Composition

Valentin, Gobsek, Evgenia Grand. These characters were closely connected with their surroundings, created by their social environment, which “shaded” the central character and served to fully reveal his character. But Balzac increasingly felt that the traditional form of the novel was not suitable for realizing his desire to show modern society in all the complexity of its struggles and aspirations. Already in the mentioned works of the early 30s, the writer changes the traditional novel content, assigning a secondary place to the love conflict, subordinating it to social analysis. The main task is to reveal the social role of money in the fate of a young man (“Shagreen Skin”), the social function of usury and the connection of its principles with the principles of the aristocracy (“Gobsek”), the evolution of personality under the influence of the environment (“Evgenia Grand”).

Novels began to change their structure: the center became a problem, the aspects of which had to be revealed by characters from various social groups; here it was no longer possible to unambiguously determine the “main” character. The first such novel was “Père Goriot.” It was precisely this type of depiction of reality that Balzac had in mind when he wrote that “an idea transformed into an image is a higher art.” Here Goriot, Rastignac, Vautrin, Viscountess de Beauseant can almost equally lay claim to the main place in the work. Moreover, each of them is a separate social group with corresponding ideas: Goriot is the bourgeoisie, Rastignac is the provincial nobility, the Viscountess is the Parisian high society nobility, Vautrin is the underworld.

Goriot's life path recreates the story of enrichment, which was based on calculation, and fall, when life is subordinated to feeling. Rastignac personifies young lovers of honor and respect, who at first naively think that everything can be achieved by persistent work, but who gradually realize that the main mover of society is useful connections, if there is no wealth and high titles that provide first places in the state. Viscountess de Beauseant, rich and noble from birth, is necessary for the author in order to show their ephemerality if the human soul is captivated by feeling. Vautrin, a convict fugitive, almost romantic in his strength - both physical and spiritual - personality, personifies bold calculation, which is devoid of emotions, based on a deep knowledge of the modern world.

Vautrin and Viscountess de Beauseant, being at different social poles, are presented as unique ideologists of modernity who equally understand its essence. Vautrin tells the young man about fierce competition and ways to achieve the goal: “Fifty thousand profitable places do not exist, and you will have to eat each other, like spiders thrown into a jar.” “Stop considering your beliefs,” he advises. “Sell them if there is demand for it.” And further, even more cynically: “...and how can you get ahead if you don’t speculate on love?” Vautrin's philosophy concentrates the observations of the antiquarian and Gobsek. If in “Gobseck” Balzac united the beliefs of the moneylender and the countess, then in “Père Goriot” he points out the common views of the viscountess and the convict.

Madame de Beauseant, a sophisticated high-society lady who realized that the only value is love, says to Rastignac: “Look at men and women like post horses, drive them mercilessly, let them be killed at every station, and you will reach the limit in the fulfillment of your desires.” ..." Rastignac is shown in evolution. At first he is a naive provincial. At this time, he dreams of “being true to integrity” and “achieving wealth through his work.” But he quickly realized that in the “society” it is more important to have a well-tailored tailcoat. Gradually he gives up his youthful dreams. True, he does not dare to accept the enrichment plan proposed by the convict Vautrin, because he is afraid of becoming an accomplice in the crime, but at the end of the novel, having condemned his daughters who did not come to bury their father, he goes to one of them - Delphine - for dinner.
This is the beginning of a “duel” with Paris, from which he will emerge victorious, because, having lost illusions, he will be able to act according to the laws of this world. Rastignac is one of those who moves from the “desire” stage to the “be able” stage. The novels “The Trading House of Nucingen”, “Lost Illusions”, “The Luxury and Poverty of Courtesans” depict Rastignac the Millionaire, minister and peer of France.

Rastignac became a model for literary heroes of the following stages: Frederic More from Flaubert (Education of Sentiments) and Raskolnikov from F. Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment) took their example from him. The system of images of the novel “Père Goriot” is subordinated not only to the social principle, but also to the family one: the families of Rastignac, de Resto, Nusingen, Taillefer, de Beauceant, Goriot are depicted here. Each time the author shows how personal family relationships, if they existed, are replaced by monetary relationships. This idea is most clearly expressed by the dying Goriot: “Money can buy everything, even daughters.” For Balzac, social relationships are revealed in family relationships. In this novel, as in the previous ones, the objective world will play a significant role.

