Honore de Balzac Gobsec content. Balzac "Gobsek": a detailed analysis of the story and the protagonist
The lawyer Derville tells the story of the usurer Gobsek in the salon of the Vicomtesse de Granlie, one of the most noble and wealthy ladies in the aristocratic Faubourg Saint-Germain. One day, in the winter of 1829/30, two guests stayed with her: the handsome young Count Ernest de Resto and Derville, who is easily accepted only because he helped the mistress of the house to return the property confiscated during the Revolution. When Ernest leaves, the viscountess reprimands her daughter Camilla: one should not show affection to the dear count so frankly, because not a single decent family will agree to intermarry with him because of his mother. Although now she behaves impeccably, in her youth she caused a lot of gossip. In addition, she is of low birth - her father was a grain merchant Goriot. But worst of all, she squandered her fortune on her lover, leaving the children penniless. Count Ernest de Resto is poor, and therefore not a match for Camille de Granlier. Derville, sympathetic to the lovers, intervenes in the conversation, wanting to explain to the viscountess the true state of affairs. He starts from afar: in his student years he had to live in a cheap boarding house - there he met Gobsek. Even then he was a deep old man of a very remarkable appearance - with a "moon face", yellow eyes like a ferret, a sharp long nose and thin lips. His victims sometimes lost their temper, cried or threatened, but the usurer himself always kept his cool - he was a "man-bill", a "golden idol". Of all the neighbors, he maintained relations only with Derville, to whom he once revealed the mechanism of his power over people - the world is ruled by gold, and the usurer owns the gold. For edification, he talks about how he collected a debt from one noble lady - fearing exposure, this countess without hesitation handed him a diamond, because her lover received the money on her bill. Gobsek guessed the future of the Countess from the face of a fair-haired handsome man - this dandy, spendthrift and player is able to ruin the whole family.
After graduating from a law course, Derville received a position as a senior clerk in the attorney's office. In the winter of 1818/19, he was forced to sell his patent - and asked for one hundred and fifty thousand francs. Gobseck lent money to the young neighbor, taking only thirteen percent from him "for friendship" - usually he took no less than fifty. At the cost of hard work, Derville managed to get even with his debt in five years.
Once, the brilliant dandy Count Maxime de Tray begged Derville to set him up with Gobsek, but the usurer flatly refused to give a loan to a man who had debts of three hundred thousand, and not a centime for his soul. At that moment, a carriage drove up to the house, the Comte de Tray rushed to the exit and returned with an unusually beautiful lady - according to the description, Derville immediately recognized in her the countess who issued the bill four years ago. This time she has pledged magnificent diamonds. Derville tried to prevent the deal, but as soon as Maxim hinted that he was going to take his own life, the unfortunate woman agreed to the onerous terms of the loan. After the lovers left, the countess's husband broke into Gobsek demanding the return of the mortgage - his wife had no right to dispose of the family jewels. Derville managed to settle the matter amicably, and the grateful usurer gave the count advice: to transfer all his property to a reliable friend through a fictitious sale transaction is the only way save at least children from ruin. A few days later, the count came to Derville to find out what he thought of Gobsek. The lawyer replied that in the event of an untimely death, he would not be afraid to make Gobsek the guardian of his children, for in this miser and philosopher there live two creatures - vile and sublime. The count immediately decided to transfer all rights to the property to Gobsek, wanting to protect him from his wife and her greedy lover.
Taking advantage of a pause in the conversation, the viscountess sends her daughter to bed - a virtuous girl does not need to know to what a fall a woman who has transgressed certain boundaries can reach. After the departure of Camilla, there is no need to hide the names - in the story in question about the Comtesse de Restaud. Derville, having never received a counter receipt about the fictitiousness of the transaction, learns that the Comte de Resto is seriously ill. The Countess, sensing a trick, does everything to prevent the attorney from approaching her husband. The denouement comes in December 1824. By this time, the Countess was already convinced of the meanness of Maxime de Tray and broke up with him. She so zealously looks after her dying husband that many are inclined to forgive her former sins - in fact, she, like a predatory beast, lies in wait for her prey. The count, unable to get a meeting with Derville, wants to hand over the documents to his eldest son - but his wife cuts off this path too, trying to influence the boy with caress. In the last terrible scene, the countess begs for forgiveness, but the count remains adamant. That same night he dies, and the next day Gobsek and Derville come to the house. A terrible sight appears before their eyes: in search of a will, the countess made a real rout in the office, not even ashamed of the dead. Hearing the steps of strangers, she throws papers addressed to Derville into the fire - the count's property thereby undividedly passes into the possession of Gobsek. The usurer rented out a mansion, and began to spend the summer like a lord - in his new estates. To all Derville's pleas to take pity on the repentant countess and her children, he replied that misfortune - the best teacher. Let Ernest de Resto know the value of people and money - then it will be possible to return his fortune. Having learned about the love of Ernest and Camilla, Derville once again went to Gobsek and found the old man dying. The old miser bequeathed all his wealth to his sister's great-granddaughter - a public girl nicknamed "Spark". He instructed his executor Derville to dispose of the accumulated food supplies - and the lawyer really discovered huge stocks of rotten pate, moldy fish, and rotten coffee. By the end of his life, Gobsek's stinginess turned into mania - he did not sell anything, being afraid to sell too cheap. In conclusion, Derville reports that Ernest de Resto will soon regain his lost fortune. The viscountess replies that the young count must be very rich - only in this case he can marry Mademoiselle de Granlier. However, Camille is not at all obliged to meet with her mother-in-law, although the countess was not ordered to attend receptions - after all, she was received at Madame de Beausean's house.
