Summary of "Father Goriot" by Honore de Balzac: main characters, issues, quotes

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

Honoré de Balzac is one of the founders of realism in European literature. The topics covered by the writer are not isolated from everyday realities. His works are quite tough and merciless, however, as sometimes life itself is in relation to people. In the literary masterpieces that came out from under his pen, the characters look natural, lively, they are interested in things that attract each of us. Many of the characters in his novels are people whose desires are greedy, decisions and actions are pragmatic, the main goal is to get pleasure, and not the lofty thoughts that are usually inherent in romantic characters.

Honoré de Balzac: "Father Goriot"

The story of the creation of the novel is connected with Balzac's idea of writing a cycle of stories that were supposed to depict the life of his compatriots. The work was the first in a series of essays, then combined into a collection called "The Human Comedy". When did Honore de Balzac write this work? "Father Goriot" was created in 1832, but the publication took place only two years later. During this time, in the imagination of a genius, a plan was formed for writing stories that were supposed to show the real life of the Frenchsociety, aspirations and aspirations of the writer's contemporaries. What did Honore de Balzac want to convey to the reader? "Father Goriot" shows the gamut of ordinary feelings experienced by a person, including impartial ones, such as greed, satisfaction of one's own ambitions at the expense of humiliation of others, and a pathological desire for a series of endless pleasures.

Summary of the work "Father Goriot"

Events take place in Paris, a city that, according to the author, takes everything human from people, leaving them only passionate and insatiable desires. The summary of "Father Goriot" allows you to get acquainted with the main ideas of the work, spending a minimum of time on it.

The events of the novel take the reader to a small boarding house located on the outskirts of Paris. The people living in it are very different, but they are united by one thing - luck has long ceased to favor them.

Among the guests of the institution lives an old man who has a rather nasty character. No one suspects that in fact he is an impoverished nobleman, desperately trying to arrange a happy future for his daughters. His boarding house neighbor Rastignac is the only one who accidentally finds out about this. This discovery completely changes the opinion of the young man about the unfortunate old man. The summary of "Father Goriot" contains the quintessence of key events and a description of characters significant for the analysis of the work. There are times when it is necessary to resort to the help of a more concise story, for example, when there is a huge volumeinformation during exams. In such situations, a summary of "Father Goriot" will allow you to understand in a matter of seconds the direction of the author's thought, as well as the main ideas of the work.

The main characters of the novel

The work has a large number of characters, both main and secondary. In this chapter, we will consider the significant characters in the work of the great Honore de Balzac. Undoubtedly, the summary of "Father Goriot" partially allows the reader to understand and imagine the inner world of the characters in the novel, but in order to make the picture more complete, attention should be paid to the characteristics of each character. What is remarkable about the work "Father Goriot"? The characters of this literary masterpiece are thought out by the author to the smallest detail, down to habits and memories.

The main character, the so-called father Goriot, the incurable King Lear, who is quiet and meek in his madness. However, he sincerely loves his daughters, who use the unfortunate father solely to obtain financial assistance for their entertainment

• Eugène de Rastignac, a student who came from the provinces. At the beginning of the novel, he had pure youthful hopes of getting an education, of benefiting his parents, but once he got into high society, he completely changes his life priorities and, following the “cream” of Parisian society, indulges in debauchery. Over time, he becomes the lover of Goriot's second daughter, the beautiful Baroness. Rastignac is the only one who has a little respect and pity for the old man.
• Delphine deNucingen is the eldest daughter of Goriot, who is married to a rather we althy man, but openly cheats on him, however, as he does on her.
• Anastasi de Resto is the youngest daughter of old Goriot, married to the Count.
• Vautrin is Goriot and Rastignac's boarding house neighbor. If you carefully analyze the images of the work, then the duplicity and hypocrisy of many characters in the novel can be traced very clearly. But Vautrin, although he is literally the embodiment of the world's evil in the novel, is at least honest. This is a former convict, a rather dangerous person who plays with other people's lives. In the work "Father Goriot", whose characters are described very skillfully, this criminal does not seem so bad against the background of greedy and dishonest neighbors, whom he openly despises.
• Vicomtesse de Beauséant is a relative of Rastignac, who introduces an immature youngster into high society, thereby pushing him to fall.
• Voke - the owner of the boarding house, a widow of fifty years. Once a woman wanted to marry Goriot, but was rejected. After that, she became hostile towards the main character. Her contempt increased as signs of his apparent ruin began to show.

