Lesson topic. The story of Honore de Balzac "Gobsek": the problems of the work, the socio-historical conditionality of the characters. The ambiguity of the image of Gobsek. Balzac "Gobsek": a detailed analysis of the story and the protagonist

And refers to "Scenes from a Private Life". The main characters in it are the old usurer Gobsek, the attorney Derville and the Count de Resto family.

The main theme of the work- passion. It is explored in the story on two levels: on the one hand, Gobsek studies human passions (love of wealth, power, women, selfish selfishness, etc.), on the other hand, Balzac himself explores the nature of the old usurer and shows us that even under The guise of a person wise in life can hide one all-consuming and everything-destroying passion - a craving for gold, for accumulation, for constant enrichment.

The life story of Jean Esther van Gobseck, the son of a Jewess and a Dutchman, is presented to the reader through the story of the lawyer Derville, who decided to reassure the young girl Camille de Granlie regarding the brilliant position of her beloved Count Ernest de Resto.

Derville met Gobseck when he was a student. The old usurer was 76 years old at the time. The story in the salon of the Viscountess de Grandlier Derville leads a few days after the death of the 89-year-old Gobsek.

Thirteen years of acquaintance allowed the lawyer to make friends and penetrate the secrets of the soul of an adamant usurer who inspires horror throughout Paris. The first impression of Gobsek (by the way, this character has a speaking surname: translated from French, “Gobsek” is “Zhivoglot”) is created colorful description of his appearance, each feature of which metaphorically correlates with wealth, old age or cunning.

The old usurer's face, with its "yellowish pallor," similar to "the color of silver from which the gilding has peeled off," reminds Derville "moon face". Gobsek's eyes "small and yellow, like a ferret", nose - long with a sharp tip, lips - thin, "like the alchemists", facial features - "motionless, impassive, seemed to be cast in bronze". When the usurer raises his tattered cap, his eyes open "stripe of bare skull, yellow as old marble". “All his actions were measured, like the movements of a pendulum. It was some kind of automatic man who was wound up daily. ”. At first, Derville could not even tell how old Gobsek was, since the latter looked either aged to the point of time, or well preserved for all eternity.

art space, in which there is a Parisian usurer, to match his prudent and cold nature. Things in his room are worn and tidy, and the fire in the fireplace does not flare up at full capacity even in winter. Gobseck's room is in a damp house without a yard, with windows overlooking the street. It is no different from the rest of the building, each of which, with its arrangement, reminds Derville of a monastic cell.

The feeling of contentment with the past day and inner joy in Gobseck could only be seen by rubbing his hands and changing the position of the wrinkles on his face. Being a cabin boy in his youth and having experienced a lot of dangers, in his old age the usurer reached a state of peculiar wisdom: he made his own conclusion about life and began to live in accordance with it. Existence, according to Gobsek - "only a habit to a favorite environment". Moral rules are different different peoples, internal passions are destructive for people and only the instinct of self-preservation is the only thing that is valuable in life. Standing firmly on one's feet in a world immersed in vanity is only possible with the help of gold. It gives everything - wealth, power, position, the favor of women. Passions are best studied and profited from them. The last two things are the main entertainment of Gobsek.

The usurer treats his clients as a means of profit. Gobsek cannot perceive vicious people differently. Only simple, honest, hardworking personalities, such as the seamstress Fanny Malvo, cause participation in it. At the same time, Gobsek helps only those who can return the money taken from him with interest. In Derville, the usurer is captivated by his youth (Gobsek believes that up to thirty years people still retain their reserve of honesty and nobility), knowledge (Gobsek uses his advice), sober mind, desire to work and the ability to clearly express one's thoughts without playing on feelings, but reasoning logically.

Participation in the inheritance affairs of the count de Resto family Gobsek explains simply: he agreed to help the unfortunate father because he trusted him "no tricks". The wife of the Comte de Resto, the beautiful Anastasi, squandered the fortune of the family day after day, letting it down on her young lover Maxime de Tray, and something had to be done about it. Artistic image of the heroine is devoid of unambiguity: she is both an unhappy woman who succumbed to love passion, and a cheating wife (the younger children of Anastasi are not from her husband), and a miser who does not stop at nothing, striving for wealth, and, perhaps, a good mother, equally wishing good to all children.