The image of Gobsek in creativity Balzac- an image of a huge generalizing power.
– Do you recognize the characters of our classical literature? Name them and works, authors.
What do these images have in common?
“And he began to tell how evil, capricious she was, that it was only one day to delay the mortgage, and the thing was gone, and she takes five percent and even seven percent a month, etc.”
(Alena Ivanovna, old pawnbroker, F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment")
“And in fact, after him there was no need to sweep the street: it happened to a passing officer to lose his spur, this spur instantly went into a known heap; if a woman, somehow gaping at the well, forgot the bucket, he dragged the bucket away. However, when the peasant who noticed him caught him right there, he did not argue and gave the stolen thing back; but as soon as it got into a pile, then it was all over: he swore that the thing was his, bought by him then, from someone, or inherited from his grandfather. In his room, he picked up everything he saw from the floor: sealing wax, a piece of paper, a feather, and put it all on a bureau or on a window.
(Plyushkin, N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls")
I've been waiting all day for a minute to get off.
To my secret cellar, to the faithful chests.
Happy day! I can today
In the sixth chest (in the chest is still incomplete)
Pour a handful of accumulated gold.
Not much, it seems, but little by little
Treasures are growing ... (Baron, A.S. Pushkin "The Miserly Knight")
- All characters worship the power of money, and this worship destroyed their "living soul". It is impossible not to exclaim, watching them:
“And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, disgust! Could have changed! And does it look like it's true? Everything seems to be true, everything can happen to a person.
Thread question:
“There is an opinion that all the forces of mankind are concentrated in gold, that man is the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich. And it is inevitable. So it’s better to push yourself than to let others push you.”
– Do you agree with such a statement?
Teacher:
In O. Balzac's short story "Gobsek" (1830), a grotesque, ugly figure of the true master of life appears, an image of enormous generalizing power: a usurer, a money maker from money. The image of Gobsek is much deeper than the above-mentioned heroes of Gogol, Pushkin and Dostoevsky.
Balzac was by nature a monarchist. All his life he dreamed of becoming a representative of an aristocratic society and hated the bourgeoisie for its inertia and thirst for money. But above all, Balzac was a brilliant writer, so his talent forced him to truthfully and comprehensively show representatives of various segments of the population.
The elements of Balzac's philosophical pessimism are precisely based on the unshakable truth of Gobsek's thoughts about bourgeois society. Of course, the emotional attitude to such conclusions is fundamentally different: what causes the writer to suffer inescapably serves as the basis for the activity of a successful usurer.
In the role of debunker of an unjust society, Gobsek is right. He directly states that the state in a society of personal interest is at the mercy of its wealthy part: “To protect their property, the rich have chosen tribunals, judges, the guillotine ...”
Noble gentlemen do not differ in the slightest from the bourgeois in their venality, selfishness, complete absence of moral principles and civic virtues. The thirst for acquisitiveness “forces them to steal millions in a decent way, to sell their homeland.
Cards, chatter about art, frivolous intrigues, playing politics, gluttony and boasting of a carriage, a horse, a piquant connection ... "Mad people and sick people", "fools", "simples", "dumbs" make up this society. Gobsek does not want to be like them.
Why did Gobsek choose to become a usurer?
Gobsek chose the profession of moneylender deliberately. He considers money to be a commodity that can be bought and sold profitably. Therefore, he sees nothing immoral in lending money at high interest and profiting from it. These are the rules of any trade.
– What is the essence of the Gobseck Doctrine?
Everything in the world is an illusion and vanity, everything is false, “out of all earthly blessings, there is only one that is reliable enough to make it worth a person to chase after it. This is…gold”, life is “a machine driven by money; "Gold is the spiritual essence of the whole of today's society."
– What did this man achieve with his innumerable treasures?
- Rich man. Only five people in Paris can compare with him in terms of wealth.
Teacher:
Accumulation and usury of Gobsek, as a result of which nothing is ordered, nothing is created, but only an unthinkable combination of wealth is formed, which results in the destruction of healthy principles social life, the collapse of human destinies, the antisocial nature of the activity of finance capital - the main object of Balzac's criticism.
The monumental, solid, hyperbolized figure of Gobsek is an artistic verdict on him.
Gobsek means Crookshanks.
Tell me about Derville. How does it relate to the image of the main character?
– Derville helps readers understand the legal terms and concepts mentioned in the work.
- Derville and Gobsek are people of the same profession.
- Derville is a lawyer. He is a young man who has made a career out of his hard work and professional integrity.
– Derville is “a man of high honesty” (this is how the heroes of the work speak of him) Derville is a decent person, so we can trust his opinion.
“He is a friend of Gobsek.
– Thanks to Derville, we see Gobsek as if “from the inside” (what is he like in everyday life, what are his human passions and weaknesses, we learn his background and views on life).
- What happens to a person who has chosen money as his idol? Define your relationship with him.
