Honore de Balzac is called the king of novelists. He managed to raise the genre of the novel to artistic perfection and give it social significance. But his shorter works are worthy of all praise. Gobsek is the best example of this.

"Gobsek"

The story was written in January 1830 and was included in the series of works "The Human Comedy". The main characters in it were the usurer Gobsek, the family of Count Resto and the lawyer Derville. Passion became the main theme of the story. On the one hand, the main character studies human passions - for wealth, women, power, on the other - the author himself shows that even a person who is wise in life can be ruined by an all-consuming passion for gold and enrichment. The story of this man can be learned from the story of Balzac "Gobsek". Read the summary in this article.

In the salon of the viscountess

The lawyer Derville told about Gobsek in the Viscountess's salon. Once the young Count Resto and he, who were received only because he helped her return the property confiscated during the revolution, stayed up late at her place. When the count leaves, she reprimands her daughter that she should not show her favor too frankly to the count, because no one will become related to the count because of her mother.

Of course, now nothing reprehensible was noticed behind her, but in her youth this person behaved very imprudently. Her father was a grain merchant, but the worst of all is that she squandered all her fortune on her lover and left her children without money. The Count is very poor and not a match for Camille. Derville, sympathizing with the lovers, intervened in the conversation and explained to the Viscountess how things really were. Let us begin with the story of Derville and begin the summary of Honore Balzac's "Gobsek".

Acquaintance with Gobsek

In his student years, he had to live in a boarding house, where he met Gobsek. This old man was very remarkable in appearance: yellow, like a ferret, eyes, a long pointed nose and thin lips. His victims threatened and cried, but the usurer kept his composure - "the golden idol". He did not communicate with his neighbors, he maintained relations only with Derville, and somehow revealed to him the secret of power over people - he told how he collected a debt from one lady.

Countess Resto

We will continue the retelling of the summary of Honore de Balzac's "Gobsec" with the story of the usurer about this countess. The money was lent from the moneylender by her lover, and she, fearing exposure, handed the moneylender a diamond. Looking at the young blond handsome man, the future of the countess could be easily predicted - such a dandy could ruin more than one family.

Derville completed a course in law and received the position of clerk in the solicitor's office. To redeem the patent, he needs one hundred and fifty thousand francs. Gobsek lent him at thirteen percent of the money, and at the cost of hard work with the usurer Derville was able to pay off in five years.

Cheated husband

Let's continue to consider the summary of "Gobsek". Once Count Maxime asked Derville to introduce him to Gobsek. But the old usurer refused to give him a loan, because a man with three hundred thousand debts did not inspire confidence in him. After a while, Maxim returned with a beautiful lady, and the solicitor immediately recognized the very countess. The lady was going to give the moneylender the magnificent diamonds, and the solicitor tried to prevent this, but Maxim hinted that he would commit suicide. The Countess agreed to the onerous terms.

The summary of "Gobsek" will continue with the story of how, after they left, the countess's husband burst in with a demand to return the mortgage, explaining that his wife had no right to dispose of the old family jewels. The usurer advised the count to transfer his entire fortune to a reliable person by means of a fictitious sale. So he could save his children from ruin.

After some time, the count came to the solicitor to inquire about Gobsek. To which he replied that he would trust such a person as a usurer, even his children. The count immediately transferred his property to Gobsek, wishing to protect it from his wife and her young lover.

Count's disease

What further will the summary of "Gobsek" tell us? The viscountess, taking advantage of the pause, sent her daughter to bed, for there is no need for a young girl to listen to what debauchery a woman who has violated certain norms reaches. Camilla left, and Derville immediately said that the conversation was about the Countess de Resto.

Soon Derville learned that the count himself was seriously ill, and his wife would not let the solicitor come to him to complete the deal. At the end of 1824, the Countess herself became convinced of Tray's meanness and broke up with him. She was so zealous in caring for her sick husband that many were ready to forgive her for her unworthy behavior. In fact, the Countess was simply trapping her prey.

The count, not having achieved a meeting with the solicitor, wants to give the documents to his son, but the countess in every possible way prevents this. In the last hours of her husband, she begs for forgiveness on her knees, but the count remained adamant - he did not give her the paper.