For all his rationality, Gobsek, on the verge of death, faces one on one with his individual passion - he dies without leaving behind a will (oral, given in words to Derville - does not count), in a house packed to capacity with rotting delicacies, money and the last the heap of gold he had received, hidden by infirmity in the ashes of the fireplace.

Summary of the novel by Honore de Balzac "Gobsek"

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

The short story 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 ups and downs - but around a certain psychological type. Taken together, the Balzac short stories are, as it were, a portrait gallery of various types of human behavior, a series of psychological studies. In the general plan of The Human Comedy, they are, as it were, preliminary developments of characters, which Balzac then releases as heroes on the pages of his major plot novels.

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

But if you carefully read the story itself, 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, speaks of Gobsek, for example, like this: “I am deeply convinced that, outside of his usury affairs, he is a man of the most scrupulous honesty in all Paris. Two creatures live in it: a miser and a philosopher, an insignificant and sublime creature. If I die, leaving young children, he will be their guardian. " I repeat, this is said by the narrator, who is clearly acting on behalf of the author.

Let's take a look at this strange character. Gobsek is undeniably ruthless to his clients. He pulls from them, as they say, three skins. He "plunges people into tragedy," as the old saying goes.

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

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

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

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

One does not need to have any special flair to see that the hero's speeches here are not hypocritical: they sound completely sincere, they were composed by Balzac in order to shade the human essence of Gobsek! True, in the same scene, Gobsek, feeling emotional, almost offers her money on loan at the minimum rate, "only 12%," but then changes his mind. This seems to sound 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 Gobsek's existence is shaking here! He is a usurer, a seemingly ruthless character, he himself is ready to lend money, and he is so forgotten at the sight of Fanny that he is ready to demand the minimum percentage in his understanding. Isn't it obvious that here it is important for Balzac not to mock Gobseck's sentimentality, but to emphasize precisely all his shock - clearly human, humane feelings spoke in him! His professional instinct remained stronger, but it is curious that his rejection of this idea was due not to greed, but to skepticism, distrust of people: “Well, no, I reasoned with myself, she probably has a young cousin who will force her to sign bills and clean the poor thing!" That is, Fanny alone Gobsek 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 by distrust of people!

The whole 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 Comte 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 establish 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 that he 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 reduce the amount even more! Derville, in turn, does not want to humiliate himself. The amount remains 13%. But Gobseck, so to speak, organizes for him an additional and profitable clientele free of charge. And in parting, he asks Derville for permission to visit him. Before you in that scene is again 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, exposes before us the secret nerves of this strange soul, "the fibers of the heart of modern man," as Stendhal said. This man, as if carrying "evil, ugliness and destruction", is in fact himself deeply wounded in his soul. His penetrating sharp mind is cold to the limit. He sees the evil reigning around, but he still convinces himself that he only sees this: "Live with me - you will find out that of all earthly blessings there is only one reliable enough to make it worth 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 honest and basically 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, Gobseck’s thirst for real human communication has not died completely, it’s not for nothing that he reached out with his soul to Fanny, it’s not for nothing that he is so attached to Derville and, to the meager measure of his strength, tries 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 draws here not the tragedy of Maxime de Tray and the Countess de Resto, who fell into the clutches of a usurer spider, but the tragedy of Gobsek himself, whose soul he distorted, twisted the law of the bourgeois world - man is a wolf to man. After all, how senseless and tragic at the same time the death of Gobsek! He dies completely alone next to his rotting wealth - already dying like a maniac! His usury, his stinginess is not a cold calculation, but a disease, a mania, a passion that absorbs the person himself. We must not forget about his vengeful feeling towards the rich! And it is no coincidence, of course, that the whole story is 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, in any case, tell them the truth about Gobsek's life. After all, his listeners know this story from the same Gobsek victims - from the same Maxim, from the same Countess de Restaud. 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 brings evil, ugliness, destruction, and Derville, a lawyer by profession, builds his entire story on extenuating circumstances. And so, paradoxically, it is the fate of Gobsek that becomes a guilty verdict on bourgeois society - his fate, and not the fate of Maxim and the Countess de Restaud!

But realizing this, we are also aware of Balzac's serious artistic protest in this image. Indeed, in pronouncing a guilty verdict on mercantile ethics, Balzac, of course, chooses a figure not the most suitable for this role as the main victim and accuser. Even if we assume that there were such usurers, it is hardly possible to admit that such a fate of the usurer 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 Gobsek's soul (which 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 a brilliant but sinister connoisseur of human souls, as a kind of their researcher.

