The Parisian light after the Restoration was a rather motley society. The largest bourgeois thieves, at the cost of gold and marriage contracts, got into the environment of hereditary aristocrats who constantly needed their capital. "Blue blood", obsessed with the power of money and the thirst for growth, willingly gave up their dubious aristocratic principles for the sake of "big money", allowing the newly-minted nobility into their circle. This phenomenon, characteristic of the Parisian light of the era of the Restoration, was masterfully reproduced by Balzac in the pages of the novel "Gobsek". “Monsieur de Resto needs to be very rich in order for a family like ours to agree to intermarry with his mother,” the Viscountess de Granlier declares quite in the spirit of her time. Only in this case, the hereditary aristocratic family agrees to admit into its circle a young nobleman, in whose veins the blood of the vermicelli Goriot flows.

Representatives of this society constitute the main clientele of the usurer Gobsek. While holding the fate of many of them in his hands, he at the same time understands that in their eyes the usurer is a creature of a lower order, whose services are turned to only in case of emergency. Seeing the insignificance of these people, the pitiful helplessness of their claims to moral superiority and exclusivity, covered by aristocratic arrogance, Gobsek stands before them with noble dignity. In response to the insult of Maxime de Tray, he cold-bloodedly takes out his pistols and, as an equal, invites the secular dandy to fight, enjoying his fright.

Perfectly understanding people, he evaluates them correctly and quickly. When he first saw Maxime de Tray, Gobsek "read on his face the whole future of the Countess" de Resto. Maxime de Trai and Countess de Resto for the sake of money "are ready to plunge headlong into the mud." Even in Gobsek, they evoke a squeamish feeling.

The "idol of light" Maxim de Trai for Gobsek is just "a subject inspiring ... contempt, all-knowing and a complete ignoramus ... a bruiser, more stained with mud than stained with blood." Calling Maxime de Tray "a brilliant connecting link between the inhabitants of penal servitude and the people of high society", Balzac lists with deadly irony the "merits" of this idol of the Parisian salons: And how Maxim plays cards, how he eats and drinks! You will not see such grace of manners in the whole world. He knows a lot about racehorses, fashionable hats, and paintings. Women are crazy about him. He squanders a hundred thousand a year, but one cannot hear that he has a seedy estate or at least some kind of rent. This is an example of a wandering knight of our time - he wanders through the salons, boudoirs, boulevards of our capital ... "

However, these two antipodes - Gobsec and Maxime de Trai - are tightly linked by strong bonds of social relations. And in fact, the grower has nothing to object to the cynical remark that Maxime de Tray throws in the face of Gobsek: “But if it were not for the wasteful, what would you do? You and I are necessary for each other, as soul and body. "

The power of gold in the world in which they live determines their characters and relationships. But for Gobsek, at least until he falls into senile marasmus, money is just a commodity that allows him to buy everything. For the hereditary nobleman Maxim de Traya de ngi is something for which you can profitably sell even yourself. Therefore, he is confident in himself as long as he knows that they want to buy him. And as long as there is demand for people like him in high society, "his promissory notes will always be paid."

The thirst for luxury and pleasure drives these noble gentlemen to the usurer. This thirst “makes them steal millions in a dignified manner, sell their homeland,” says Gobsek with contempt. And this same insatiable thirst turns out to be stronger than any, beyond the most sacred, feelings. The magnificent beauty, graceful socialite Countess Anastasi de Resto, reminiscent of “one of the beautiful Herodias by Leonardo da Vinci,” amazes the reader with a contrasting discrepancy between outer beauty and inner emptiness. Her selfishness and arrogance, immorality and cruelty towards members of her own family evoke a vengeful sense of satisfaction in Gobsek when, in the countess's house, he utters his inner monologue: “Pay for all this luxury, pay for your title, pay for your happiness ... to protect their wealth, the rich invented tribunals, judges, the guillotine ... But for you, for people who sleep on silk and cover themselves with silk, there is something else: reproaches of conscience, gnashing of teeth hidden by a smile, chi-measures with like a lion's mouth, thrusting fangs into your heart. " Material from the site