It is because of this that the work begins with a description of the quarter where Vauquer’s house is located, then the author introduces the reader to the street, and over time to the house itself, depicted extremely accurately. The pinnacle of this objective world, which reveals the essence of people, is Madame Vauquer’s clothes and her appearance. “The pale plumpness of this lady is the same product of her entire life, just as typhus is a consequence of the infectious air of hospitals,” states the author; and the most significant thing in this relationship: “The woolen knitted skirt, which came out from under the top, altered from an old dress, briefly recreates the living room, dining room and garden, speaks about the properties of the kitchen and makes it possible to foresee the number of parasites.” Balzac writes about the number of parasites that corresponds to the image of the hostess of the boarding house, truly creating a complete analogy to the hostess: “Here is the kingdom of poverty, where there is no hint of poetry, the poverty of the shabby, the stingy, the condensed.”

All the characters, in one way or another, bear the mark of the hostess of the boarding house, even the young dandy Rastignac, who constantly suffers due to lack of money and who is corrupted by Vautrin. Balzac's novel, starting with "Père Goriot", becomes socio-psychological, since it explores not an individual personality, but the psychology of social relations.

Images in the novel “Père Goriot”

Let's start looking at the images with the image of Father Goriot. The most glaring heartlessness is shown in the story of his life, which Rastignac observes. Goriot is a rich merchant who did not get his wealth quite honestly. More than anything in the world, he loves his two daughters, for whom he provided a luxurious, happy life, fulfilled every whim for them, married one to a count, the other to a banker, and gave both a large dowry. But soon after marriage they began to be ashamed of their simple father, they remembered him only when they needed money for entertainment and lovers.

But my father was happy to serve, even as a purse, he gave, gave, and gave everything, becoming completely impoverished. The climax of the novel was the following scene. Father Goriot gave his last money for the happiness of one of his daughters, but then the second daughter unexpectedly came and asked for a very large sum of money, since shame and poverty awaited her. Goriot's heart was breaking because he could not help; the old man was ready to do anything: rob a bank, sell himself as a soldier, if only his daughters were happy. His heart could not stand it, and he died in terrible poverty; his daughters did not even show up for the funeral.

Father Goriot is a vivid example of how obsession, the unreasonable development of passion, leads to the complete destruction of personality. Goriot was completely immersed in parental feelings; he did not think about anyone except his daughters. His passion developed on a selfish basis, and the very power of this passion led Father Goriot to death.

The image of Paris in the novel should also be highlighted. Paris is a city with a rich history that has experienced many changes during its existence. His specific image, his social and moral contrasts have long attracted the attention of writers. They depict not only the grandeur of Paris, its temples and palaces, but also the prevailing customs, laws, and the contrast between wealth and extreme poverty.

Balzac creates a generally realistic image of the city, taking a reliable image of life as an aesthetic credo.

Balzac's Paris is depicted from different sides. It is necessary to highlight two main types of epic in his novels. Relatively speaking, this is prose of exceptional reality (prose of the ideal, absolute prose) and prose of dominant, ordinary reality (relative prose).

Absolute epic is spiritual, bright Paris. The central characters are Pauline Godin, student Lavril, student Bianchon - people who have a hardworking and selfless loving soul.

Balzac's relative prose is manifested in the creation of an image of Paris that is typical, earthly, and imperfect. These are the images of Eugene de Rastignac and the rebel Vautrin.

Honore de Balzac quite fully revealed the image of Paris. According to B.G. Reizov, in his (Balzac’s) work, Paris is “a lighthouse city of provincial ambitious people who flock to it like moths to a flame.”

The novel “Père Goriot” marked the beginning of the depiction of Paris in the works of Balzac. The author strives to show the drama of life of that time and its hidden springs; he displays and interprets external reality. Here he depicts greatness and wealth at the same time as wretchedness. At the beginning of the novel we move to the catacombs of Paris. Pension Vauquer is not an elegant Paris, but a suburb where small urban people live.

