LE PÉRE GORIOT

Honoré de Balzac

Part 3
 INTRODUCTION
• "Le Père Goriot" by Honoré de Balzac is a
quintessential work of French literature from
the 19th century, forming a part of his magnum
opus, "La Comédie Humaine." The novel, first
published in 1835, serves as a scathing portrayal
of post-revolutionary France, where societal
values have undergone a drastic transformation.
Balzac masterfully explores the intricate
connections between ambition, materialism, and
human relationships.
• This novel is a profound exploration of the
human condition, showcasing Balzac's keen
insight into the moral and social dilemmas of his
era, all while presenting a rich tapestry of
interconnected lives. It remains a cornerstone
of realist literature, providing a thought-
provoking examination of ambition, sacrifice,
and the cost of success in a
rapidly changing world.
PART 3: SECTION 1 SUMMARY (1/2)
◦ Eugène finally receives an answer to his letters, one from his mother and another from
ANALYSIS
his elder sister, Laure. They are sending him the money he asked for. However, his joy is • This section presents us with the first direct clash
between Vautrin and Eugène. Vautrin, who had long
tainted with remorse because his mother had to sell her jewels, his sisters to part with ago discovered the young man's hidden ambition and
their allowances — all this without a single word of reproach. But the thought of the who has tried to arouse it by his ironic remarks, now
fifteen hundred and fifty francs and what he can do with them blots out Eugène's shame. feels that the time for direct intervention is ripe.
• He takes Rastignac aside and, after picturing a bleak
◦ He is eating breakfast when the postman enters with his money. The other tenants future for an intelligent but poor young man in this
congratulate him on his good fortune. Vautrin adds a few sarcastic remarks which result society, bluntly reveals his plan for having Victorine's
in a second clash between the two men. When Vautrin offers a tip to the postman (as brother killed by a swordsman so that the young girl
could inherit her father's fortune. Eugène then could
Eugène has no small change on him), the young man jumps up and goes to his room to marry her and become a rich and influential member
fetch money to repay the debt. Vautrin reacts violently and takes Rastignac outside for of society, accepted everywhere. All the tempter
what the tenants think will be a duel. asks is a commission of 200,000 francs.
• This speech sharply reveals the character of Vautrin.
◦ To Eugène's surprise, Vautrin's attitude changes completely. After pointing out the futility He shows himself to be a keen psychologist, a rebel
of a fight, he offers the young man the loan of a million francs. He goes on picturing the against a society that has made him what he is, and
drab future that awaits Rastignac as a poor lawyer and the difficulty of making a name for a hedonistic man seeking the sensual pleasures of
life, who would find happiness on an American
himself in a society where "corruption is a great power . . . and talent is scarce," where
plantation surrounded by slaves. Another interesting
husbands sell their wives and wives cheat on their husbands. trait of this depraved character is his seemingly
genuine interest in, and compassion for, Eugène.
PART 3: SECTION 1 SUMMARY (2/2)
◦ Vautrin's scheme is simple. Rastignac should make Victorine fall in love with him, ask to
ANALYSIS
• We can also follow here the subtle evolution of the young
marry her, and then Vautrin would get the only obstacle to the Taillefer's fortune,
student. His moral principles seem to be more easily
Victorine's brother, out of the way by arranging a duel with an expert fencer. Victorine overcome than heretofore, his remorse is not as long
then would get her father's millions and Vautrin a nice commission of 200,000, which lasting. If he sheds a quick tear when he learns of his
mother's and sisters' sacrifices, it is quickly dried at the
would enable him to settle down peacefully in America. thought of what he can do with the money he has received.
And in spite of his horror, he can't help listening to
◦ Rastignac's first reaction is one of horror, and he tries to stop Vautrin from talking. After Vautrin, who sounds so much like his much-admired
Vautrin's exit, Rastignac realizes how perceptive Vautrin was in guessing his desire for cousin, Mme. de Beauséant. Eugene is seriously tempted
money and success and how similar his description of society had been to that of Mme. de for the first time, and his weakened conscience can only
protest in a negative way: "I do not want to think at all," he
Beauséant's. In his mind, there is a struggle between his conscience and temptation, says, and, "the heart is a sure guide," meaning that he will
which he finally resolves by the negative words, "I do not want to think at all; the heart is let himself act from feeling rather than from will.
a sure guide." • This state of mind will be further accented by Delphine's
cordial reception at the opera. Having been introduced by
◦ His train of thought is stopped by the arrival of his new clothes, and by Old Goriot, who Mme. de Beauséant, she sees in Eugène a way to gain
tells him that Mme. de Nucingen is going to a ball at Marshal Carigliano's and that he access to high society and to avenge herself against her
unfaithful lover.
would be so glad if Eugène could go and report on his daughters. Eugène replies that he
will try to go with the help of Mme. de Beauséant. Goriot goes on explaining his • This section also accentuates the relationship between
Goriot and Eugène, for in him the old man has found
relationship with his daughters, finding excuses for their callous attitude toward "an old someone who can approach, see, and talk to his
carcass whose soul is always where [his] daughters are." daughters.
PART 3: SECTION 2 SUMMARY (1/2)
◦ On his way back to the boardinghouse, Eugène is reflecting about his
ANALYSIS
• The theme of paternal love, predominant in this section, is
evening. As he has been seen in public with his cousin and Mme. de one of the important components of the book and
completes the entanglement of Goriot and Eugène.
Nucingen, Paris society's tightly closed doors will open for him, even • Goriot, in a very touching scene, explains to Eugène his