Balzac, in essence, elevates 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 depicting irresistible demonic villains, for whose villainy the world is to blame, intrudes into the technique of a remarkable realist. Not themselves.

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

By creating the figure of the all-powerful Gobsek, Balzac clearly pushes into the background the immorality of the ultimate goal of usury - pumping money out of people, which you, in fact, did not give them. Gobseck's energy and strength are still of interest to him in and of themselves, and for the time being he is clearly weighing for himself the question of whether this practical energy is for the good. That is why he distinctly idealizes, romanticizes this energy. Therefore, it is precisely in matters of the ultimate goal that Balzac seeks mitigating circumstances for Gobseck that mystify the real state of affairs - either Gobseck has this study of the laws of the world, then observation of human souls, then revenge on the rich for their swagger and heartlessness, then some kind of all-consuming "one single vein 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 contemporary morals, Balzac still mystifies them in many respects, overloading the basically realistic image with symbolic meanings and generalizations. As a result, the image of Gobseck appears, as it were, on several planes at once - he and the symbol destructive power gold, and a symbol of bourgeois practical energy, and a victim of bourgeois morality, and yet - just a victim of an all-consuming passion, passion as such, regardless of its specific content.

A difficult topic... How to determine where the values are fictitious, where the values are real? What do we mean? Say, is gold a mental or real value? I'm talking about gold, because the main character is a usurer. Gold is a fictitious value, since a person absolutely does not need it: it cannot be eaten, it is not suitable for making an ax or a hoe. One philosopher, who is now out of fashion, suggested making toilet bowls out of it. And although the philosopher is not in fashion, they have already begun to make this useful thing out of gold. Nevertheless, try to live in peace without gold or its paper surrogates. You won’t eat money either, but you won’t be full without it either. So, is gold a fictional or real life value?

Obviously, it was meant that I would immediately talk about sublime human qualities. For example, loyalty and gratitude. But I read about the life of the Countess de Resto ... She betrayed her husband with Maxim, who is none other than a gigolo. For the sake of this bastard, she made the Viscount de Resto almost a beggar ... In another part of the Human Comedy, we learn that she left her old father to the mercy of fate as soon as he gave his property to his daughters-heirs. Let's finally decide whether marital fidelity is a real value or not? Let's add maternal feelings there ... and daughter ones!

And let's get back to thinking about gold, or money. The whole story told in Balzac's story is the story of the search for money, its significance in people's lives. In relation to money, you can evaluate the characters. Gobsek, for example, is none other than the priest of an ancient pagan cult. He does not need either a golden robe or a golden tiara - he still has the unsurpassed power of the Golden Calf, he only distributes and collects gold, which accumulates with him the more, the more he distributes it. Gobseck's clientele (and this is, so to speak, the light of France) are but rams on the altar, which will be slaughtered when the last piece of gold ore has been cut from them by the dexterous hands of the Great Priest.

However, they all pray to gold, making it their greatest asset, the common equivalent of everything they have in their lives. The narrator in the story is the lawyer Derville. The author did a good job of transferring the responsibility for assessing the situation to the hero. If something is wrong, then about him - let the wolf eat grass. But…

Dealing with money and a moneylender, a lawyer cannot believe that everything in the world rests on money. There is something that cannot be bought with gold or silver. Derville's professional conscientiousness is beyond doubt; people cordially trust him with their money and destinies. However… Looking around me now, I'm asking myself a bad question: maybe gold just hasn't been given a real price yet? True, there are special feelings that are difficult to evaluate in money. For example, Fanny's love for Derville. We see how Anastasi, climbing into a new debt, buys herself a little more love from Maxime de Tray. So, can you buy? And it's just the price?

Or does the author intentionally put us in a situation where we have to decide for ourselves what we will not sell in our lives? Is there anything we wouldn't sell for a glass necklace, like the Indians sold the island of Manhattan?

The novels and stories of Balzac cover all the diversity of French life at that time. The characters, situations and events invented by Balzac give the impression of an extremely convincing picture. He dedicated the story "Gobsek" to Baron Barsh de Penoen, his old comrade. It is no coincidence that Balzac wrote that "society is a real historian, and he, the writer, is only his secretary." The story of Gobsek is told by lawyer Derville. In the center of the story is an unusual image, a representative of the French bourgeoisie, the usurer Gobsek. The writer describes his hero as follows: “The pawnbroker's hair was completely straight, always neatly combed, with strong gray hair. The eyes, yellow as those of a marten, had almost no eyelashes and were afraid of the light. A sharp nose, marked with smallpox at the tip, rose like a gimlet, and his lips were thin ... He always spoke in a quiet, meek voice and never got angry.