Vautrin, observing Madame Vauquer's boarders, defines each of them in one word, containing not only their character, but also their interests, fate and opportunities. Similar comments related to the character’s history belong to the narrator, who, while maintaining the features of an “omniscient author,” still ensures that the reader remains a spectator, before whose eyes the scenes unfold “in real time.” An example is the “parade” of the inhabitants of Madame Vauquer’s boarding house, who take turns passing in front of the reader.

B.G. Reizov notes in this regard that “the drama of the novel develops in the Parisian “hell”, one of the tortures of which is vulgarity and poverty.”

The life of Paris is revealed to Rastignac as an arena of struggle. “Life in Paris is a continuous struggle,” he writes to his mother, “I must go on a campaign.”

The big city is both a civilizer and a corrupter, because in order to use their abilities, young people must first melt them: turn youth into perseverance, intelligence into cunning, gullibility into hypocrisy, courage into hidden cunning.

But Rastignac does not go to fight against the dissolute world that he knew, but only to fight for his personal achievement of success. He does not think about the break in the device, but perceives it as it is, enters the “game” and accepts its “rules”, well assimilates the morality of the masters of life, which Vautrin taught him.

Through several of Balzac's works we meet Baron Rastignac, peer of France. The ambitious student was reborn under the influence of Paris and became decisive. A person either dies or capitulates and becomes corrupted in Paris.

Thus, in the novel one can highlight the image of the “king of hard labor” - Vautrin, his life philosophy; the image of Father Goriot - a man of passion; the image of Madame Vauquer's boarding house as a symbol of “society in miniature”, the image of Paris.

Chapter 2 Conclusions

Balzac's novel "Père Goriot" is built on the principle of a dramatic work, which is manifested in the special development of the conflict and the construction of intrigue, in the specifics of the "building" of the scene and the characteristics of the characters, their appearance and actions in the novel, which turns into a kind of huge stage where the reader turns into a viewer, and the author - first of all, into a director.

In it one can highlight such problems as the problem of forming the character of a provincial, the moral choice of Eugene Rastignac - the “young ambitious man”, the motive of temptation; the problem of the “powers that be”; family and family relations in the bourgeois world.

In the novel one can highlight the image of the “king of hard labor” - Vautrin, his life philosophy; the image of Father Goriot - a man of passion; the image of Madame Vauquer's boarding house as a symbol of “society in miniature”, the image of Paris.

For Balzac, Paris is a city of light, a cultural center in which all provincials, obsessed with the passion to show their talent and conquer the world, strive to live. Some invisible force forces them to leave their provinces and hometowns and go to Paris. This is their battlefield. Balzac created an image of a city that was predominantly beautiful and enchanting both in its purity and in its sins.

Paris is a city where incredible luxury and abject poverty are combined together. Paris is like a caustic acid, it eats away some, it forces others to lie low, and some in this atmosphere crystallize, turn to stone, like Eugene Rastignac.

Honore de Balzac is one of the founders of realism in European literature. The topics touched upon by the writer are not isolated from everyday realities. His works are quite harsh and merciless, just like sometimes life itself in relation to people. In the literary masterpieces that came from his pen, the characters look natural, alive, they are interested in things that attract each of us. Many of the heroes of his novels are people whose desires are greedy, decisions and actions are pragmatic, the main goal is to obtain pleasure, and not the lofty thoughts usually inherent in romantic characters.

Honoré de Balzac: "Père Goriot"

The history 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 became the first in a series of essays, then combined into a collection called “The Human Comedy.” When did Honore de Balzac write this work? "Père Goriot" was created in 1832, but publication took place only two years later. During this time, a plan was formed in the genius’s imagination for writing stories that were supposed to show the real life of French society, the aspirations and aspirations of the writer’s contemporaries. What did Honore de Balzac want to convey to the reader? “Père Goriot” shows the range of ordinary feelings experienced by a person, including unpleasant ones, such as greed, satisfaction of one’s own ambitions by humiliating others and a pathological desire for a series of endless pleasures.