- The very appearance of Gobsek, his manners, gait evoke a feeling of closeness to a soulless machine, a metal robot: “it was some kind of automaton man”, “a promissory note man” with an ingot of metal in his chest instead of a heart.
- "Faces ... seemed to be cast in bronze ... The sharp tip of a long nose ... looked like a gimlet."
- Collecting bills, he ran all over Paris "on thin, lean, like a deer's legs."
– Soullessness brought to the degree of automatism:: “... he saved vital energy, suppressing all human feelings in himself.”
- This person, not available to prayers, a man "turned into a golden idol"
- Indifference to people, complete indifference to their fates become a life principle: "If humanity, communication between people is considered a kind of religion, then Gobsek could be called an atheist."
Teacher:
This character is not an ordinary usurer, he is a genius of usury, a usurer-poet in a terrible romantic reflection of an outstanding intellect and a harmonious philosophy of infinite contempt for humanity.
Where did this philosophy of endless contempt for humanity come from?
Find evidence in the text of the cruel trials that fell to the lot of Gobsek.
“My mother placed him as a cabin boy on a ship, and at the age of ten he sailed to the Dutch possessions of the East Indies, where he wandered for twenty years. The wrinkles of his yellowish face kept the secret of terrible trials, sudden terrible events, unexpected fortunes, romantic vicissitudes, immense joys, hungry days of trampled love, wealth, ruin and newly acquired wealth, mortal dangers, when life, hanging by a thread, was saved by instant and, to be perhaps violent acts justified by necessity.”
- Before Maxime de Tray visits Gobsek, the moneylender prepares pistols, saying: “... I am confident in my accuracy, because I happened to walk on a tiger and on the deck of a ship to fight in a boarding fight not to the stomach, but to death ...”
- In a conversation between Derville and the Comte de Restaud, the lawyer says this about Gobseck's past: “I know nothing about his past. Perhaps he was a corsair; perhaps he wandered all over the world, trading in diamonds or people, women or state secrets; but I'm deeply convinced that not a single human soul has received such cruel hardening in trials as he did.
- Why do you think, being a rich man, he eked out a miserable existence, was afraid to advertise his wealth (did not pick up gold), went to customers himself and humiliatingly collected payments?
- And although wealth makes him independent and in his soul lives an inner feeling of superiority over them, the fear of losing what he had acquired forever settled in his soul and turned him into an ugly creature.
In the words of the narrator Derville, a friend of Gobseck, he is "a miser and a philosopher, a vile creature and an exalted one".
– What is his "elevation"?
- Gobsek is an educated person.
- He knows all the intricacies of jurisprudence, is well versed in politics, art (it is no coincidence that the author compares him with a statue of Voltaire - one of the most educated people of his time).
“Gobsek was a dealer in old paintings – he knew a lot about art, he knew classical literature – he borrowed comparisons from Molière.
- Gobsek admires the beauty of the diamonds of the Comtesse de Restaud.
- It's a big one strong character: "... a Dutchman worthy of the brush of Rembrandt."
- Judges, officials, businessmen, people of art - all are under the tacit supervision of powerful capital. No wonder Gobsek is suddenly seen as "a fantastic figure, the personification of the power of gold." But he states with good reason:
“I am rich enough to buy a human conscience, to manage all-powerful ministers…”
- Derville is forced to admit that "Monsieur Gobsek is an honest man."
- How did it happen that he became a "vile creature" and a "miser"?
“Gobsek is a product of his time. He lives according to the laws of this world, accepts the rules of the game and honestly (!) fulfills them. It is no coincidence that Derville, in a conversation with the Comte de Restaud, directly speaks of Gobseck: "... these cases, he is a man of the most scrupulous honesty in all of Paris."
Gobsek is a skeptic and a materialist, he has experienced a lot and lost faith in everything.
So, it is worth remembering how once he “spared a woman” and “confided in her”, and she “plucked” him great, which made him finally establish himself in the depravity of people.
– Can it be said that everything human has died in Gobsek?
We think not. Sincerity, sincerity, gullibility, industriousness, religious faith in the goodness of Fanny Malvo caused tenderness even in Gobseck. Perhaps he even regrets that he cannot believe in anything but gold, when he “with tenderness” notes that the seamstress Fanny ... into something believed."
He prefers to be friends with a worthy man Derville.
“But why didn’t the usurer make an exception even for him and give him the necessary amount at high interest?”
“I spared you the gratitude, and now we are the best friends in the world.”
Gobsek acted in such a way as, in my opinion, to save Derville from the humiliating position of a dependent person.
Maxime de Tray is in the story a kind of double Gobsek.
How does the hero himself talk about it?
“You and I are necessary for each other, like soul and body.”
- Why does Gobsek refuse to accept a challenge to a duel from Maxime de Tray?
Gobsek is a shrewd man, he perfectly knows the low and insidious nature of people like Maxime de Tray, therefore he refuses to accept his challenge to a duel. Finishing his speech with very precise words: “To shed your blood, you must have it, my dear, and in your veins instead of blood is dirt.”
In the characterization of Maxime de Tray, we will not find a single positive feature.
Provide relevant citations.