Gobsek is a cruel capitalist. With millions, Gobsek lives in an abandoned room. He ruthlessly exploits his clients. Gobsek, like that spider, lures people to him, and then takes all their property from them. Victims then find it difficult to redeem their belongings. Gobsek is old, but saves on everything. After the death of Gobsek, a lot of money, spoiled food and other valuables remained. The room was littered with furniture, silverware, lamps, paintings, vases, books, engravings... Gobsek did not sell the silver, as he refused to bear the costs associated with delivery. He "fell into childhood and showed that inconceivable tenacity that develops in old people, possessed by a strong passion that outlasts their minds."

Throughout his life, Gobsek never used the accumulated wealth. Because of people like Gobsek, the fate of many people is broken. This story teaches that money is not the main thing. The greatest value is your kind heart.

Composition

Honore de Balzac entered world literature as an outstanding realist writer. It was he who conceived, perhaps the world's largest cycle of novels about the life of the whole society, which he called "The Human Comedy". And in fact, sometimes human efforts expended on trifles, wastefulness, anger, and frivolity seem comical. They look comical until they start ruining someone else's life. So, Anastasi de Resto's romance with a secular young man Maxim de Tray began as a light flirtation that does not cause trouble to anyone. But the shameless lover brazenly breaks into the life of the whole family, as the unprincipled Madame de Resto allowed him to do this. And now the honor of the family, the husband is neglected. Anastasi does not even think about children. Balzac seems to be watching this through the eyes of his hero, the usurer Gobsek. This clever man, educated and even wise.

At least in relation to other people's lives. When it comes to money, he has no equal. But here's a miracle: he lived his life not at all wisely. Gobsek did not even notice how money, which first gave him freedom, and then power over people, gradually became his goal, his idol, subordinated his whole life to accumulation, replaced his whole life. He understood that a person needs just so much money so as not to think about it every second. So Fanny Malva is satisfied with this amount, who borrows money from him for linen and threads to work with.

But she borrows as much as she can give, unlike Anastasi de Resto, who does not know the value of money, however, like all other values. The writer psychologically accurately portrays not only the actions of the characters, but also their motives. Balzac is rightly considered a connoisseur of human souls, since he managed to convey the subtlest notes of the souls of heroes, look into the most hidden corners of the souls of his contemporaries, and, in the end, of all people. Reading his works is very interesting precisely because they are true to life and contain wise observations, answers to many questions that life will always put before everyone.

One of the most important moments of the entire work of the outstanding French realist Honore de Balzac was the desire to recreate a complete picture of the era. Almost all of his works, according to the writer's intention, were parts of the great epic "The Human Comedy", which was supposed to cover all possible phenomena of the then life. According to the plan, this epic cycle was to consist of three sections: “Etudes on Customs”, works that depicted the life, way of life and customs of different strata of French society, “Philosophical Studies”, which was supposed to summarize Balzac’s artistic discoveries and his idea of the patterns of life , and, finally, “Analytical Studies”, in which the writer tried to formulate the laws that govern reality.

In the first section (“Etudes on Customs”), Balzac created a gallery of the most typical images of his contemporaries, which had different social status and different professions. The story "Gobsek" is included in its composition. The name of the central character of this work - the usurer Gobsek - has become a household name. Nevertheless, it was in his image that A. Balzac not only described a typical usurer, but vividly reproduced a special psychological type of a person who lives with only one feeling - self-interest in its purest form. Money is the only goal, the only love and vocation of Gobsek. There are many images of self-interested people and misers in fiction, but they are not the same. The stingy knight of A. Pushkin really strives for power, money for him is only a means of achieving it, So he is more like a hidden lover of power than a real greed. Plyushkin by G. Gogol is a petty miser of the “domestic” type. It is no coincidence that people who do not want to throw away yesterday's newspaper or something like that are called “plushkins”: no one will compare them with Gobsek. This image summarizes completely different features of private property psychology, brought to its logical conclusion (although almost absurd from the point of view of normal person).