Death of the usurer

The summary of "Gobsek" continues with the story of how the next day Gobsek and Derville came to the count's house. A terrifying sight opened up to their eyes: the countess, not ashamed of the fact that there was a deceased in the house, perpetrated a real pogrom. Hearing their steps, she burned the documents addressed to Derville, and thereby predetermined the fate of all property: it passed into the possession of Gobsek.

The usurer left the mansion and began to spend time like a lord in his new possessions. To Derville's requests to take pity on the countess and the children, he invariably answered: "Misfortune is the best teacher."

When Resto's son finds out the value of the money, then he will return the property. Derville, hearing about the love of the young count and Camille, went to the old man and found him dying. He bequeathed all his property to a relative - a public girl.

In the summary of the summary of "Gobsek", it should be noted that the old usurer did not forget about Derville - he instructed him to dispose of the supplies. Seeing the rotten and rotten food, the solicitor became convinced that Gobsek's stinginess had turned into a mania. That is why he did not sell anything, because he was afraid to sell too cheap.

So the Viscountess has nothing to worry about: the young Resto will regain his fortune. To which the viscountess replied that Camilla did not have to meet her future mother-in-law.

The tragedy of Gobsek

In the center of Honore de Balzac's story "Gobsec", a summary of which is set out above, is a man who has amassed a huge fortune, but at the end of his path remained completely alone. Gobsek - that is the name of this hero - does not communicate with anyone, leaves the house a little. The only person he trusts is Derville. The usurer saw in him a business friend, an intelligent interlocutor, and a good person.

A young solicitor, communicating with an old man, gains experience, asks for recommendations and advice. Observing the usurer, Derville concluded that two people live in him: a vile and sublime creature, a curmudgeon and a philosopher.

Life experience taught the old man to evaluate a person at first sight, to think and analyze. He often talked about the meaning of life. But with age, the passion for money still prevailed and gradually grew into worship. Exalted feelings grew into selfishness, greed and cynicism. If in his youth he dreamed of knowing the world, then by the end of his life his main goal was the hunt for money. But they did not bring him happiness, he died alone with his millions.

As can be seen from the summary by chapters, Gobsek and his whole life is not a tragedy of an individual person, but of a whole system. The life of Gobsek only confirms the well-known expression: happiness is not in money. Balzac, by his example, showed what the thoughtless worship of the hard coin leads to.

Anastasi de Resto

As in the novel by Stendhal "Red and Black" - in the story of Balzac "Gobseck" female images are of great importance. This is no coincidence, since the study of the psychology and social role of women is one of the key topics of realistic literature. The two central female figures - Anastasi de Resto and Fanny Malvy - are in clear and sharp opposition. When the eminent French culturologist Roland Barthes aptly noted that "comparison is a search for differences based on similarity." Let's apply his formula to these characters. What is similar and what is different about them?

So, both heroines are young and attractive. For the first time, Gobsek recalls Anastasi de Resto: “What a beauty I saw there! In a hurry, 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 casually tied, like a Creole's, with a bright silk kerchief, from under which lush black curls were knocked out. I liked her. " As you can see, the beauty of the young woman was appreciated even by the "old curmudgeon" and "biscuit".

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, and an affable look; beautifully combed brown hair, descending 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 her modest appearance with a soft glow.

Honore de Balzac is extremely skillful in constructing the story: the situation is mirror-like - both women owed one thousand francs and had to return this money in one day! In other words, the usurer Gobsek, in order to collect debts on promissory notes, had to see them at the same time. That is why the difference between these heroines is even more contrasting, it is emphasized deliberately.

For an aristocrat who annually spends two thousand francs just on washing ("She was wearing a negligee trimmed with snow-white ruffle, which means that at least two thousand francs a year were spent here only on a washerwoman, because not everyone will undertake washing such delicate linen." ), repaying a loan for a thousand francs is not a problem. But for a petty bourgeois woman, 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 buy off Gobsek. And what happened in return? The seamstress was not only ready to repay her debt in the morning, but also left the money to the gateman when she went to swim in the Seine after a night's work so that she would give the money to Gobsekov. But the magnificent countess, having nothing to pay off the debt and frightened by the man who unexpectedly entered her bedroom, hastily gave the moneylender a diamond, the cost of which was twenty percent higher than the amount of the debt. And such an attitude towards family jewelry is a direct path into debt and the dishonor of one's honest name.