The specter of poverty drives the Countess de Resto into a frenzy. Wherever her imaginary well-being, sophistication, high-society manners disappear, when, in search of documents that can deprive her of her fortune, she turns into a fury, ready for any meanness. “As soon as the count let out his breath, his wife broke open all the cupboards, all the drawers of the writing desk, and the carpet around her was thickly covered with scraps of torn letters, the cupboards were broken, the briefcases were cut - her impudent hands were rummaging everywhere ... The corpse of Count de Resto was lying prone, head against the wall, hanging over the bed, contemptuously discarded like one of those envelopes that were lying on the floor, for it was now just an unnecessary shell ... The pillow was thrown off, and the trace of a woman's boot was still visible on it. "

The scene in the office of the deceased count is Balzac's merciless sentence to that inner emptiness that the people of the circle of the Countess de Resto and Maxime de Tray are trying to cover up with their aristocratic origins and "worthily" stolen millions. The words of the late Count were also prophetic in relation to Countess de Resto: "You were a bad wife, a bad daughter, you will be a bad mother ..."

By placing representatives of the nobility next to the bourgeoisie in his story, Balzac brilliantly showed not only their mutual antagonism, but also their mutual interest in each other's existence. The genius artist realistically accurately reflected in the artistic images of the story the essence of the relationship that determined the appearance of the era of the Restoration in France.

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Gobsek summary

Gobseck (fr. Gobseck) novel by Honore de Balzac, published for the first time in 1830. Later the novel entered the cycle "Human Comedy" as part of "Scenes of Private Life". The main theme of the work is the power of money, and the main character around which the plot is built by the usurer Gobsek. The novel was first published in 1830 in parts in the magazine "La Maud" under the name "The Usurer", then as a separate volume in the publishing house of Madame Delaunay under the new title "The Danger of Disobedience". In 1835 the name was changed to "Father Gobsek", the current name "Gobsek" was established with the publication of "The Human Comedy" in 1842. The novel is multifaceted. On the surface, the story of the marriage of Camille de Granlier, daughter of the Viscountess de Granlier, to Count Ernest de Resto, another theme is the image of thirst, which is personified by the usurer Jean-Esther de Gobsec, but above all it is a picture of the whole society in which money dominates. The action takes place during the Bourbon Restoration, around 1829. The aristocracy at that time regained its position lost during the French Revolution, but money ruled in society. The rich bourgeoisie strove to become related to the ruined nobility, everything was bought and sold. The theme of the worship of money comes to the fore in the novel. The story begins in Madame de Granlier's salon with a conversation between the hostess and the family lawyer Derville. Derville overheard Madame de Granlier's conversation with her daughter Camilla, and learned that Camilla was in love with the young Ernest de Resto, the son of Anastasia de Resto, at the birth of Goriot. Madame de Granlier is unhappy with this love, since Ernest's mother is a squander, she has an illegal relationship with Maxime de Tray, for whom she squandered her fortune. However, this is only an excuse, the real reason is that Ernest has no money.
Derville comes to the aid of Camille - Ernest recently managed to regain his family inheritance. The story of how this happened brings the reader back to the time when the young aspiring lawyer Derville met Jean-Esther de Gobsek, a usurer. These two characters appear in many novels of "The Human Comedy", at least in the form of mentions: "Colonel Chabert", "Glamor and poverty of courtesans" and others.
Derville had met Gobsek long ago, when they both lived in the same cheap boarding house. Gobsek already then lived unsociable and talked only with Derville, telling him stories from his craft, seasoned with cynical philosophy. Subsequently, Derville managed to buy out the law firm, taking a loan from Gobsek at extortionate interest rates.
Derville continues his story by telling how he introduced the dandy Maxime de Trai to Gobsek, who hoped to borrow money from the usurer. Gobseck refused to give a loan to the count, despite his 300 thousand francs in debt and not a sou to his heart. Maxime de Trai, however, attracted a woman, his mistress, Countess de Resto, to the case. He managed, through feigned suffering, to persuade the Countess to take a loan from Gobsek, with an unjustifiably large collateral.
The countess's husband found out about the scam and came to Gobsek, demanding the return of the bail. Gobsek advises the count to hide the money from his wife, the embezzler, by transferring the property to a reliable person, as whom he offers himself. Derville acts as a mediator in the case.
Having not received a receipt from de Resto about the fictitiousness of the transaction with the transfer of property, Derville visits the count. He is seriously ill. The Countess de Resto is doing everything possible to prevent the lawyer from visiting her husband. She has already broken off relations with Maxime de Tray. Unable to meet with Derville, the count wants to hand over the documents to his son, but the countess also prevents this. Before the death of Count de Resto, she begs her husband's forgiveness on her knees, but in vain. The count dies, and the next day Gobsek and Derville find a terrible picture in his house - the Countess turned everything upside down, looking for a will. Hearing the steps of people, she throws documents intended for Derivle into the fire, as a result of which Gobsek becomes the owner of all the property of the deceased.
Gobsek took over new estates. Derville appealed to him with a plea to pity the Countess and her children, but the usurer cynically replied that "trouble will teach" - he will return the inheritance to Ernest only when he finds out the value of money and people.
Derville's story ends with his last visit to Gobsek, when he was already dying. Derville wanted to try again to persuade the moneylender to help the young lovers. At the end of his life, Gobsek's greed turned into madness - his house became a dump of accumulated things. But the old curmudgeon was already on the verge of death. Before his death, he bequeathed all his property to Derville, and the castle de Resto returns to Ernest. Thus, Ernest regained his estate.
After listening to Derville's story, the Viscountess de Granlier agrees that yes, if so, then Ernest is very rich.

