, wrote short stories, novels and comedies.

Jules Verne's first book was published in 1863 and was called Five Weeks in a Balloon. The novel was a dizzying success and was enthusiastically received by readers. The writer realized that he needed to work in the genre of a science fiction novel. Jules Verne diluted the adventure and romantic plot of his novels with scientific facts and fictional miracles that were born in his fantasies.

Jules Verne - fortune teller

Jules Verne has become a true visionary in the world of technological progress. In his works, he anticipated the future creation of scuba gear, space rockets, submarines and weapons of mass destruction. He predicted the historical development of world society: the emergence of fascism, the rise to power of Hitler and the desire of the German nation for exclusivity. He expressed these ideas in the novels Five Hundred Million Begums and Master of the World.

The writer studied discoveries in mathematics, geography, chemistry and physics. He was immersed in this work and left behind more than twenty thousand cards describing scientific achievements. No wonder Jules Verne could see into the future.

Pure science in the work of Jules Verne

Books by Jules Verne convey to readers a passion and love for adventure, scientific discoveries. He wanted to develop a desire in fans of his work to explore the seas and oceans, space and land.

The writer was an ardent opponent of scientific knowledge being used for we althy people or in barbaricpurposes. He believed that discoveries in science should belong to all people and serve for the benefit of all mankind. Jules Verne especially hated scientists who wanted to use the rich scientific possibilities to dominate the world.

The story of the creation of the novel "Five Hundred Million Begums"

The novel, which will be discussed in the article, has an interesting history. In 1877, Etzel was sent to the publishing house a patriotic manuscript by André Laurie. Etzel read the manuscript, but gave it to Jules Verne to edit because it was not written perfectly.

Jules Verne read it and criticized the author of the novel for a boring plot and lack of intrigue. The publishing house signed an agreement under which Laurie transferred the rights to the plot and title of the work to Jules Verne. The writer re-worked the plot and images of the characters. The novel had several titles but ended up being published under the title Five Hundred Million Begums.

Short story of the novel

What is the novel about? To begin with, let's look at the summary of Jules Verne's Five Hundred Million Begums, and then dwell on the individual images and characters of the work.

Francois Sarazin, doctor and scientist, suddenly becomes the owner of a huge fortune and the title of baronet. This news he learns at a congress in England, it is told to him by Mr. Sharpe, a lawyer for Billows, Greene, Sharpe and Kᵒ. At first, Sarazen does not believe in the fact that happened, but after reading the documents, she realizes that he has become a rich man. His ancestor, Langevol, found himself inIndia, married a local begum (an honorary noble title of a woman) and became the owner of her we alth. When the Begum died, she had no heirs, and therefore her entire fortune went to her husband's only heir, François Sarazin.

Sarazen decided to invest in science. He puts forward to the scientific community the bold idea of creating a city where science, progress and equality will reign. Colleagues in the scientific workshop support his idea of creating a city of the future.

At this time, in the German city of Jena, which is famous for its education and universities, his distant relative, professor of chemistry Schulze, learns from the newspaper about Sarazen's legacy. Between relatives there is a legal dispute, which ends with an amicable agreement. Schulze and Sarazen split half a billion in half. When Schulze receives an inheritance, he decides to build another city where not science will reign, but iron and metal, fire and guns. Sarazen calls his city Franceville, and Schulze - Stahlstadt.

Schulze is jealous of his French relative and secretly builds a huge cannon that will wipe out not only Franceville, but the whole world. Marcel Bruckmann, a friend of the Sarazen family, takes a job as an engineer in a factory city in order to find out Schulze's main secret. With indescribable delight, Schulze shows Marcel a cannon whose projectiles are supplied with carbon dioxide. The professor set the date for the death of Franceville, but his calculations turned out to be erroneous, as a result, when the cannon fired, it destroyed Schulze and the city of Stahlstadt. After deathmad professor François Sarazin turns Stahlstadt into an industrial and arsenal center, appointing Marseille as the head and marrying his daughter Jeanne to him.

City of happy people

One of the heroes of the book is Francois Sarazin, a decent and honest man. In his image, Jules Verne embodied the ideas of a real scientist. Having received an inheritance, Sarazen does not spend it on small selfish purposes and does not invest in the shares of large companies. He wants to realize his old dream, to build a city of happy people, where the latest achievements of science will operate and be applied in practice.

As we can see from the plot of "Five Hundred Million Begums", Dr. Sarazen succeeded in realizing his goal, thanks to big money he built the city. Good always defeats evil, it is stronger because it pursues noble goals, it seeks not its own happiness, but the good for humanity. Evil can only destroy and for that reason will always lose.