In addition, if Fanny gave her IOU to a linen merchant (she, like a seamstress, borrowed a canvas from him for work), then Anastasi de Resto paid not even her promissory note, 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 over her, taking advantage of all her weaknesses: pride, jealousy, desire for pleasures, for worldly vanity" and "even the virtues of this woman he used 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 entire future of the Countess. This fair-haired handsome man, this cold, soulless gambler himself will go broke and ruin the countess, ruin her husband, ruin children, crimp their inheritance, and in many other salons he will wreak havoc more terrible than an artillery battery in an enemy regiment. "

E. Tyudyuz. Illustration for the story of O. de Balzac "Gobsek". 1897 g.

Note that the critics and aristocrats of that time reproached Balzac (and he himself, not without pride and pleasure, wrote the noble particle "de" in front of his name) for the fact that he portrayed 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 real realist, he depicts "life as it is" and people "as they are": i.e. e. objectively, and therefore criticizes both aristocrats and bourgeois. So, when Maxime de Trai, having secured another payment of his debts from Anastasi de Resto and warning Gobsek and Derville to keep this deal secret, because, they say, either their or his blood would be shed, in response he received the murderous characterization of a 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 the dwelling. So, in the luxurious bedroom of the Countess, chaos reigns - the hostess had fun at the ball all night and did not have the strength to put at least elementary order in her things: “The open bed of the zibgan testified to a disturbing dream. On the bearskin, spread out under the lions carved on the mahogany bed, satin shoes were white that their woman had casually thrown off there when she returned tired from the ball. A wrinkled dress hung from the back of the chair, sleeves touching the floor. Stockings, which would have been blown away by the lightest breath of the breeze, wrapped around the leg of the chair. The dresser drawers remained open. Flowers, diamonds, gloves, a bouquet, a belt were scattered throughout the room. There was luxury and disorder everywhere, beauty devoid of harmony. " In general, harmony is beauty, but here it is “beauty devoid of harmony”. It is not for nothing that they say that the external neatness of a person is associated with its internal harmony, and, conversely, external disorder is almost always associated with mental disorder. Scientists even argue that the degradation of a person on an uninhabited island (once again, remember Robinson, who in such conditions not only did not degrade, but also improved!) Begins with indifference to his appearance.

Of course, at the ball, among the luxuriously dressed audience, and especially in the presence of Maxime de Tray, Madame Anastasi played the role of a brilliant lady. However, this brilliance was ostentatious, it was tinsel, so to speak, "for a diversion." And having retired, the young woman had less and less strength to put things in order both in her outfit and in her soul. So slowly and imperceptibly a healthy tree dies: an outside observer first sees the still intact bark and green crown, but from the inside it is already being destroyed by a worm. Likewise, Anastasi de Resto - outwardly she is still attractive ("And yet natural energy nourished in her, and all these traces of a bad life did not spoil her beauty"), but Gobsek's heartfelt eye saw: from the inside, this woman was already undermined by helplessness, lies and debauchery. He tells Dervil about his further observations of the interior of the bedroom of Countess de Resto: “And already poverty, partaking in all this luxury, let her head down 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 with which we met in Stendhal. - Author), the remnants of yesterday's celebration. Looking at the clothes and jewelry scattered everywhere, I felt pity: yesterday they were her dress and someone was admiring them. These signs of love, poisoned with remorse, signs of luxury, vanity and frivolity in life, testified to the tantalum effort to catch fleeting pleasures. Her features seemed to be frozen, the dark spots under her eyes were more pronounced than usual. " The skill and intelligence of the writer is felt in the use of images and catchphrases from ancient mythology. So, the expression "tantalum torment" (in Balzac - "tantalum efforts") means suffering arising from the 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” in any way. So, before us is a picture of the gradual degradation of this aristocrat.

Quite the opposite is the view of Fanny Malva's modest apartment, who lived in a poor area of ​​Paris, in a courtyard where the sun does not enter: “I climbed up to the sixth floor by narrow steep stairs, and they let me into an apartment of two rooms, where everything sparkled with cleanliness, like new coin. I did not notice a single speck of dust on the furniture in the first room. " What a contrast to the confusion in Countess de Resto's bedroom! Fanny's room differs from her as strikingly as her pure life differs from the dirty deeds of a noble lady: “I looked at her and at first glance I figured it out. Apparently, she came from an honest peasant family, because she still had a noticeable minor freckles, typical of rural girls. She breathed 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, the spiritual qualities of the petty bourgeois Fanny significantly surpass the qualities of the aristocrat de Resto. That is why Gobsek advises her to be Dervil's wife: “When you entered, I was just thinking about Fanny Malvy — that’s who would make a good wife and mother. I compared her life, virtuous and lonely, with the life of the countess, who, having begun to sign promissory notes, will inevitably slide to the very bottom of shame. "

Ad fontes

His satire was never more poignant, his irony - girkisha than when he forced to act precisely those men and women whom he most sympathized with - the nobles.