In the 1930s, Balzac turned entirely to the description of the customs and life of modern bourgeois society. At the origins of "The Human Comedy" is the small story "Gobsek", which appeared in 1830. Although outwardly it looks like a novel entirely of a portrait plan, a kind of psychological study, it nevertheless contains all the key moments of Balzac's worldview.

The novella was, along with the novel, Balzac's favorite genre. At the same time, many of Balzac's short stories are not built around a certain center - although they sometimes tell about very dramatic twists and turns - but around a certain psychological type. Taken together, Balzac's novellas represent, as it were, a portrait gallery of various types of human behavior, a series of psychological studies. In the general concept of The Human Comedy, they are, as it were, preliminary developments of characters, which Balzac later releases as heroes on the pages of his major plot novels.

And it is extremely significant that the first in this gallery of types appears Gobsek, the usurer, one of the key, main figures of the entire bourgeois century, as it were, a symbol of this era. What is this new psychological type? In our critical literature, unfortunately, the image of Gobsek is often interpreted one-sidedly. If you do not read the story itself, but read other critical judgments about it, then we will see the image of a kind of spider sucking blood from its victims, a person devoid of any mental movements, thinking only about money - in general, this figure, as you can imagine, depicted by Balzac with hatred and disgust.

But if you read the story itself carefully, you will probably be somewhat confused by the categorical nature of these harshly negative judgments. Because in the story you will often see and hear something completely opposite: the narrator, a completely positive and honest person, the lawyer Derville, says about Gobseck, for example, like this: all Paris. Two creatures live in it: the curmudgeon and the philosopher, an insignificant and sublime being. If I die, leaving young children, he will be their guardian. " I repeat, this is said by the narrator, who is clearly speaking on behalf of the author.

Let's take a closer look at this strange character. Gobsek is without a doubt ruthless to his clients. He rips them off, as they say, three skins. He "plunges people into tragedy," as it was said in the old days.

But let's ask a logical question - who is his client, from whom does he take money? The novel features two such clients - Maxime de Trai, a socialite, a gambler and a pimp who squanders his mistress's money; the mistress herself is the Countess de Resto, blindly in love with Maxim and robbing her husband and children for the sake of her lover. When her husband becomes seriously ill, his first concern is to draw up a will so that the money remains not for the wife, but for the children; and then the countess, truly losing her human appearance, protects the dying count's office with vigilant supervision in order to prevent him from transferring his will to a notary. When the count dies, she rushes to the dead man's bed and, throwing the corpse to the wall, rummages in the bed!

Do you feel how this complicates the situation? After all, these are different things - does the moneylender Gobsek rob just helpless people in trouble, or just people like these? Here we must be, apparently, more careful in assessing Gobsek, otherwise, logically, we will have to feel sorry for the poor Maxim de Traya and the Countess de Resto! But maybe Gobsek doesn't care who to rob? Today he pressed the Countess and Maxim, tomorrow will he press a decent person?