Professor Schulze

The main negative character of the novel, Professor Schulze is a relative of Francois Sarazin. The first appearance on the pages of the novel immediately causes a negative attitude towards him. The doorman brings him mail before the usual time, and the professor is very rude to him and threatens to fire him. Schulze's appearance also does not cause sympathy: a full physique, dull eyes do not express any feelings, and big teeth and thin lips even scare and repel.

In the memory of Jules Verne still remainedfresh memories of the Franco-Prussian war, and therefore the image of Schulze is traced with a characteristic German nationalist coloring.

The writer showed a genuine carnivorous image of a German in the scene when a chemistry professor is having breakfast in his office: the doorman brings him a plate with a lot of sausages and a mug of beer.

Schulze is a nationalist, the future prototype of the Third Reich. He talks at length on the pages of the novel about the exclusive role of the Saxon race and writes a scientific work about the French, in which he tries to prove the degeneration of the French nation.

Schulze is a real racist. He believes that not only the Latin nations, but all other peoples must be wiped off the face of the earth if they do not want to serve and obey Germany.

City of Stahlstadt

With the money received, Schulze is building the steel city of Stahlstadt in Oregon (USA). The writer draws a vivid picture of a terrible city being created: a huge red desert with sharp rocks, protruding pipes and gray square buildings - contrasting the joyful and happy city of Franceville. There are noxious fumes everywhere, and the people and workers must submit to the military dictatorship.

Stalstadt is the city where cannons are being built, the weapon with which Schulze wants to destroy Franceville. This weapon should provide the Germans with dominance over the whole world. A huge cannon, according to the thoughts of the hero, must first destroy Franceville, and then subjugate all other countries. Describing a gun filled with carbon dioxide, the writer predicted the invention of chemical and nuclear weapons.

The novel warned the world of a possible catastrophe, but the books of Jules Verne have always been perceived as fiction, fantasy. But why can't fiction be true!?

Marseille and Octave

The characters of the "Five Hundred Million Begums" are very diverse. Octave Sarazen, son of Franceville's creator, and Marcel Broekmann are close friends but very opposite personalities.

Octave Sarazen is a Central School student who leads a boring life. He is lazy, has no life goals, studies poorly, is indecisive, prone to dreams and apathy. Octave entered the Central School thanks to Marcel, who helped him with his exams and forced him to chew on the granite of science.

Marcel Bruckmann is a very bright personality. He is a determined, sometimes domineering, emotional and persistent young man. He spent his summer holidays in the Sarazen family, thanks to which he became close to the head of the family, who loved Marcel very much, and he, in turn, adored Sarazen as a person and a scientist. In all matters, the young man strove to become the first, had a courageous appearance and good physical data.

Marcel has always covered Octave and made one of his goals in life the upbringing of a noble man in a friend, like his father Francois Sarazen.

A striking example of the difference in the characters of the two friends is their participation in the Franco-Prussian war. When the Germans entered Alsace, Marseille joined the army, was wounded more than once in numerous battles, while Octave, who was behind him, returned from the war without a single scratch.

When the war ended,France lost Alsace and Lorraine, which became part of Germany. Born Alsatian, Marcel Bruckmann closed himself in and became silent. He worked tirelessly and always said that by studying hard, the youth of France would be able to correct the mistakes of the older generation.

After receiving a letter from his father, which spoke of a large inheritance, Octave plunged into dreams of how he could take part in the distribution of the money received and decided to drop out of school. Marcel took pity on his friend, he realized that this money would destroy the young man and would not benefit him.

Satire on society

Jules Verne uses satire in the novel, with the help of which he denounces the orders in society he hates, German militarism and nationalism. If at the beginning of the novel the joke is seasoned with light irony, then in the future it turns into sharp satire.

When François Sarazen finds out about the inheritance, he wants to hide this news from society. But the next day, when he comes to the congress, he finds out that everyone already knows about his we alth. If before that both the chairman of the society and colleagues behaved with him arrogantly and even rudely, and many did not pay attention, now everything has changed. Some scientists began to suddenly smile at him, others wink and pay attention. Jules Verne, in the words of Sarazen, denounces the scientific community, reflecting that if they were faced with a criminal with a huge amount of money, they expressed their sympathy to him with the same sense of gratitude and admiration.

The city of Stahlstadt and Schulze on every page of the novel are subjected to merciless criticism and satire. Nationalism and racialprofessor's intolerance, his views are ridiculed by the writer.