The events take place in Paris, a city that, according to the author, takes away everything human from people, leaving them only with passionate and insatiable desires. A summary of “Père 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 have one thing in common - luck has long ceased to favor them.

Among the guests of the establishment lives an old man who has a rather bad character. No one suspects that he is actually an impoverished nobleman desperately trying to give his daughters a happy future. His neighbor at the boarding house is Rastignac, the only one who accidentally finds out about this. This discovery completely changes the young man’s opinion about the unfortunate old man. A summary of “Père 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 a more condensed narrative, for example, when there is a huge amount of information during exams. In such situations, a brief summary of “Père 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 look at the significant characters in the work of the great Honore de Balzac. Undoubtedly, the summary of “Père 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 in the work “Père Goriot”? The characters of this literary masterpiece are thought out by the author down to the smallest detail, right down to their habits and memories.

• The main character, the so-called Father Goriot, is incurable and in his madness, quiet and meek. However, he sincerely loves his daughters, who use their unhappy father solely to receive financial assistance for their amusements.

• Eugene de Rastignac, a student who came from the provinces. At the beginning of the novel, he had pure youthful hopes of getting an education and benefiting his parents, but once he gets 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 at least a little respect and pity for the old man.
• Delphine de Nucingen is Goriot's eldest daughter, who is married to a fairly wealthy man, but openly cheats on him, just as he cheats 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, the duplicity and hypocrisy of many of the characters in the novel can be seen very clearly. But Vautrin, although literally the embodiment of world 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 “Père Goriot,” whose characters are described very skillfully, this criminal does not seem so bad compared to the greedy and dishonest neighbors whom he openly despises.
• Viscountess de Beauseant is a relative of Rastignac, who introduces the immature youth into high society, thereby pushing him to fall.
• Voke is the owner of the boarding house, a widow of fifty years old. Once a woman wanted to marry Goriot, but was rejected. After this, she became hostile towards the main character. Her contempt increased as signs of his obvious ruin became visible.

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 his daughters to grow up like this. His reckless love led to such a tragic ending. The author emphasizes that the wonderful feeling that gives people joy and happiness must still be subordinated to reason.

Love is a terrible weapon that can kill, because that’s exactly what happened in the novel. Paternal feeling, which knows no bounds, killed everything human in the daughters of the protagonist. The characterization of Father Goriot cannot be done without a critical look at this character. Professionals who subsequently analyzed the novel reproached the author precisely for the fact of reckless love, insisting that this is an unnatural, pathological feeling, which is rather similar to insanity.

Essay analysis

What can the reader learn from the novel “Père Goriot”? Analysis of this work allows us to reconsider family relationships. On the one hand, a loving father who cannot boast of an excellent education or belonging to an ancient aristocratic family, but personifies the ideal of parental love. On the other hand, there are 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 main character dies, but in fact he was dead at the beginning of the story, because he completely devoted himself to his own children. The ending 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 immense pragmatism of his children, he cannot blame them, even moreover, he justifies their actions. What happened to the children of this unfortunate man? Is it their father's fault for spoiling them? After his death this fact becomes obvious. Unfortunately, Honore de Balzac is forced to admit that true love is not honored in Paris - it has been replaced with something completely different. As the author of the novel notes through the mouth of one heroine, the whole life of Parisians is built on titles and money; sincerity here is not considered a virtue, but rather bad manners or even a vice.

Problems addressed in the novel

This work 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 “Père Goriot” want to highlight? The issues revealed in the work affect relationships not only in the family, but also in society. It is necessary to understand that French society of that time was quite heterogeneous, and the gap between different groups was so great that a transition from one social stratum to another was not possible. The author also tries to focus attention on this problem.

Rastignac's image

The image of Rastignac in the novel “Père Goriot” is very indicative because it combines not only positive, but also negative qualities, that is, the reader can trace the changes that occurred in the young man’s worldview throughout the novel. At the beginning of the work, he is introduced as an enthusiastic youth who has recently left his parents' home, but since his move to Paris, significant changes have occurred in him. Of course, there was a period when, having come into contact with the real life of Parisians, Rastignac categorically condemned it. However, by the end of the work, significant metamorphoses occur to him. This manifests itself most clearly when the young man gets the idea of ​​killing his mistress’s husband.