We are assured that he almost drinks human blood, and he throws it in the face of Maxime de Tray: "It is not blood that flows in your veins, but dirt." He says to Derville: "I appear among the rich as retribution, as a reproach of conscience ..."

Here, it turns out, what a Gobsek! But maybe this is all demagoguery, and in fact Gobsek rips off poor and honest people with the same pleasure? Balzac, as if anticipating this question, introduces into his short story the story of the seamstress Fanny - for her, Gobsek feels sympathy, passion.

You don't need to have any special instinct to see that the hero's speeches here are not hypocritical: they sound completely sincere, they were composed by Balzac in order to highlight precisely the human essence of Gobsek! True, in the same scene, Gobsek, emotionally, almost offers her money on a loan at the minimum rate, "only 12%", but then changes his mind. It sounds sarcastic, but if you think about the situation, it is again more complicated. Because Balzac has no mockery here - on the contrary, the whole stronghold of Gobseck's existence is shaking here! He is a usurer, seemingly ruthless character, he himself is ready to offer money on credit, and he is so forgotten at the sight of Fanny that he is ready to demand the minimum percentage in his understanding. Is it not obvious that here it is important for Balzac not to mock the sentimentality of Gobsec, but to emphasize precisely all his shock - clearly human, humane feelings began to speak in him! His professional instinct remained stronger, but it is curious that his rejection of this idea is due not to greed, but to skepticism, distrust of people: "Well, no, I reasoned myself, she probably has a young cousin who will make her sign promissory notes and clean out the poor thing! " That is, Fanny Gobsek alone was still ready to do good! Here we have not so much sarcasm or satire as Balzac's deep psychological insight, here the tragic sides of human psychology are revealed - even trying to do good to worthy people, he does not dare to take this step, because his whole psychology is already poisoned with distrust of people!

The entire plot of the story convinces us of the complexity of Gobsek's character, of the remarkable human resources of his soul. Indeed, at the end of it, it is Gobsek who is entrusted by the dying Count de Resto to protect his children from the intrigues of his own mother! The count, therefore, implies in him not only honesty, but also humanity! Further, when Derville is about to found his own notary office, he decides to ask Gobsek for money, because he feels his friendly disposition. Another brilliant psychological detail follows - Gobsek asks Derville for the minimum amount of interest in his practice, he himself understands that it is still high, and therefore almost demands from Derville to bargain! He is literally waiting for this request - so that, again, he himself does not violate his principle (do not take less than 13%). But ask Derville, he will further reduce the amount! Derville, in turn, does not want to humiliate himself. The amount remains 13%. But Gobsek, so to speak, organizes additional and profitable clientele for him free of charge. And at parting he asks Derville for permission to visit him. Before you in that scene again is not so much a spider as a victim of his own profession and his own distrust of people.

So Balzac, with the finest psychological skill, reveals to us the secret nerves of this strange soul, "the fiber of the heart of modern man," as Stendhal said. This man, allegedly carrying "evil, ugliness and destruction", is in fact himself deeply wounded in his soul. His shrewd, sharp mind is cold to the limit. He sees the evil reigning around, but he still convinces himself that he sees only this: "Here you live with mine - you will find out that of all earthly goods there is only one reliable enough that it would cost a person to chase after him. This is gold."

Balzac shows us the path of thought that led the hero to such ethics, he shows us in all its complexity the soul that professes such principles - and then these words already sound tragic. Gobsek turns out to be a deeply unhappy man; the surrounding evil, money, gold - all this distorted his basically honest and good nature, poisoned it with the poison of distrust of people. He feels completely alone in this world. "If human communication between people is considered a kind of religion, then Gobsek could be called an atheist," says Derville. But at the same time, the thirst for real human communication in Gobsek did not die at all, it was not for nothing that his soul was so drawn to Fanny, it is not for nothing that he is so attached to Derville and, to the meager extent of his strength, strives to do good! But the logic of the bourgeois world, according to Balzac, is such that these impulses most often remain just fleeting impulses - or acquire a grotesque, distorted character.