Here is Gobsek's life philosophy: “What can satisfy our 'I', our vanity? Gold! Streams of gold. In order to satisfy our whims, time is needed, material possibilities and effort are needed, gold has all this, and it actually gives everything. At the same time, Gobsek does not try to take advantage of the possibilities of gold he mentioned, it is enough for him to have it. Not for something else. For Gobseck, there is no satisfaction other than the realization of his wealth.

Did he have other features? Through the brightness of the main characteristic, his life's most important task, they are almost imperceptible. “He was an automaton who was turned on every day,” Balzac writes about him. Even a person whom he seems to sympathize with, Gobsek lends money only on slightly softened terms than others, and even brings a kind of “ideological basis” to this act, they say, it will be more useful for his character. In general, people turn to usurers only in the most difficult moments of their lives, in despair, when there is no other source to get money. For example, when bankruptcy approaches, and banks refuse credit. In usury itself, as a phenomenon, something cruel was originally laid down, and Gobsek surpasses even his “colleagues” in this: watching people who are at an impasse becomes entertainment for him. There is no mention of empathy at all.

Gobsek, for all his limited goals, is, surprisingly, not primitive. He is able to draw conclusions about the nature of society, to analyze its destructive forces. He also knows the psychology of people. To draw a conclusion about the omnipotence of gold and create your own philosophy regarding this, you also need to be able to think. So, he is an intelligent person, but his passion is stronger than his mind. The power of gold, in which he so believed, makes Gobseck himself a victim, he creates a trap for himself.

What could be more absurd than starving to death in the midst of vast wealth? Gobsek is killed by his own idea of the omnipotence of gold and its immense value. He was so afraid of losing his property that he imperceptibly destroyed them in physical sense: expensive fabrics, dishes, paintings - everything has deteriorated, everything has been lost to the world. If we take into account the presence of the author's intention, this deliberate external absurdity is the natural conclusion of such an attitude to life.

“Is there a God in this person?” - rhetorically asks another hero of the work, Derville. Yes, there is: this is Mammon, in other words, money. Gobsek gave life to serving this ideal. Balzac sternly and ruthlessly condemns the thirst for accumulation and the actual process of enriching a person. Gold does not bring happiness to either Gobseck or others. And even if the image of Gobsek is an isolated case, it testifies to what the path of greed leads to, and the writer's artistic skill makes this warning even more convincing.

Other writings on this work

The image of the main character in Balzac's story "Gobsek" Money and man in the story of O. de Balzac "Gobsek" Tragedy of Gobsek Balzac's novel "Gobsek" The human comedy characterization of the image of Jean-Esther van Gobseck The ambiguity of the image of Gobseck in the story of the same name by Honore Balzac What is life but a machine driven by money Honore de Balzac "Gobsek" Tale (1830-1835) Balzac's realism turned out to be smarter than Balzac himself What is life if not a machine driven by money? (According to the novel by O. Balzac “Gobsek”)

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Gobseck (Nominative Heading Type) Honore de Balzac

The story was written in 1830 and subsequently included in the collected works of "The Human Comedy".

The story "Gobsek" did not immediately find its final form and place in the "Human Comedy"; it belongs to the works, the very history of creation of which sheds light on the formation of the titanic Balzac idea.

It first appeared (in April 1830) under the heading "The Perils of Debauchery" in the first volume of "Scenes of Private Life." The first chapter of this work a little earlier, in February 1830, was published in the form of an essay in the magazine Fashion and was called The Pawnbroker. In 1835, the story was included in a new edition of "Scenes of Parisian Life" and was entitled "Papa Gobsek." And finally, in the landmark year 1842, Balzac included her in the "Scenes of Private Life" of the first edition of the "Human Comedy" under the title "Gobsek".

Initially, the story was divided into chapters: "The Pawnbroker", "The Lawyer" and "The Death of a Husband". This division corresponds to the main thematic episodes that make up the work: the story of the usurer Gobsek, the years of apprenticeship and the beginning of the career of the solicitor Derville, the love drama of Anastasi de Resto, which largely led to the premature death of her husband.

Genre story

The story "Gobsek" refers to the epic, since the story is the average type of epic, and not only for this reason.

1. The plot is not focused on one central event: stories from the life of Gobsek associated with Derville and the de Resto family, but on a whole series of events covering a significant part of Gobsek's life, for example, his childhood and youth.