Quotes

What attracts readers to the novel “Père Goriot”? Quotes taken from the work have become real aphorisms, since they are filled with wise meaning and undisguised realities of life:

• “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 cancels the Last Judgment.”
• “There is no greater pleasure for women than to listen to the murmur of tender words.”

The meaning of the novel

Honore de Balzac's work “Père Goriot” made a huge contribution to world literature, adding a worthy novel to its treasury. For the first time, the reader had the opportunity to encounter a work that so vividly and realistically conveyed 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.

The story "Gobsek" was written in 1830. Later, in 1835, Balzac edited it and included it in the “Human Comedy”, connecting it with the novel “Père Goriot” using the so-called “transitional character”.

Thus, the beautiful Countess Anastasi de Resto, one of the debtors of the moneylender Gobsek, turns out to be the daughter of the bankrupt manufacturer-“noodle maker” Goriot.

Both in the story and in the novel, Balzac turns to the original properties of human psychology - stinginess (“Gobsek”), selfless fatherly love for children (“Père Goriot”).

Balzac is a researcher of psychology, a master of detail, an expert on the social life of different layers of human society of his time. Gobsek is not a “model of a miser,” but a living, visible person, a moneylender of the Restoration era. This hoarder derives pleasure not just from having money, but from the secret power over people that money gives.

Gradually, the common sense ability to acquire capital and increase it turns into a painful passion that deprives Gobsek of his human traits and kills him, first morally and then physically.

Stocks of very expensive goose liver pates are rotting, poisoning the air of the apartment with a stench - and this is an image of human decay. A sophisticated reader will immediately see the relationship between Balzac’s hero and Plyushkin from N.V.’s “Dead Souls.” Gogol.

Virtue and vice are interconnected. Father Goriot is a loving bourgeois father, able to express his affection for his daughters only with the help of money and expensive gifts. Having corrupted them with excessive favor and forgiveness, he himself becomes the culprit of their selfishness and his own death alone. However, no less - and even more! — a society that offers betrayal, cynicism, the ability to adapt and flatter as perfect models of success is also guilty. Pity, sympathy, sincere love are not fashionable and not appropriate in this world. However, some characters combine sober calculation, the ability to love, and repentance. Thus, Viscountess de Beauseant gives her distant relative Rastignac practical advice - to succeed by having an affair with a rich woman. However, she decides to leave the world when her lover finds himself a profitable bride.

Rastignac himself was a common type in society and literature of that time: Balzac repeatedly chose for his novels a plot about a young provincial who decided to conquer Paris. This young man is ambitious, determined, ready to give up romantic illusions - but, nevertheless, he is able to sincerely become attached to Delphine and feel pity for her poor pathetic father, even spending his last money on his funeral. As long as there are tendencies in society to achieve success by “walking over our heads,” Balzac’s “Human Comedy” will not lose its significance.

A famous writer, fiction writer, who became the founder of realism in Europe in the nineteenth century, a French master of words, whose books still leave a deep imprint on the soul of the modern reader - this is Honore de Balzac.

Balzac's famous book "Père Goriot" was written in the 30s of the 19th century and formed the basis of the plot of several film adaptations. The first publication of the novel was published in a leading magazine in Paris, and the creation itself became part of the collection “Human Comedy”.

Founder of realism in literature

Balzac was born into a wealthy French family of the peasant Bernard. He spent his childhood in the city of Tours. Initially, the family had the surname Balsa, but upon learning that their surname sounded very similar to one of the nobles, the father quickly changed it to Balzac. And Honore himself, already at the age of thirty, added the particle “de”; this fact finally elevated the Honore de Balzac family to the nobility.

Most critics believe that Balzac paid a lot of attention in his works to the theme of relationships between spouses. In the summary of "Père Goriot", you can trace the history of his personal experiences. These assumptions are related to the situation in the family of Honore de Balzac, which became known to the public. His father was thirty years older than his mother, the young woman had connections with other men.