In other words, Balzac is portraying here not the tragedy of Maxime de Trail and the Countess de Resto, who fell into the clutches of a usurer spider, but the tragedy of Gobsek himself, whose soul was distorted, distorted by the law of the bourgeois world - man to man is a wolf. After all, how senseless and tragic at the same time is the death of Gobsek! He dies completely alone next to his rotting wealth - already dying like a maniac! His usury, his tight-fistedness is not a cold calculation, but a disease, mania, a passion that engulfs the person himself. Don't forget about his vengeful feelings for the rich! And it is no coincidence, of course, that this whole story was put into the mouth of Derville, who tells it in a high-society salon - this story is clearly built on the fact that Derville is trying to dissuade his listeners, at least tell them the truth about the life of Gobsek. After all, his listeners know this story from the same Gobsek victims - from the same Maxim, from the same Countess de Resto. And they, of course, have the same idea of ​​Gobseck as in the critical judgments I quoted above - he is a villain, a criminal, he bears evil, ugliness, destruction, and Derville, a lawyer by profession, bases his entire story on extenuating circumstances. And so, paradoxically, it is the fate of Gobsek that becomes the guilty verdict of bourgeois society - his fate, not the fate of Maxim and Countess de Resto!

But realizing this, we are also aware of the serious artistic protest of Balzac in this image. After all, passing a guilty verdict on mercantile ethics, Balzac chooses, of course, a figure that is not the most suitable for this role as the main victim and accuser. Even if we admit that there were such usurers, it can hardly be admitted that such a usurer's fate was typical. She is definitely an exception. Meanwhile, Balzac clearly raises this story above the framework of a particular case, he gives it a generalizing, symbolic meaning! And so that the role of Gobseck as the accuser of society looks legitimate, so that the author's sympathy for the hero looks justified, the author not only gives a subtle psychological analysis of Gobseck's soul (as we saw above), but also reinforces this with a kind of demonization of the image. And this is a purely romantic procedure. Gobsek is shown as an ingenious but sinister connoisseur of human souls, as a kind of explorer.

Balzac, in essence, raises the private everyday practice of the usurer to majestic proportions. After all, Gobsek becomes not only a victim of the golden calf, but also a symbol of enormous practical and cognitive energy! And here the purely romantic manner of portraying irresistible demonic villains, for whose villainy the world is to blame, invades the methodology of the remarkable realist. Not themselves.

Quite a little time will pass, and Balzac will become much more unambiguous and merciless in the portrayal of bourgeois businessmen - this will be the image of old man Grande. But now, in Gobsek, he is still clearly hesitating on a very important point - on the question of purposefulness, on the moral cost of bourgeois energy.

Creating the figure of the omnipotent Gobsek, Balzac clearly pushes into the background the immorality of the ultimate goal of usury - the siphoning of money from people that you, in essence, did not give them. The energy and strength of Gobseck interests him in and of themselves, and he is clearly weighing for himself the question of whether this practical energy is good for him. Therefore, he clearly idealizes and romanticizes this energy. Therefore, it is precisely in questions of the ultimate goal that Balzac seeks for Gobseck mitigating circumstances that mystify the real state of affairs - now in Gobseck this is a study of the laws of the world, then observation of human souls, then revenge on the rich for their arrogance and heartlessness, then some all-consuming "one single passion ". Romanticism and realism intertwined in this image is truly indissoluble.

As we can see, the whole story is woven from the deepest dissonances, reflecting the ideological fluctuations of Balzac himself. Turning to the analysis of modern mores, Balzac still mystifies them in many respects, overloading the basically realistic image with symbolic meanings and generalizations. As a result, the image of Gobsek appears, as it were, on several levels at once - he is both a symbol of the destructive power of gold, and a symbol of bourgeois practical energy, and a victim of bourgeois morality, and also simply a victim of all-consuming passion, passion as such, regardless of its specific content.

"Gobsek" impresses with a deep meaning and moral underpinnings of the plot. This work is associated with the novel by Balzac "Father Goriot", and some of the heroes flashed in other works of the French writer, for example, in the novel "The Human Comedy".