“Yes, Count Maxime de Tray is the strangest creature, good for everything and good for nothing, a subject that inspires both fear and contempt, a know-it-all and an utter ignoramus, capable of doing good deeds and committing a crime, now a scoundrel, now nobility itself, a breter, more soiled with dirt than stained with blood, a person who can be tormented by worries, but not remorse, who is more interested in sensations than thoughts, in appearance a passionate and ardent soul, but inwardly cold as ice ... "
The narrator calls him "an elegant scoundrel".
“Fear him like the devil,” I whispered in the old man’s ear,” Derville recalls.
“... I looked with disgust at her young companion, a real killer, although he had such a clear forehead, ruddy, fresh lips, a sweet smile, snow-white teeth and an angelic appearance.”
– Explain what is the strength of the impact of Maxime de Tray on others?
- Why did even Derville, who knows the low nature of Maxime de Tray, fall under his influence?
Answer:
Maxime de Tray knows how to deftly manipulate people. He is able to find the innermost strings in every person and play the melody he needs on them. He knows perfectly well that the Countess de Resto is seriously passionate about him and is afraid of losing him, so he whispers in her ear: “Farewell, good Anastasi. Be happy. And I ... tomorrow I will get rid of all worries.
And the distraught woman in love is ready to commit a crime to keep their connection.
Knowing the scrupulous honesty and decency of Derville, Maxime de Tray entangles him with words. M. de Tray "bewitched" him. “This Chrysostom de Tray managed simply with magical dexterity to entangle me with his speeches, screwing into them, and always very out of place, such words as “honor”, “nobility”, “countess”, “decent woman”, “virtue”, “misfortune”, “despair”, and so on,” the narrator recalls.
– Why did Gobsek hate his heirs?
Answer:
Gobseck too often witnessed such scenes: “We would see a terrible picture if we could look into the souls of the heirs surrounding the bed. How many intrigues, calculations, malicious tricks are here - and all because of money! That is why Gobsek hated the heirs so much.
Teacher:
The death scene of the Comte de Resto is one of the most dramatic episodes in the story. The count's son, with an indignant and mournful expression, blocked Gobsek's way to the door, so that his mother could say goodbye to the dying and atone for her sins before God. But the usurer “laughed with his silent laughter”, threw the young man away like a feather, opened the door and ... as always, turned out to be right.
Reread this episode :
“What a sight before us! The room was a real rout. The Countess stood motionless, disheveled, with an expression of despair on her face, and looked at us in confusion with sparkling eyes, and around her were scattered the clothes of the deceased, papers, crumpled rags ... one of those envelopes that were lying on the floor, because now it was just an unnecessary shell.
– What conclusion can be drawn?
The countess, instead of belated repentance, burned the papers, thinking that this was a modified will of her husband.
Question: Gobsek is always just a usurer. His only interest is profit. The author says: "In this big scam, Gobsek was an insatiable boa constrictor."
– What scam are you talking about?
He received a fideicommissum, i.e., the legal right to use someone else's property in order to transfer it later to a third party.
– How does Gobsek behave in this situation?
Answer:
Even making a deal, the hero behaved with dignity. He did not take advantage of the favorable situation and did not "warm his hands" on the earl's inheritance, but, on the contrary, increased it.
But Gobsek is true to himself. Until he came of age, he gave Ernest an extremely meager content.
Question:
How does he explain this decision?
Answer:
“Unhappiness is the best teacher. In misfortune, he will learn a lot, learn the value of money, the value of people - both men and women. Let him float on the waves of the Parisian sea. And when he becomes a skilled pilot, we will make him a captain.”
Teacher:
The author ends his story about the life and death of a usurer with an absolutely natural scene - a description of wealth. This description is worthy of the brush of the Flemish painters, just as the image of Gobseck himself is "worthy of the brush of Rembrandt."
Let's go back to the question life position usurer:
"Gold is the spiritual value of today's society"
“You believe everything, but I believe nothing. Well, save your illusions if you can. I will sum it up for you now human life. What causes delight in Europe is punished in Asia. What is considered a vice in Paris is recognized as a necessity outside the Azars. There is nothing lasting on earth, there are only conventions, and in each climate they are different ... all our moral rules and beliefs are empty words ... Live with me, you will find out that of all earthly blessings there is only one reliable enough to make a person worth chasing behind him. Is this gold".
All the forces of mankind are concentrated in gold... As for morals, man is the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, everywhere. And it is inevitable. So it’s better to push yourself than to let others push you.”
– Can a person's soul, true human values, be of interest in a world with such a philosophy?
Of course not. That is why the “innocent creature” of Fanny the seamstress is so atypical and uninteresting to anyone in the “light”, and the pastoral story of the idyllic union of Derville and Fanny Malvo is incurious to those around him.
Therefore, the fate of people is tragic where "dead souls" with a stranglehold dictate to people the laws of life on earth.
Teacher:
And let Gobsek be touched by the "sweet girlish image" of Fanny, sympathy, repentance, kindness in his position in life will never be inherent in him. He is inaccessible to noble motives, the very concept of gratitude is alien to him. Even the lawyer Derville, a young man with whom he seems to feel affection, becomes the object of undisguised, shameless profit; according to Gobsek, this is also an educational measure: so that later the young man would be spared from feeling gratitude to the benefactor.