F. Engels (images of aristocrats in the "HUMAN Comedy")

And life has confirmed that Gobsec was not mistaken: the de Resto family became impoverished, the children did not have a decent income, her husband died, Anastazi was humiliated, she was not even accepted in decent families, and her son could not marry Camille, where Granle was, because he is poor. The Vicomtesse de Granle explains to her daughter Camille: “I will tell you only one circumstance - Mr. de Resto has a mother who can absorb even a million-dollar fortune, a woman of low birth ... the future and dowry of his daughter. " The viscountess has her own "logic", because Anastasi has neither a high origin (which is valued by aristocrats), nor money (and this is appreciated by the bourgeois), nor an honest name. But Fanny became Derville's wife: “I married Fanny Malva, whom I sincerely fell in love with. The similarity of our destinies, work, success have strengthened our mutual feeling. " This is how the realist writer Balzac punishes debauchery and rewards honesty.

The story "Gobsek" by Balzac was written in 1830 and subsequently entered the collected works "The Human Comedy". The book describes the customs and life of bourgeois society in the first half of the 19th century. However, the author pays most attention to the theme of passion, to which, in one way or another, all people are subject.

For the best preparation for the literature lesson, we recommend reading the online summary of "Gobsek" chapter by chapter. You can test your knowledge using the test on our website.

main characters

Jean Esther van Gobseck- a usurer, calculating, stingy, but in his own way a fair person.

Derville- an experienced solicitor, an honest and decent person.

Other characters

Count de Resto- a noble lord, a father of a family, a deceived husband.

Countess de Resto- a beautiful, noble lady, wife of the Count de Resto.

Maxime de Tray- a wasteful rake, young lover of the Countess de Resto.

Ernest de Resto- the eldest son of Count de Resto, heir to his fortune.

Viscountess de Granlier- a rich noble lady.

Camilla- the young daughter of the Viscountess in love with Ernest de Resto.

One late winter evening "in the salon of the Viscountess de Granlier" - one of the richest and most distinguished ladies of the aristocratic Saint-Germain suburb - there was a conversation about one of the Viscountess's guests. It turned out to be the young Count Ernest de Resto, who was clearly interested in Madame de Granlier's daughter, young Camilla.

The viscountess had nothing against the count himself, but his mother's reputation left much to be desired, and "in no decent family" parents would not trust their daughters and, in particular, their dowry to Count de Resto while his mother was alive.

Derville, hearing the conversation between mother and daughter, decided to intervene and shed light on the true state of affairs. At one time, the clever solicitor managed to return the property that belonged to her by right to the Viscountess, and since then he was considered a friend of the family.

Derville began its history from afar. During his student years, he rented a room in a cheap boarding house, where fate brought him together with a money lender named Jean Esther van Gobseck. He was a dry old man with a dispassionate expression on his face, and small and yellow, "like a ferret" eyes. His whole life was measured and monotonous, it was a kind of "human machine, who was turned on every day."

The moneylender's clients often lost their temper, shouted, cried or threatened, while Gobsek invariably remained cool - an impassive "bill man" who returned to his human form only in the evening.

The only person the old man had a relationship with was Derville. So the young man learned the life story of Gobsek. As a child, he got a job as a cabin boy on a ship and wandered the seas for twenty years. He had to endure many trials that formed deep wrinkles on his face. After numerous fruitless attempts to get rich, he decided to engage in usury, and he did not lose.

In a fit of frankness, Gobsek admitted that "of all earthly goods there is only one, sufficiently reliable" - gold, and only in it "all the forces of mankind are concentrated." For edification, he decided to tell the young man a story that happened to him the other day.