History of creation

Working on a literary work, Balzac carefully formed the description of the heroes, raised the problems that worried him and exposed vices. Greed, vanity, hypocrisy have always been reproached by the author. In addition to the main idea of ​​the story, Balzac pondered how to add artistic sophistication to the work. He tried to preserve the persuasiveness of the characteristics, to make sure that the heroes collected in the ensemble of the work personify the modern era for the author.

The exact date of writing is disputed by historians. After the death of the writer, three editions of the work were found, in which he made edits over the course of 18 years. The story is based on the short story "The Usurer", written by Balzac to order for the "Modnik" magazine. It served as the basis for the first chapter of a work entitled The Dangers of Dissatisfaction. In 1832 it was translated into Russian, and already in 1835 the public accepted the updated version of the story. The name was changed to "Daddy Gobsek", which readers associate with the name "Father Goriot".

Balzac gave its current name to the story in 1848, when, in a fit of inspiration, he returned to editing. He removed the soft address "daddy", deciding to acquaint the reader with a rude and greedy usurer with an unusual biography.

In both versions of the story, Balzac denounced the victims of money and pledges, as well as those who had power over them in the form of bills. In the work of Balzac, aristocrats and ordinary strata of the population are contrasted; those who are used to working without rest, and those who know how to spend gold, wasting their lives.

Art critics suggest that "Gobsek" is based on real events, witnessed by the author of the work. The story is called autobiographical, seeing parallels with Balzac's personal life. The writer discusses in his works the meaning of money, condemning its all-consuming power. The drama that male and female images carry, unpredictable collisions, a high degree of moralism captivate anyone who gets acquainted with the work of Balzac in general and the story of "Gobsec" in particular.

Biography

All the heroes of the story are described in detail by the author and have detailed characteristics. Gobsek's appearance says a lot about the character. An old man with a yellowish rounded face and unpleasant features does not evoke sympathy. The hero's nationality is hidden. His past is covered with a veil of secrecy, but it is clear that the life of the usurer was rich and varied. Gobsek argues that hardship and grief make a person strong, they also increase susceptibility.

Analysis of the hero suggests that in his youth he was a pirate. Avarice and selfishness helped to amass some fortune, which he used by giving money at a high interest rate. For his inaccessibility and severity, the old man was called "the golden idol". Gobsek was in demand in his environment. After dividing the "service areas" between the city moneylenders, he began to work with aristocrats and representatives of the cream of society. At the same time, in any situation, no matter how delicate it was, he remained adamant in decisions.

Gobsek is the personification of greed. The image combines romantic and realistic literary traditions. The character's appearance speaks of a noble old age, wisdom of experience and worldly wisdom, and his actions make him a soulless machine for making money. The more the usurer's fortune became, the less humanity remained in him. The best professional in his field, he demonstrates a high degree of financial preparedness, foresight and discernment.

The quick-witted moneylender deftly turns out scams, remaining a diplomat. A businessman and an experienced businessman, the hero gives advice, invests money, benefiting society, but does not follow the lead of idleness. The character attracts with honesty and a philosophical look. All the arguments that he voices are supported by experiences from his past life.

Gobsek was a corsair cabin boy in his youth, traded in precious stones and slaves, was in the service of the state. He was driven by the instinct of self-preservation, which allowed the hero to survive in difficult situations that he faced in his career.

The finale of the moneylender's life is striking. His life was spent in hoarding, which did not bring either pleasure or benefit. Closer to death, the romantic nature prevailed over the rational grain, so the legacy of Gobsek will go to his sister's granddaughter.

Plot

The action begins with a conversation between Derville, Count Ernest de Resto and Viscountess de Granlier in her salon. The daughter of a high-ranking person showed a clear disposition to the count, for which she was uprooted by her mother. Ernest, lacking status and fortune, was a disadvantage for her daughter. Hearing this dialogue, Derville cites as an example the story of Gobsek, which the reader perceives from his lips, as from the narrator.

Derville and the moneylender have known each other for a long time. During this time, Gobsek imbued the lawyer Derville with confidence and told the story of how he once collected an impressive debt from the countess, who was in a difficult situation. The woman was forced to pledge the diamonds, and her lover got the money through a bill. The hint of the usurer that he would ruin the countess's family was not heard, but was soon justified.