In this world where gold rules, Gobsek chose to remain Crookshanks, a misanthrope, a "man-automaton", a "man-promissory note", a "golden idol", a "savage", a "miser", a "skvalygo".
And yet the scene of Gobsek's death is filled with tragic pathos.
Let's read it:
“He sat up in bed; his face was outlined as clear as bronze on the white pillow. Stretching out his withered hands, he clutched the blanket with his bony hands, as if he wanted to hold on to it, looked at the fireplace, as cold as his metallic gaze, and died in full consciousness, showing his porter, the invalid and me an image of wary attention, like those old men ancient rome, which Lethierre depicted behind the consuls in his painting The Death of the Children of Brutus.
- Well done, you old miser! - the invalid rapped like a soldier.
Question:
– Why is it impossible not to feel sorry for Gobsek?
Following Derville, you need to feel sorry for the old man who staked all the values of the world on the card of his greed: friendship, love of loved ones, a prosperous existence.
All the good he had acquired fell into disrepair or remained unclaimed.
The world of profit, of which Gobsek was a part and whose power over himself he did not want to recognize, nevertheless swallowed him into the abyss.
Teacher:
And again the appeal to the younger generation from the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls": "Take with you on the road, leaving the soft youthful years in the harsh hardening courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, you will not pick them up later!"
Homework:
Anastasi de Resto
As in Stendhal's novel "Red and Black" - in Balzac's story "Gobsek" female images are important. This is no coincidence, since research in psychology and social role women is one of the key themes of realistic literature. The two central female figures - Anastasi de Resto and Fanny Malva - are in clear and sharp opposition. When the outstanding French culturologist Roland Barthes aptly noted that "comparison is a search for differences based on similarities." Let's apply his formula with respect to these characters. What is similar about them, and what is different?
So, both heroines are young and attractive. For the first time, Gobsek recalls Anastasi de Resto: “What a beauty I saw there! In her haste, she only threw a cashmere shawl over her bare shoulders and wrapped herself in it so skillfully that the shape of her beautiful body was easily guessed under the shawl. The countess's head was carelessly tied, like a Creole, with a bright silk scarf, from under which lush black curls were knocked out. I liked her." As you can see, the beauty of a young woman was appreciated even by the “old miser” and “cracker”.
The portrait of Fanny Malva is also depicted with no less sympathy: “I was received by Mademoiselle Fanny, a young girl, dressed simply, but with the grace of a Parisian; she had a graceful head, a fresh face, a friendly look; beautifully combed brown hair, going down in two circles and covering her temples, gave a certain refined expression to her blue eyes, clear as crystal. Daylight, breaking through the curtains on the windows, illuminated with a soft glow all her modest appearance.
Honore de Balzac is extremely skillful in building a story: the situation is mirrored - both women owed one thousand francs each and had to return this money on the same day! In other words, the usurer Gobsek, in order to collect debts on bills, had to see them at the same time. That is why the difference between these heroines is even more contrasting, it is emphasized intentionally.
For an aristocrat who annually spends two thousand francs only on washing (“She was wearing a peignoir trimmed with snow-white ruffles, which means that at least two thousand francs a year were spent here only on a laundress, because not everyone will take up washing such thin linen” ), repaying a loan for a thousand francs is not a problem. But for the bourgeoisie, a simple seamstress Fanny Malva (“This girl was forced to work without straightening her back”), a thousand francs were a huge amount, so it would be problematic for her to pay off Gobsek. And what happened instead? The seamstress was not only ready to repay her debt in the morning, but also left the money to the gatekeeper when she went to bathe in the Seine after a night's work, so that she would give this money to Gobsek. But the magnificent countess, having nothing to pay the debt and frightened by a man who unexpectedly entered her bedroom, hastily gave the moneylender a diamond, the value of which was twenty percent higher than the amount of the debt. And such an attitude towards family jewels is a direct path to a debt hole and disgrace to one's honest name.
In addition, if Fanny gave her IOU to the cloth merchant (she, like a seamstress, borrowed a canvas from him for work), then Anastasi de Resto did not even pay her bill, but the debts of her lover, Maxime de Tray. The young aristocrat was actually captured by this soulless "young dandy, who became her evil genius, dominated her, taking advantage of all her weaknesses: pride, jealousy, the desire for comfort, for worldly fuss" and "he even used the virtues of this woman in his interests, knew how to move her to tears, awaken generosity in her, abused her tenderness and devotion and sold her criminal joys dearly. It should be noted that Gobsek predicted the collapse of this couple even when their first bill fell into his hands: “And on his face I read the whole future of the countess. This fair-haired handsome man, this cold, soulless gambler, will go bankrupt himself, and ruin the countess, ruin her husband, ruin the children, screw up their inheritance, and in many other salons will cause a rout worse than an artillery battery in an enemy regiment.
E. Tyuduz. Illustration for the story of O. de Balzac "Gobsek". 1897
Let us note that the then critics and aristocrats reproached Balzac (and he himself wrote the noble particle “de” in front of his surname not without pride and pleasure) for portraying the aristocrats in an extremely negative way. Yes, he really sympathized with the aristocrats, but his work (in particular, the story "Gobsek") is interesting because, as a true realist, he depicts "life as it is" and people "as they are": i. e. objectively, and therefore, criticizes both aristocrats and bourgeois. So, when Maxime de Tray, having obtained from Anastasi de Resto the next payment of his debts and warning Gobsek and Derville to keep this deal a secret, because, they say, either theirs or his blood will be shed, in response he received a murderous characterization of the usurer: “To shed your blood, boy, you have to have it, and you have dirt in your veins instead of blood.