Gobsek set out to collect a debt of a thousand francs from a countess, whose young dandy lover received the money by promissory note. The noble lady, fearing exposure, handed the moneylender a diamond. A fleeting glance at the countess was enough for the experienced usurer to understand that early poverty threatened this woman and her wasteful lover, "raised her head and showed them her sharp teeth." Gobsek told the young man that his work revealed to him all the vices and passions of humanity - "there are vile sores, and inconsolable grief, here are love passions, poverty."

Soon Derville “defended his dissertation, received a licentiate in rights,” and got a job as a senior clerk in a solicitor’s office. When the owner of the office was forced to sell his patent, Derville jumped at the chance. Gobsek loaned him the necessary amount at a "friendly" thirteen percent, because he usually borrowed at least fifty. At the cost of hard work and austerity, Derville managed to pay off his debt in full within five years. He successfully married a simple, modest girl, and since then considered himself an absolutely happy person.

Once, an incident brought Derville to a young rake, Count Maxime de Tray, who was asked by the abbot to take him to Gobsek. However, the usurer was not going to "lend even a penny to a man who has debts of three hundred thousand francs, and not a penny for his soul."

Then the young boozer ran out of the house, and returned with his mistress - a charming countess, who at one time paid off Gobsek with a diamond. It was noticeable that Maxime de Trai took full advantage of "all her weaknesses: vanity, jealousy, thirst for pleasure, worldly vanity." This time, the woman pledged luxury diamonds, agreeing to the onerous terms of the deal.

As soon as the lovers left the abode of the usurer, the countess's husband entered him with a demand to immediately return the mortgage, since the countess had no right to dispose of the family jewels.

Derville managed to peacefully settle the conflict and not bring the case to court. In turn, Gobsek advised the count to transfer all his property to a reliable person through a fictitious transaction in order to save at least children from certain ruin.

A few days later, the earl visited Derville to find out his opinion of Gobseck. The young solicitor confessed that, outside of his usurious affairs, he was “a man of the most scrupulous honesty in all of Paris,” and in difficult matters one can fully rely on him. On reflection, the count decided to transfer all rights to the property to Gobsek in order to save him from his wife and her lover.

Since the conversation took on a very frank form, the Viscountess sent Camille to bed, and the interlocutors could openly say the name of the deceived husband - it was Count de Resto.

Some time after the registration of the fictitious transaction, Derville learned that the count was dying. The Countess, in her turn, "had already become convinced of the meanness of Maxim de Trai and with bitter tears atoned for her past sins." Realizing that she was on the verge of poverty, she would not let anyone into the room of her dying husband, including Derville, whom she did not trust.

The denouement of this story came in December 1824, when the count, exhausted by illness, went to the next world. Before his death, he asked Ernest, whom he considered his only son, to throw a sealed envelope into the mailbox, and in no case tell his mother about it.

Upon learning of the death of Count de Resto, Gobsek and Derville hurried to his house, where they witnessed a real pogrom - the widow was desperately looking for documents on the property of the deceased. Hearing footsteps, she threw papers into the fire, according to which her younger children were provided with an inheritance. From that moment on, all the property of the Count de Resto passed to Gobsek.

Since then, the moneylender has healed on a grand scale. To all Derville's requests to take pity on the legitimate heir, he replied that “misfortune is the best teacher,” and the young man must find out “the price of money, the price of people,” only then it will be possible to return his fortune.

Having learned about the love of Camilla and Ernest, Derville once again went to the moneylender to remind him of his obligations, and found him dying. He transferred all his fortune to a distant relative - a street girl nicknamed "Ogonyok". On examining the house of the moneylender, Derville was horrified at his stinginess: the rooms were packed with bales of tobacco, luxurious furniture, paintings, rotten food - "everything was teeming with worms and insects." By the end of his life, Gobsek only bought, but did not sell anything, fearing to sell too cheap.

When Derville informed the Viscountess that Ernest de Resto would soon return his rights to his father's property, she replied that he “needed to be very rich” - only in this case the noble family of de Granlier would agree to a relationship with the Countess de Resto with her spoiled reputation.

Conclusion

In his work, Honore de Balzac fully reveals the theme of the power of money over people. Only a few can resist them, in whom the moral principle triumphs over commercialism, in most cases gold irrevocably enslaves and corrupts.

A short retelling of "Gobsek" will be especially useful for the reader's diary and preparation for the literature lesson.