Later, the favorite of the society, Maxim de Tray, who needed the help of a usurer, turned to Derville for help. Gobsek refused to provide services, knowing about the handsome man's debts. The previously designated Countess again began to come to Gobsek, pawning jewelry. She did this for the sake of de Tray, who vilely threatened to commit suicide. The countess's husband, who nobly concealed his wife's connection, learned about the deal. This man was the father of Ernest de Resto, who fell in love with the daughter of the Viscountess.

After some time, the count fell mortally ill, and the countess, after his death, burned the will, thereby transferring the family's property into the hands of Gobsek.

Derville mediated in the return of the inheritance to Ernest de Resto, but the usurer did not make concessions. The usurer died in terrible conditions, becoming a hostage to his own avarice and greed. The estate has been returned to its rightful owner. The marriage of the Viscountess's daughter was organized not without the efforts of Derville.

Screen adaptations

The works of classical literature were the first material used for visualization in cinematography. Balzac was not ignored by the directors. The first film based on the novel "Gobsek" was released in 1936. It was filmed by the Soviet director Konstantin Eggert. The role of the main character was played by actor Leonid Leonidov. Alexander Shatov appeared in the image of Derville. It is curious that the director himself appeared in the picture as Count de Resto.

In 1987, director Alexander Orlov offered the public his own version of the story. The film adaptation was prepared in the USSR, at the Moldova Film studio. Gobsek in the motion picture was played by Vladimir Tatosov. The role of Derville went to Sergei Bekhterev. The tape was one of the first in the filmography, reincarnated in the frame in the Countess de Resto. The young Count de Resto was played by a theater director, who was still a boy at that time.

Year: 1830 Genre: story

Gobsek is a word that means a person who only thinks about money. Gobsek - in other words, this is a person who lends money at high interest rates. This is a moneylender who knows no pity when it comes to money. It is such people that often cause negative, hostility, because it is difficult to understand them, it is difficult to have friendly relations with them, except for business and any profitable deals.

Ernst is the name of a young man who evokes sincere feelings in a young lady who is a beautiful and wealthy heiress. And her mother is a viscountess herself, who is intelligent enough, and therefore it is not strange that she resists lovers. Moreover, one of the lovers is her daughter. This is because Ernst is young, handsome, but at the same time poor.

He is a part of an aristocratic society, and himself an aristocrat, but impoverished. Since his mother was very frivolous in her youth, and it so happened that she pawned all her fortune due to the fact that she had a young lover. She wasted money, and therefore now her son does not have a very good reputation. In this conversation, Derville is present, a lawyer who is respected by the Viscountess, and therefore is a friend of the family. He intervenes in the conversation, and tells a very interesting story that concerns the mother of the young man Ernst.

Derville, when he was living in a cheap boarding house, as a student, met there with an unpredictable man named Gobsek. This man was a moneylender. It was an old man, whose appearance was some kind of yellow, his nose - long, thin lips. He was a man-bill, he was cold and indifferent to the troubles of others. He was unusually rich, but he was hated by everyone who borrowed from him. Once, Gobsek, who of all the neighbors communicated only normally with Derville, told him about the Countess. She came to borrow money in order to give it to her young handsome lover, who was still a freak and a spender. In her mortgage to Gobsek, she presented a diamond of unprecedented beauty. It so happened that the Countess spent all the following years of her husband's money and jewelry.

One day, the husband rushed to Gobsek, demanding that he return the jewelry, since he has no right to take them. But everything turned out differently. Gobsek advised him to give all the rights to possession of the house and money after his death, the count, to Gobsek, so that his wife would not dare to spend money.

Picture or drawing Balzac - Gobsek

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  The story begins with a father showing his son Misha a beautiful musical snuff-box, in which a whole miniature town is built. Misha admires the gift for a long time and really wants to get into this colorful and bright world

• Shelley Summary - Prometheus Unchained

  Events take place in the Caucasus mountains, there in the gorge - Prometheus. He is chained to a rock at his feet by the two daughters of the ocean, Panthea and Iona. They tearfully listen to his groan and speech addressed to Jupiter, the god of war.