However, the opposite of the heroines is realized not only at the level of portraits, but also in the interior of housing. So, in the luxurious bedroom of the Countess, disorder reigns - the hostess had fun at the ball all night and did not have the strength to put at least an elementary order in her things: “The open bed testified to an anxious dream. On the bearskin, spread out under the lions carved on the mahogany bed, were white satin slippers that the woman had casually thrown off there when she returned tired from the ball. A crumpled dress hung from the back of a chair, its sleeves touching the floor. Stockings that would have been blown away by the slightest breath of a breeze curled around the leg of a chair. The chest of drawers remained open. Flowers, diamonds, gloves, a bouquet, a belt were scattered all over the room. Everywhere there was luxury and disorder, beauty devoid of harmony. In general, harmony is beauty, and here is “beauty devoid of harmony”. It is not for nothing that they say that the external neatness of a person is connected with her inner harmony and vice versa - external disorder is almost always associated with mental disorder. Scientists even argue that human degradation on desert island(once again, let us recall Robinson, who in such conditions not only did not degrade, but even improved!) begins with indifference to his appearance.
Of course, at the ball, among the luxuriously dressed public, and especially in the presence of Maxime de Tray, Madame Anastasi played the role of a brilliant lady. However, this glitter was ostentatious, it was tinsel, so to speak, "to divert eyes." And having retired, the young woman had less and less strength to put things in order both in her outfit and in her soul. This is how a healthy tree dies slowly and imperceptibly: an outside observer first sees the still intact bark and green crown, but from the inside it is already being destroyed by a worm. So is Anastasi de Resto - outwardly she is still attractive (“And yet natural energy simmered in her, and all these traces of a bad life did not spoil her beauty”), but Gobsek’s penetrating eye saw: from the inside this woman was already undermined by lewdness, lies and depravity. He tells Derville about his further observations of the interior of the Countess de Resto's bedroom: “And already poverty, entrenched under all this luxury, turned its head and threatened this woman or her lover, showing her sharp teeth. The countess's weary face approached her bedroom (and this is already an element of the psychological portrait that we met in Stendhal. - Auth.), strewn with the remnants of yesterday's celebration. Looking at the clothes and jewelry scattered everywhere, I felt pity: only yesterday they made up her dress and someone admired them. These signs of love, poisoned by remorse, signs of luxury, vanity and frivolity in life testified to the tantalic efforts to catch fleeting pleasures. Her features seemed to freeze, dark spots under the eyes were marked more sharply than usual. The skill and intellect of the writer is felt in the use of images and popular expressions from ancient mythology. So, the expression "tantalum torments" (in Balzac - "tantalic efforts") means the suffering arising from contemplation of a seemingly very close goal, but at the same time the impossibility of achieving it. So, Anastasi de Resto, being in the abyss of debauchery, could not "catch fleeting pleasures." So, we have a picture of the gradual degradation of this aristocrat.
Quite the opposite is the view of the modest apartment of Fanny Malva, who lived in a poor area of Paris, in a courtyard where the sun does not fall: coin. I didn't notice a single speck of dust on the furniture in the first room." What a contrast with the disorder that reigns in the bedroom of the Comtesse de Resto! Fanny's room differs from her as strikingly as her clean life from the dirty deeds of a noble lady: “I looked at her and guessed her at first sight. Apparently, she came from an honest peasant family, because she still had noticeable small freckles, characteristic of rural girls. She exuded deep decency, real virtue. I had the feeling that I was in an atmosphere of sincerity, spiritual purity, and it even became easy for me to breathe. So, spiritual qualities the petty-bourgeois Fanny far exceeds the qualities of the aristocrat de Resto. Therefore, Gobsek advises her to marry Derville: “When you entered, I was just thinking about Fanny Malva - this is who a good wife and mother would make. I compared her life, virtuous and lonely, with the life of the countess, who, having begun to sign bills, will inevitably slide to the very bottom of shame.
Ad Fontes
His satire has never been sharper, his irony - bitter, than when he forced to act precisely those men and women with whom he most sympathized - the nobles.
F. Engels (images of aristocrats in the "HUMAN comedy")
And life has confirmed that Gobsek was not mistaken: the de Resto family became impoverished, the children did not have a decent income, her husband died, Anastasi is humiliated, she is not even accepted in decent families, and her son cannot marry Camille where Granlier is, because he is poor. Vicomtesse de Granlier explains to her daughter Camille: “I will tell you only one circumstance - Mr. de Resto has a mother capable of absorbing even a millionth fortune, a woman of low birth ... As long as his mother is alive, parents in no respectable family will dare to entrust young Resto future and dowry of his daughter. The viscountess has her own "logic", because Anastasi has neither a high birth (which is appreciated by aristocrats), nor money (and this is appreciated by the bourgeoisie), nor an honest name. But Fanny became Derville's wife: “I married Fanny Malva, whom I sincerely loved. The similarity of our destinies, work, success have strengthened our mutual feeling. So the realist writer Balzac punishes debauchery and rewards honesty.