possibly Mme. de Restaud's. Perhaps he can win pretty Delphine's love love for his daughters. He shows us, at the same time, the
sublime and the extreme elements in his passion. He says:

and make a fortune with the help of her banker husband. ‘Well then, since I have been a father, I have come to
understand God. He is everywhere in the world, because the

◦ Upon arriving at the boardinghouse, Eugène goes up to see Old Goriot whole world comes from Him. And it is just the same with my
children, monsieur. Only I love my daughters better than God
and reports on his evening, adding that he prefers Delphine because loves the world, for the world is not so beautiful as God
Himself is, but my children are more beautiful than I am. Their
she seems fonder of her father. The two men then engage in a long lives are so bound up with mine that I felt somehow that you
would see them this evening.’
conversation in which Goriot expounds on paternal love, saying, "since • Some of what he says expresses not only pure paternal
love but also involves the pure act of creation. This was a
I have been a father, I have come to understand God." The old man subject dear to Balzac, who felt that an author is also a

adds that he would be so pleased if Eugène and Delphine were to love creator and that there is the same relationship between a
child and his parents as between a writer and his works:

each other. Eugène, very touched by Goriot's concern and dismayed at "Are not our finer feelings the poem of the human will?"

Delphine's thoughtlessness, bids the old man goodnight.