Characteristics of Father Goriot

The main character personifies all-consuming paternal love, which completely deprives him of the opportunity to analyze what is happening between him and his daughters. There is no doubt that it was he who caused the daughters to grow up like that. His reckless love led to such a tragic ending. The author emphasizes that a wonderful feeling that gives people joy and happiness should still besubject to reason.

Love is a terrible weapon that can kill, because that's exactly what happened in the novel. Paternal feeling, not knowing the measure, killed everything human in the daughters of the protagonist. The characterization of Father Goriot cannot do without a critical look at this character. Professionals who subsequently analyzed the novel reproached the author with the fact of reckless love, insisting that this was an unnatural, pathological feeling, which rather looked like insanity.

Essay analysis

What can the reader learn for himself in the novel "Father Goriot"? The analysis of this work allows you to reconsider relationships in the family. On the one hand, a loving father who cannot boast of a brilliant education or belonging to an ancient aristocratic family, however, personifies the ideal of parental love. On the other hand, the daughters of the protagonist, who, as soon as their father successfully married them off, hastily turned away from him. At the end of the novel, the protagonist dies, but in fact he was dead at the beginning of the story, because he gave himself without a trace to his own children. The finale of the work is tragic and psychologically difficult: lying on his deathbed, Goriot does not curse his daughters, on the contrary, he forgives them and blesses them. Understanding the boundless pragmatism of his children, he cannot blame them, even more than that, he justifies their actions. What happened to the children of this unfortunate man? Is it the father's fault for spoiling them? After his death, this fact becomes clear. Unfortunately,Honore de Balzac is forced to admit that true love is not honored in Paris - it was replaced with something completely different. As the author of the novel notes through the lips of one heroine, the whole life of Parisians is built on titles and money, sincerity is not considered a virtue here, but rather a bad tone or even a vice.

Problems revealed in the novel

This composition is striking in its versatility: it would seem that the eternal conflict between generations is visible in the foreground, but this is only the top layer of everything that Balzac wanted to say. What problems did the author of the novel "Father Goriot" want to highlight? The problems revealed in the work affect relationships not only in the family, but also in society. It must be understood that the French society of that time was rather heterogeneous, and the gap between different groups was so great that the transition from one social stratum to another was not possible. The author is also trying to focus on this problem.

Image of Rastignac

The image of Rastignac in the novel "Father Goriot" is very indicative because it combines not only positive, but also negative qualities, that is, the reader can trace the changes that took place in the young man's worldview throughout the novel. At the beginning of the work, he is presented as an enthusiastic youth who has recently left his parental home, but since his move to Paris, significant changes have taken place with him. Of course, there was a period when, having come into contact with the real life of the Parisians, Rastignac categorically condemned it. However, by the end of the work, significant metamorphoses take place with him. This is most evident when the young man comes up with the idea of killing his mistress's husband.

Quotes

What attracts readers to the novel "Father Goriot"? Quotes taken from the work have become real aphorisms, as they are filled with wise meaning and undisguised life realities:

• "Corruption has become a weapon of mediocrity, and its edge is felt everywhere."
• “I can see from here what kind of face these saints will have if God takes and cancels the Last Judgment.”
• "There is no greater pleasure for women than to listen to the murmur of gentle words."

The meaning of the novel

The work of Honore de Balzac "Father Goriot" made a huge contribution to world literature, replenishing its treasury with a worthy novel. For the first time, the reader had the opportunity to encounter a work that so vividly and realistically conveys the atmosphere of everyday life. The advantage of realism is that it does not eliminate or smooth out the dark sides of human nature, but helps to take a fresh look at society, rethink priorities and think about prospects.