The plot of further events is the scene when Maxime de Tray, importunately pestering Derville, convinces the young lawyer to accompany him to Gobsek and recommend him to the usurer as his friend. Under no circumstances would Gobsek give anything to Maxim in debt. But at the same time, Anastasi arrived with diamonds belonging to her husband and her children, ready to pawn them, if only to help out her lover.
At the miser of the usurer, in a damp dark room, a greedy dispute takes place between the one who keeps an unlimited amount of money, and those. Who is accustomed to their unbridled squandering.
Colors of amazing power are invested in this picture of rough bargaining. Father Goriot's eldest daughter in this everyday scene, in spite of her vile role, is especially beautiful. The passion that has taken possession of her, her anxiety, the very consciousness of the criminality of her actions, the fear of failure and even exposure - all this does not erase, but enhances the radiance of her harsh and rude beauty.
And the diamonds she lays out They sparkle under Balzac's pen with triple strength. Gobsek has an old eye, but piercingly corrosive and passionate. Through his eyes of a passionate connoisseur we see the rarest jewels of the de Resto family.
Get those diamonds! Get them for nothing! Yes, and give Maxim his former IOUs, purchased from other moneylenders on the cheap, on account of the money issued!
As soon as Anastasi and Maxim left the dwelling of Gobsek, he rejoices. This is his complete triumph. All this was seen by Derville, penetrating far behind the scenes of Parisian life, initiated into its innermost secrets ...
Comte de Resto, dejected by the behavior of his wife, heartbroken and aware that his days are numbered, is concerned about the fate of his son Ernest. It is clear that the two younger ones do not belong to him. Convinced of the scrupulous honesty of the usurer, he decides to entrust him with all his fortune in order to protect him from the extravagance of Anastasi. Ernest is to receive this fortune on the day of his coming of age. This is where Derville leads his nocturnal narration in Madame de Grandlier's salon.
There is another striking scene in his story. Derville learns from Gobsek that the Comte de Restaud is dying. At the same time, Gobsek drops a phrase that at once reveals his insight, his unexpected responsiveness to someone else's mental suffering, and the same phrase contains the final description of Anastasi's husband: “This is one of those gentle souls who cannot overcome their grief and expose themselves to a deadly hit".
Derville seeks a meeting with the dying count, and he is impatiently waiting for him: they need to finish the business with a will that will not leave the countess and her younger children penniless, but will save the main wealth for Ernest. But Anastasi, fearing to lose everything, does not allow the lawyer to see his client.
Anastasi's state of mind, unraveled by the perceptive lawyer, is given with amazing clarity and completeness. Her bitter disappointment in Maxim, her annoyance that she got into such a position, and the desire to charm and disarm Derville, whom she considers her enemy, and shame before him, as a witness to the scene at the usurer, and a firm decision at any cost, if necessary, then crime, to seize the entire inheritance of a dying husband.
No matter how complex the tangle of heterogeneous thoughts and feelings is, the furiously passionate struggle for money turns out to be decisive. That is why in the depiction of the state of mind of Anastasi de Resto there is no less profound criticism of the possessive, bourgeois world than even in the image of the usurer.
At night, Derville and Gobsek, who were informed of the death of the count, came to the house and entered the room of the deceased.
The tragedy of the situation, completely personal, acquires under the pen of Balzac the character of a terrible symbol, exposing the desires of the possessive world.
“A terrible mess reigned in this room. Disheveled, with burning eyes, the Countess, stunned, stood in the middle of her rummaged clothes, papers, all kinds of rags ... As soon as the count died, his widow immediately broke open all the drawers ... everywhere there was an imprint of her bold hands ... The corpse of the deceased was thrown back and lay across the bed , like one of the envelopes torn and thrown on the floor ... The print of her foot was still visible on the pillow.
The dying de Resto called on Derville and pressed the revocation of his former will to his chest. At the urging of the lawyer, realizing his innocence, Resto included in his will both his wife and her younger children. It was this testament in fright and haste that Anastasi managed to burn. She deprived herself of everything.
Gobsek took over the house and all the possessions of an aristocratic family. He began to manage prudently and sparingly, increasing wealth. Madame de Granlier can be calm about her daughter: in a few days, Ernest de Resto will receive his inheritance in full, and even in an increased form.
The tragedy of the de Resto family: the folly of extravagance, like the folly of avarice, leads to the same end. This short story within a short story gives the whole work a truly tragic character.
Conclusion
The death of the usurer is described on the last pages of the novel. Derville found him crawling around the room, already powerless to get up and lie down on the bed. Gobseck dreamed that the room was full of living, swaying gold. And he rushed to grab it.
So that he would not have neighbors, Gobsek alone occupied several rooms, cluttered with all kinds of food, which all rotted, and even the fish grew mustaches.
Before last days of his life, Gobsek swallowed countless fortunes and was no longer able to digest them. If gold were to rot, it would rot in him.
One thought oppressed the dying Gobsek: he parted with his wealth.
The lawyer Derville tells the story of the usurer Gobsek in the salon of the Vicomtesse de Granlie, one of the most noble and wealthy ladies in the aristocratic Faubourg Saint-Germain. One day, in the winter of 1829/30, two guests stayed with her: the young handsome Count Ernest de Resto and Derville, who is easily accepted only because he helped the mistress of the house to return the property confiscated during the Revolution.