PART 3: SECTION 2 SUMMARY (2/2)
◦ This incident marks the beginning of a growing friendship between Rastignac and
ANALYSIS
Goriot. The next day at breakfast, Goriot sits by Eugène, interested only in the • Developed parallel with the above is
the atmosphere of social corruption in
young man's words and reactions. Eugène, stared at by Vautrin and recalling
which Eugène finds himself more and
their previous discussion, feels uneasy and cannot avoid glancing at Victorine,
more deeply immersed. He is shocked
the prospective heiress. But Eugène hopes that "his extemporized passion for at Delphine's lack of concern for her
Mme. de Nucingen . . . would preserve him from this temptation." Vautrin, though, father. But, at the same time, he
continues to tempt him, saying that one should not go halfway but have "all or enjoys the glamour of all the
nothing." receptions and starts coldly
speculating on how he can conquer
◦ The young man spends the rest of the day strolling aimlessly about and thinking
Delphine and make a fortune with the
of success, fortune, and of Vautrin's commentary on society. In the Luxembourg help of her husband — and there is
Gardens, he meets Bianchon, tries to explain his frame of mind, and asks for still Vautrin's offer. We notice, though,
advice. The young medical student tells him that happiness is to be found inside, that Eugène is still trying to fight his
that it is not based on materialistic values; then, changing the subject, he "wicked impulses," but now he needs
mentions that he just saw Mlle. Michonneau and Old Poiret talking to a man who the help of his friend Bianchon.
might well be a policeman in disguise and that he wants to investigate the couple
further.
PART 3: SECTION 3 SUMMARY (1/3)
◦ After leaving Bianchon, Eugène returns to the boardinghouse, where he finds a
ANALYSIS
letter from Delphine de Nucingen inviting him to dinner and to the opera. His first • We notice also a further breach of the
young man's code of ethics, for if he
reaction is that Delphine wants to make her unfaithful lover, Marsay, jealous, and
appears mildly shocked when Delphine
he prepares to go out of curiosity to see what the girl's attitude will be.
asks him to gamble for her, his second
◦ He dresses very carefully, admiring himself in the mirror, and when he makes reaction is the happy thought that
his appearance downstairs, he is greeted by the compliments of the bemused "She has gone too far to draw back";
boarders and by Vautrin's satirical jokes. therefore, "she can refuse me nothing
now!" Furthermore, Eugène learns a
◦ At the Nucingens', Eugène finds Delphine completely downcast and making vain new, fashionable way of acquiring that
efforts to hide it. Taken a little aback by her attitude, Eugène urges Delphine to almighty money, the source of social
tell him what the matter is. Instead of answering his questions since he keeps on success. We will find him later trying
offering his help, she takes him to a gambling place, gives him a hundred francs, his luck and oscillating between
and asks him to bet them and try to win six thousand. A little uneasy at first, for Delphine and society when he wins,
he has never been in a gambling place and does not know what to do, Eugène and between Vautrin and his
Machiavellian plan when he loses.
becomes lucky and ends up winning seven thousand.
PART 3: SECTION 3 SUMMARY (2/3)
◦ Delphine, overjoyed, undertakes to tell him why she needs the money so badly.
ANALYSIS
• At Delphine's house, Eugène is brought face to
Married to a man whom she did not really love, she pursued a separate life, using face with the immoral practices so common in
her savings and money she had borrowed from her father. Then she met Marsay this social circle. Delphine reveals the ugly details
of her conjugal life and of her infidelity. She
and borrowed money from him, but when Marsay proved unfaithful, she wanted explains she has had to borrow money from her
to return it. Her husband refused to help her unless she would be a wife to him. lover, how money is the essential instrument for
Now she can free herself from Marsay and give him his money back, thanks to women to attain social status and retain it, and
how low they will stoop to acquire it: Half the
Eugene's winnings. women in Paris lead such lives as mine; they live
in apparent luxury, and in their souls are
◦ The young couple have dinner together at Delphine's house and then leave for the tormented by anxiety. I know of poor creatures
opera, where their arrival creates a sensation among the Paris socialites, even more miserable than I. There are women
who are driven to ask their trades people to make
always in quest of new intrigues and love affairs. After the show, Delphine drives out false bills, women who rob their husbands.
Eugène back within a few blocks of his boardinghouse. They separate until the Some men believe that an Indian shawl worth a
hundred louis only cost five hundred francs,
next Monday, when Eugène is supposed to meet Delphine at the Duchess de
others that a shawl costing five hundred francs,
Carigliano's ball. is worth a hundred louis. There are women, too,
with narrow incomes who scrape and save and
starve their children to pay for a dress. I am
innocent of these base meannesses.
PART 3: SECTION 3 SUMMARY (3/3)
◦ Back at the boardinghouse, Eugène feels happy and disappointed at
ANALYSIS
• At the end of the section, in a touching
the same time; happy that his romance with Delphine is going so scene when Eugène relates the
well, disappointed that he cannot use the husband to get into the incidents of the evening to Goriot, the
financial world. Before going to bed, Eugène stops to talk with Old old man bursts into a rage at his
daughters' husbands, threatens to kill
Goriot, who has been eagerly waiting for him, and tells him them, and with tears in his eyes at the
everything. The old man becomes very upset at Eugène's gambling young man's generosity says, "You will
and angry at his son-in-law, whom he threatens to sue. Eugène succeed. God is just, you see. I know
an honest man when I see him, and I
gives him the one thousand francs left from his winnings and asks can tell you there are not many men
Goriot to keep them for his daughter. Goriot is so touched by this like you. I am to have another dear
that he cannot conceal a tear of gratitude, and Eugène, pleased child in you, am I? There, go to sleep."

with himself, goes to his room and falls asleep.

PROMINENT THEMES
1. Social Hierarchies and
Class Struggles
2. Ambition and Sacrifice
3. Family and Parental Love
4. Materialism and
Consumerism
5. Isolation and Loneliness
LE PÉRE GORIOT
Honoré de Balzac

End of Part 3