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The lawyer Derville tells the story of the usurer Gobsek in the salon of the Viscountess de Granlier, one of the most noble and wealthy ladies in the aristocratic Saint-Germain suburb. Once, in the winter of 1829/30, two guests stayed at her place: the handsome young Count Ernest de Resto and Derville, who was easily received 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 favor to the dear count so openly, for no 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 the 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 couple of Camille de Granlier.

Derville, sympathetic to the lovers, intervenes in the conversation, wanting to explain to the Viscountess the true state of affairs. He begins 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 very remarkable appearance - with a "moon face", yellow, like a ferret's eyes, a sharp long nose and thin lips. His victims sometimes lost their temper, cried or threatened, but the usurer himself always kept his cool - it was a "man-bill", "a golden idol". Of all his 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 gold. For edification, he talks about how he collected a debt from a noble lady - fearing exposure, this countess handed him a diamond without hesitation, because her lover received the money on her bill. Gobsek guessed the future of the countess by the face of the blond handsome man - this dandy, mot and gambler is capable of ruining the whole family.

After graduating from a law course, Derville was promoted to senior clerk in the solicitor'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 from him only thirteen percent "out of friendship" - usually he took no less than fifty. At the cost of hard work, Derville managed to get even with the debt in five years.

Once the brilliant dandy Count Maxime de Tray begged Derville to bring him to Gobsek, but the usurer flatly refused to give a loan to a man who has debts of three hundred thousand, and not a centime in his soul. At that moment, a carriage drove up to the house, the Comte de Trai rushed to the exit and returned with an unusually beautiful lady - according to the description, Derville immediately recognized her as the countess who had issued the promissory note four years ago. This time she pledged magnificent diamonds. Derville tried to prevent the deal, but as soon as Maxim hinted that he was going to commit suicide, the unfortunate woman agreed to the onerous terms of the loan.

After the lovers left, the countess's husband burst into Gobsek with a demand to return the mortgage - his wife had no right to dispose of the family jewels. Derville managed to settle the matter peacefully, 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 his opinion of Gobsek was. The solicitor 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 curmudgeon and philosopher two creatures live - the vile and the sublime. The count immediately decided to transfer all rights to property to Gobsek, wishing to protect him from his wife and her greedy lover.

Taking advantage of the pause in the conversation, the viscountess sends her daughter to bed - a virtuous girl need not know how far a woman who has overstepped certain boundaries can fall. After Camilla left, there was no need to hide the names - the story is about the Countess de Resto. Derville, having not received a counter receipt about the fictitiousness of the transaction, learns that Count de Resto is seriously ill. The Countess, sensing a catch, does everything to prevent the solicitor from visiting her husband. The denouement comes in December 1824. By this time, the Countess was already convinced of the meanness of Maxime de Trai and broke with him. She so zealously cares for her dying husband that many are inclined to forgive her previous sins - in fact, she, like a predatory beast, lies in wait for her prey. The count, unable to achieve a meeting with Derville, wants to hand over the documents to his eldest son - but his wife cuts off this path for him too, trying to influence the boy with affection. In the last terrible scene, the Countess begs for forgiveness, but the Count remains adamant. On the same night he dies, and the next day Gobsek and Derville come to the house. An eerie sight is presented to their eyes: in search of the will, the countess perpetrated a real defeat 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 completely passes into the possession of Gobsek.

The usurer rented out the 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 is the best teacher. Let Ernest de Resto know the value of people and money - then it will be possible to return his fortune. Learning about the love of Ernest and Camilla, Derville once again went to Gobsek and found the old man dying. The old curmudgeon bequeathed all his wealth to his sister's great-granddaughter - a public girl nicknamed "Ogonyok". He instructed his executor, Derville, to dispose of the accumulated food supplies - and the solicitor really discovered huge stocks of rotten pate, moldy fish, and rotten coffee. By the end of his life, Gobsek's stinginess turned into a mania - he did not sell anything, fearing to sell too cheap. In conclusion, Derville reports that Ernest de Resto will soon regain his lost state. The Vicomtesse replies that the young count must be very rich - only in this case can he marry Mademoiselle de Granlier. However, Camilla is not at all obliged to meet with her mother-in-law, although the countess is not ordered to enter the receptions - after all, she was received at the house of Madame de Beauceant.

Retold

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,” strikes 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 goods, 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 thrown aside 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 noble origins and "worthy" 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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