As a teenager, the future writer loved to read a lot. While living in a college boarding house in the city of Vendôme, the boy felt very lonely. His peers did not understand his passion for reading and studying. Later he will reflect this period in the novel with a philosophical bent, “Louis Lambert”.

From lawyer to writer

As a twenty-year-old boy, Honore entered law school. However, his successful career as a clerk is interrupted by an unexpected love of writing.

In the 20-30s of the 19th century, Balzac's first action-packed novels were published, in which he came up with a code of morality and correct behavior in secular society. Initially, his work was anonymous. But gradually the popularity of his novels began to gain momentum, particularly among the female population. The writer was helped in understanding female psychology by his first lover, who was not only twenty-two years older than the writer, but was also in an official relationship. As a result, one of the readers achieved the direct attention of Honore and became his wife (Polish Countess Hanska).

By 1840, the writer was at the peak of his popularity, but this did not make his life serene. Being an adventurous person, Balzac invested a lot of money in completely unprofitable projects. For example, buying a country house without good financial security or founding a periodical that became a complete failure.

The main idea of ​​Balzac's books

The initial goal of Balzac's writing was to depict modern society with all its inherent vices. He described society, dividing it into types, explaining his choice by the variety of external conditions and the difference in human characters.

He compared the idea itself with something material, trying to convey the meaning of the enslavement of the human mind by a sick goal, which will ultimately lead to the death of the owner, despite his social status. For example, this can be noticed when reading the summary of "Père Goriot". The heroes of Balzac's novels are entire stories of clashes between their crazy passions and social realities.

Plot lines of the novel

Balzac's novel "Père Goriot" is considered the author's main work. This is an epic that includes a dozen different characters. The storyline centers on the loss of youthful hopes and illusions. The novel is divided into three thematic lines, which at first seem different, but ultimately the reader finds links connecting them.

The reader will be the first to learn the story of the devotion of the father - the old man Goriot, who gave his last pants to his daughters, and he himself went into another world as beggars. This plot reveals the main problem of humanity - the power of money over people.

The second story is the theme of ambition. It tells the story of a student from a provincial town, Eugene Rastignac, who uses every opportunity to become part of the high society of Paris.

The third storyline of the novel “Père Goriot” is the theme of the philosophy of crime. As an escaped convict, Vautrin fights for the right to disregard the law for strong individuals like him.

Novel "Père Goriot": main characters

The central character is Father Goriot. His attitude to the world is perceived through his love for each of his daughters, and the meaning of life is to fulfill their whims. He appears as the so-called martyr of parental devotion.

The youngest of the children, Delphine de Nucingen, is the wife of a banker. However, her married life immediately cracked and subsequently she and her husband began to live completely different lives: sleeping in different rooms and having affairs on the side, not hiding them from each other.

The eldest daughter, Anastasi de Resto, married the count and fell in love with social life with all her heart. Goriot's eldest daughter is also far from an angel. It turns out that all her children were conceived by her lover Maxime de Traya. After repeatedly asking her father for help in covering Maxim's debts, Anastasi runs away with her lover, leaving her family behind.

In describing the summary of “Père Goriot,” special attention should be paid to a young student from a village family, Eugene de Rastignac, who becomes one of Delphine’s lovers. However, he is practically the only character who shows respect for old Goriot.

The criminal Vautrin, who leads a secretive life, is an escaped convict, a real cynic, he plays with the destinies of people. But, despite his bad character, he is the voice of conscience, he is straightforward, he has no fear of condemnation from society when he expresses his point of view. Vautrin sympathizes with the student, offering him to become the husband of a millionaire's daughter. The student has a cousin, a viscountess. She is married, but had a relationship with a certain marquis, after whose wedding she fled from grief to the north, to her husband’s estate.

The owner of the boarding house is a widow of fifty years old. Vauquer had certain plans for Father Goriot. However, he rejected her, so she treats the old man aggressively and with open hostility.

And finally, Dr. Bianchon, who is a student and friend of Eugene. He comes to the aid of his friend when he reports that Father Goriot is seriously ill. He assists in organizing the old man's funeral.