2. The epic, in turn, reproduces, captures not only what is being told, but also the narrator, in this case this is Derville, the attorney. He is a young man who has made a career out of his hard work and professional integrity. Derville is “a man of high honesty” (this is how the heroes of the work speak of him). He is a friend of Gobsek.

3. Free organization of time and space in the story. The author covers a significant part of Gobsek's life, taking him, along with readers, to the places of his youth and childhood.

4. The story is written in prose, which is also typical for the epic.

The main theme is the theme of the power of money (eternal), which is just the same and is confirmed throughout the entire work, not only by individual events (instead of belated repentance, the Countess burned papers, thinking that this was her husband’s changed will. After such scenes, you begin to understand why Gobsek hated their heirs.), but also by individual characters (Maxim de Tray and others.)

In addition to the theme of the power of money, there are a number of other themes in the story, such as: the theme of seclusion and alienation of a person (Gobsek) from society, the theme of human and social vices, etc. etc.

The leading motive of the work is the motive of power

1. The motive of the power of money over a person and society

2. The motive of the power of one person over the fate of other people (The power of the usurer over Anastasi, and in the future her son Ernesto)

There are also motives

The motive of adultery

Countess Anastasi cheating on Count with Maxime de Tray

Treasure search motive

“He tried everything to get rich, even tried to find the notorious treasure - gold buried by a tribe of savages somewhere in the vicinity of Buenos Aires.”

Motif of friendship between an old man and a young man

The motive of human loneliness

The motive of stinginess and other human vices

The motive-character of the philosopher

The motive-character of a hard worker (Fanny Malvo)

Motif-character of a beautiful girl (Anastasi de Resto)

The motive-character of a young man-tempter

The motive of contemplation by a person from the outside world

motive for loss of reason

The problems that the author describes in the story were so relevant and exciting that he repeatedly returned to them, gradually polishing his idea. Main character story - the usurer Gobsek, who profits from the fact that he gives a loan at interest.

The problem of O. de Balzac's story belongs to such a type as social, namely the problem of the power of money over society and a person separately, but this is only part of the problem, as a consequence of the first problem, a second, no less important one can be distinguished: the degradation of the human personality and morality under the influence of this power.

It was an era of despondency in the best human features, in normal human relationships built on trust and respect. The world and society were imagined by many French people of that time as a big mechanism, which is controlled by money and power. Interestingly, the images of the story "Gobsek" are not one-dimensional. They were not unambiguous contemporaries of Balzac: many of them had an analytical mind, were able to think independently, were a non-overlapping personality. Nevertheless, the great mechanism, the machine, which is controlled by gold, was launched, and it grinded the fate of people or the fate of entire families in its millstones.

In his story, Balzac protests against this image of society. The writer rightly considers it erroneous, unnatural, unhealthy. Balzac emphasizes that neither relationships with people, nor society, nor the state, and realistic images can be built on the foundations; - love, decency, nobility. They should retreat...but, unfortunately, they don't.

1. Conflict between the individual and society

This is a conflict between "Papa Gobsek" and the society in which he lives.

He is detached from it. This is a lonely person, who, however, consciously does not seek to society. Gobsek takes extremely high interest from his clients, taking advantage of their predicament, in fact ruining them. He does not believe in human honesty, decency, love and friendship. This characterizes Gobsek as a callous and heartless person.

2. Social conflict

Pushing aside the nobility by the bourgeoisie and the disintegration of the family as a consequence of the power of monetary relations. (Gobsek family de Resto)

3. Between a father and his children

“... But children!.. Let them be happy at least... Children, children!...

I only have one child! - exclaimed the count, in despair stretching out his withered hands to his son.

4. Family household

Within the de Resto family

5. Ideological or philosophical

1. Dramatic

2. Tragic (personal)

Tragedy of the family of the Comte de Resto, his wife and their children

“This girl seemed like a fairy of loneliness.

Before me, no doubt, was a girl who was forced by necessity to work without straightening her back - probably the daughter of some honest farmer: on her face one could still see the small freckles characteristic of peasant girls. Something good, truly virtuous, emanated from her. It was as if I entered into an atmosphere of sincerity, purity of soul, and somehow it even became easier for me to breathe. Poor bastard!"

The story is life-like, since it lacks any fantastic elements, it is a story ordinary people who lived at that time, pushing back the nobility of the bourgeoisie. People who have the flaws and virtues of ordinary mortal people, who live their lives as part of society, who are obliged to work in order to survive ...