When Ernest leaves, the viscountess reprimands her daughter Camilla: one should not show affection to the dear count so frankly, because not a single decent family will agree to intermarry with him because of his mother. Although now she behaves impeccably, she caused a lot of gossip in her youth. In addition, she is of low birth - her father was a grain merchant Goriot. But worst of all, she squandered her fortune on her lover, leaving the children penniless. Count Ernest de Resto is poor, and therefore not a match for Camille de Granlier.
Derville, sympathetic to the lovers, intervenes in the conversation, wanting to explain to the viscountess the true state of affairs. He starts from afar: in his student years he had to live in a cheap boarding house - there he met Gobsek. Even then, he was a deep old man of a very remarkable appearance - with a “moon face”, yellow eyes like a ferret, a sharp long nose and thin lips. His victims sometimes lost their temper, cried or threatened, but the usurer himself always kept his cool - he was a “man-bill”, a “golden idol”. Of all the neighbors, he maintained relations only with Derville, to whom he once revealed the mechanism of his power over people - the world is ruled by gold, and the usurer owns the gold. For edification, he talks about how he collected a debt from one noble lady - fearing exposure, this countess without hesitation handed him a diamond, because her lover received the money on her bill. Gobsek guessed the future of the Countess from the face of a fair-haired handsome man - this dandy, spendthrift and player is able to ruin the whole family.
After graduating from a law course, Derville received a position as a senior clerk in the attorney's office. In the winter of 1818/19, he was forced to sell his patent - and asked for one hundred and fifty thousand francs. Gobsek lent money to the young neighbor, taking only thirteen percent from him "for friendship" - he usually took at least fifty. At the cost of hard work, Derville managed to get even with his debt in five years.
Once, the brilliant dandy Count Maxime de Tray begged Derville to set him up with Gobsek, but the usurer flatly refused to give a loan to a man who had debts of three hundred thousand, and not a centime for his soul. At that moment, a carriage drove up to the house, the Comte de Tray rushed to the exit and returned with an unusually beautiful lady - according to the description, Derville immediately recognized in her the countess who issued the bill four years ago. This time she has pledged magnificent diamonds. Derville tried to prevent the deal, but as soon as Maxim hinted that he was going to take his own life, the unfortunate woman agreed to the onerous terms of the loan.
After the lovers left, the countess's husband broke into Gobsek demanding the return of the mortgage - his wife had no right to dispose of the family jewels. Derville managed to settle the matter amicably, and the grateful usurer gave the count advice: to transfer all his property to a reliable friend through a fictitious sale deal is the only way to save at least children from ruin. A few days later, the count came to Derville to find out what he thought about Gobsek. The lawyer replied that in the event of an untimely death, he would not be afraid to make Gobsek the guardian of his children, for in this miser and philosopher there live two creatures - vile and sublime. The count immediately decided to transfer all rights to the property to Gobsek, wanting to protect him from his wife and her greedy lover.
Taking advantage of a pause in the conversation, the viscountess sends her daughter to bed - a virtuous girl does not need to know to what a fall a woman who has transgressed certain boundaries can reach. After the departure of Camilla, there is no need to hide the names - the story is about the Countess de Resto. Derville, having never received a counter receipt about the fictitiousness of the transaction, learns that the Comte de Resto is seriously ill. The Countess, sensing a trick, does everything to prevent the attorney from approaching her husband. The denouement comes in December 1824. By this time, the Countess was already convinced of the meanness of Maxime de Tray and broke up with him. She so zealously looks after her dying husband that many are inclined to forgive her former sins - in fact, she, like a predatory beast, lies in wait for her prey. The count, unable to get a meeting with Derville, wants to hand over the documents to his eldest son - but his wife cuts off this path too, trying to influence the boy with caress. In the last terrible scene, the countess begs for forgiveness, but the count remains adamant. That same night he dies, and the next day Gobsek and Derville come to the house. A terrible sight appears before their eyes: in search of a will, the countess made a real rout in the office, not even ashamed of the dead. Hearing the steps of strangers, she throws papers addressed to Derville into the fire - the count's property thereby undividedly passes into the possession of Gobsek.
The usurer rented out a mansion, and began to spend the summer like a lord - in his new estates. To all Derville's entreaties to take pity on the repentant countess and her children, he replied that misfortune is the best teacher. Let Ernest de Resto know the value of people and money - then it will be possible to return his fortune. Having learned about the love of Ernest and Camilla, Derville once again went to Gobsek and found the old man dying. The old miser bequeathed all his wealth to his sister's great-granddaughter - a public girl nicknamed "Spark". He instructed his executor Derville to dispose of the accumulated food supplies - and the lawyer really discovered huge stocks of rotten pate, moldy fish, and rotten coffee. By the end of his life, Gobsek's stinginess turned into mania - he did not sell anything, being afraid to sell too cheap. In conclusion, Derville reports that Ernest de Resto will soon regain his lost fortune. The viscountess replies that the young count must be very rich - only in this case he can marry Mademoiselle de Granlier. However, Camille is not at all obliged to meet with her mother-in-law, although the countess was not ordered to attend receptions - after all, she was received at Madame de Beausean's house.
retold