The story takes place in the boarding house "House of Vauquet", named after the dowager mistress. The four-story building is inhabited by characters of completely different characters. The fourth floor is the cheapest, the second is the best and most expensive. Moreover, two widows live on the second floor: the owner herself and Madame Couture, the wife of the deceased commissioner, who also supports a young pupil, Quiztina Taillefer. The third floor is occupied by the old man Poircet and the former convict Vautrin. On the fourth floor are the apartments of the old maid Mishano, father Goriot (formerly the owner of a pasta factory), as well as the young student Rastignac. There is also an attic floor where the cook and servant Christophe live. The residents of the boarding house wear shabby clothes, and their faces are downcast, except for the girl Victorina, who was not recognized by her millionaire father.

At the center of all events is the old man Gorio. After retiring from the factory in 1813, he settled in a boarding house and, having money, took a room on the most prestigious floor. The widowed mistress wanted to marry him, however, not having achieved her goal, she literally inflamed with hatred of Goriot. Over time, the old man became poor and had to move to the top floor. He was given the nickname "Dad". Sometimes his daughters come to him, who are dressed and shod very richly, unlike their father.

Events at Goriot are developing sadly. Vautrin finds him going to a moneylender who accepts old silver cutlery, which he informs the hostess about. He is trying to prove to everyone that the father supports his daughters.

Turbulent events in the life of the boarding house

Then the cycle of events begins. The student encounters her husband and her lover, Count Maxim, in Anastasi’s house. However, after the mention of Father Goriot, Rastignac is escorted out, and he goes to the house of the Viscountess de Beauseant. At this moment, the viscountess's lover, the Portuguese d'Ajula Pinto, without disappointment, hastily leaves her house so as not to admit to treason. But his associate in sin hears about his intentions to marry another lady.

At this moment, the Duchess de Langeais appears at the de Beauseant house. The most interesting thing is that the student had no idea about the family ties between Goriot and Anastasi. Eugene also learns that his father earned his fortune during the bourgeois revolution in France and gave his daughters a huge amount of money as a dowry (five hundred thousand francs each). Then Beaucean invites Eugene to start a relationship with the youngest of his daughters and tells him what manners he needs to learn in order to win the favor of the ladies of high society.

After returning to the boarding house, Rastignac takes on the role of guardian to old Goriot. At this moment, Vautrin negotiates a deal with the student, the meaning of which is for Eugene to find him a bride with a million francs as a dowry. Rastignac immediately realized that if Victorine’s father was intimidated in order to recognize paternity, then there would be no need to look for anyone. As a result, events turn out the way the student wants, but he refuses Vautrin’s money for the work done. And he has his own hidden agenda for this.

Eugene finally meets Delphine and gives her money, which she does not see at all from her husband. Over time, the student realizes that he has fallen in love with Goriot's youngest daughter and is left without funds.

At the same time, Poircet and Mishano find out that Vautrin is an escaped convict who calls himself “Cheat Death.” Vautrin informs the student about the duel with Victorine's brother.

Goriot's daughters have problems. It turns out that the youngest's husband was involved in illegal activities. The eldest daughter is trying by hook or by crook to help her lover pay off his debts. Amid worries about his children, Goriot fell ill with a serious illness. However, none of the daughters are worried about their father. Goriot dies a very painful death, and only the student is at his bedside all this time. In his dying delirium, Goriot admits to himself that the children did not love him at all. Eugene becomes convinced of this during the funeral, which he organizes with his own money.

Film adaptations of the novel

There are five film adaptations of "Père Goriot" with the same names.

The very first of them appeared in 1910 (directed by Armand Numes). The next film adaptation was released after the end of the war, in 1945. The Italians made their version in 1970. Two years later, a television film based on the novel “Père Goriot” appeared.

2004 film adaptation

The most recent adaptation is a 2004 television film (directed by Jean-Daniel Verhauck). Charles Aznavour embodied the image of the unfortunate Father Goriot on the screen. The plot of the film is almost identical to the book. Father Goriot pays a high price for his love for his daughters, giving them all his savings. His feelings of fatherly love are rather a kind of insanity.

The image of the student mentioned in the summary of “Père Goriot” is also well revealed in the television film. He was played by actor Malik Zidi.