The realism of Balzac is manifested in the story primarily in the disclosure of characters and phenomena typical of the French society of the Restoration era. In this work, the author sets himself the goal of showing the true essence of both the nobility and the bourgeoisie. The approach to depicting the surrounding life in Gobsek becomes more analytical, as it is based primarily on the study of phenomena by means of art. real life, and his conclusions about society as a whole flow from this analysis.

The artist shows the decline and decay of the old French aristocracy, (Maxime de Tray, Resto family). De Tray is shown as an ordinary gigolo, a man without honor and without conscience, who does not hesitate to profit at the expense of a woman who loves him and his own children. “In your veins, instead of blood, there is dirt,” the usurer throws contemptuously in the face of Maxime de Tray. Count Resto is much more sympathetic, but even in him the author emphasizes such an unattractive trait as a weakness of character. He loves a woman who is clearly unworthy of him, and, not having survived her betrayal, falls ill and dies.

Characteristics of the narrator and manner of presenting the material

a) The narrator does not pretend to be completely objective, as he expresses himself and his attitude towards Gobsek. You could say even more: they were friends. Derville helps readers understand the legal terms and concepts mentioned in the work.

· Gobsek and Derville are people of the same profession.

· Thanks to Derville, we see Gobsek as if “from the inside” (what is he like in everyday life, what are his human passions and weaknesses, we learn his background and views on life).

· Derville is a decent person, so we can trust his opinion.

b) the figure of Derville did not go beyond the framework of the story, the narrator did not interfere in the events, Gobsek was in the center of the story, and only Gobsek.

Story style

The style is expressive, since the personality of the narrator is displayed in the story: Derville is a lawyer. He is a young man who has made a career out of his hard work and professional integrity. Derville is “a man of high honesty” (this is how the heroes of the work speak of him). He is a friend of Gobsek.

The style of speech also expresses the personality of Derville, as an educated person and belonging to such a profession as a lawyer. Successful person, honest and decent.

The plot and the plot of the story "Gobsek" coincide.

Plot type multiline

The line of Derville, Gobsek and the de Resto family

Line of Derville and Vicomtesse de Granlier

Line of history and life of Gobseck himself

The plot is dynamic. External.

plot components:

2.exposure

3.string

4.development of action

5.climax

6. interchange

Plot organization techniques used in the story:

Reception of a retrospective

Reception of retardation

Reception of the ring organization

Receiving concurrency

Reception of forecasting

“I have no doubt that he will become an outstanding figure. And when "this young man" is in power, wealth itself will come into his hands.

Character composition

One central (main) and secondary characters

The work contains such types of chronotope as discrete and conditional

The view is specific.

Chronotopic space - close, open.

Chronotopic time - terrestrial, historical

The speech of this work is very rich and rich, expressive and accessible to every reader, there is also a huge number of expressive and visual techniques in the work, here are some of them

a man-promissory note, a man-machine, a golden idol, a hand-written handsome man, a cold look, a heartbreaking smile, lean legs.

Comparisons:

as if you were going, like a minister of some kind of nabob, like a dandy from the Chaussé d'Antin, like at a ferret, as if repenting of his "talkativeness", as if swollen, as if entering an atmosphere as cold as ice.

Metaphors:

soundless laughter, a haze of gaiety, her eyes sparkled, energy was in full swing in her, glory thundered, burning eyes, unbridled frankness.

Hyperbolas:

a whole hundred smells mixed up, and such a roar, as if a hundred voices were shouting at once, capable of

swallow a millionth fortune, huge interest, huge wealth, the most courteous and most harmless, the youngest dandy

Litotes: down to the smallest, the smallest bank loan,

Metonymy:

who sleep on silk

Paraphrase:

clawed paw of inevitability (i.e. horror and fear, despair)

a crowd of all servants (i.e. servants)

in all naked nakedness (i.e. in all its glory)

went with her pimples (i.e. scared)

Oxymoron:

silent laughter

Lexical figures:

Professionalisms: promissory note, solicitor, junior clerk, protest a promissory note, tax

Figures in O. de Balzac's story are very rare, unfortunately, I could not find them.

balzac gobsek story

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Lesson topic. The story of Honore de Balzac "Gobsek": the problems of the work, the socio-historical conditionality of the characters. The ambiguity of the image of Gobsek. Balzac "Gobsek": a detailed analysis of the story and the protagonist

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