Honore de Balzac is one of the founders of realism in European literature. The topics covered by the writer are not isolated from everyday realities. His works are quite tough and merciless, however, as sometimes life itself in relation to people. In the literary masterpieces that came out from under his pen, the characters look natural, lively, they are interested in things that attract each of us. Many of the heroes of his novels are people whose desires are greedy, decisions and actions are pragmatic, the main goal is to receive pleasures, and not the lofty thoughts inherent in usually romantic characters.
Honore de Balzac: “Father Gorio”
The story of the creation of the novel is connected with Balzac's idea of writing a series of stories that should have depicted the life of his compatriots. The work was the first in a series of essays, then combined into a collection called "Human Comedy." When did he write this work Honore de Balzac? "Father Gorio" was created in 1832, but the publication took place only two years later. During this time, a plan for writing stories was formed in the imagination of a genius, which was supposed to show the real life of French society, the aspirations and aspirations of contemporaries of the writer. What did Honore de Balzac want to convey to the reader? “Father Gorio” shows a gamut of ordinary feelings experienced by a person, including unpleasant ones, such as greed, satisfaction of one’s own ambitions due to humiliation of others and pathological desire for a series of endless pleasures.
Summary of the work “Father Gorio”
The events take place in Paris, a city that, according to the author, takes away everything human from people, leaving them only passionate and unquenchable desires. The summary of “Father Gorio” allows you to get acquainted with the main ideas of the work, spending a minimum of time on this.
The events of the novel take the reader to a small guesthouse located on the outskirts of Paris. The people living in it are very different, but they have one thing in common - luck has long ceased to favor them.
Among the guests of the institution there is an old man who has a rather nasty character. No one suspects that in fact he is an impoverished nobleman who is desperate to arrange a happy future for his daughters. His boarding neighbor is Rastignac, the only one who accidentally finds out about it. This discovery completely changes the opinion of a young man about an unhappy old man. The summary of “Father Gorio” contains the quintessence of key events and a description of characters significant for the analysis of the work. There are times when it is necessary to resort to the help of a more concise story, for example, if there is a huge amount of information during exams. In such situations, a brief summary of "Father Gorio" will allow you to understand the direction of the author’s thoughts, as well as the main ideas of the work in a matter of seconds.
The main characters of the novel
The work has a large number of characters, both main and secondary. In this chapter, we consider the significant characters of the work of the great Honore de Balzac. Undoubtedly, the summary of “Father Gorio” partially allows the reader to understand and imagine the inner world of the characters of the novel, but to make the picture more complete, attention should be paid to the characteristics of each hero. What is remarkable is revealed in the work "Father Gorio"? The characters of this literary masterpiece are thought out by the author to the smallest detail, right down to habits and memories.
- The main character, the so-called Papa Gorio, is the incurable King Lear, who is quiet and meek in his madness. However, he sincerely loves his daughters, who use the unfortunate father exclusively to receive financial assistance for their amusements.
- Eugene de Rastignac, a student who came from the province. At the beginning of the novel, he had pure youthful hopes of getting an education, benefiting his parents, but once he got into high society, he completely changed his life priorities and, following the “cream” of Parisian society, indulged in debauchery. Over time, he becomes the lover of the second daughter of Gorio - the beauty of the Baroness. Rastignac is the only one who has at least a little respect and pity for the old man.
- Dolphin de Nusingen is the eldest daughter of Gorio, who is married to a rather wealthy man, but openly cheats on him, however, as he does to her.
- Anastasi de Resto is the youngest daughter of old Gorio, married to the Count.
- Votren is Gorio and Rastignac's neighbor in a boarding house. If you carefully analyze the images of the work, the duplicity and hypocrisy of many characters of the novel can be traced very clearly. But Votren, although literally the embodiment of world evil in the novel, is at least honest. This is a former convict, a rather dangerous person, playing with other people's lives. In the work “Father Gorio”, whose characters are described very skillfully, this criminal does not seem so bad against the background of greedy and dishonorable neighbors whom he openly despises.
- Viscountess de Bosean is a relative of Rastignac, who introduces the unripened youth into the high society, thereby pushing him to fall.
- Voke - the owner of the guesthouse, a widow of fifty years. Once a woman wanted to marry Gorio, but was rejected. After that, she became hostile to the main character. Her contempt increased when signs of his apparent ruin became visible.
Characteristics of Father Gorio
The protagonist personifies the all-consuming paternal love, which completely deprives him of the opportunity to analyze what is happening between him and his daughters. There is no doubt that it was he who caused the daughters to grow up like that. His reckless love led to such a tragic ending. The author emphasizes that the wonderful feeling that gives people joy and happiness should still be subordinated to the mind.
Love is a terrible weapon that can kill, because this is exactly what happened in the novel. The fatherly feeling, not knowing the measure, killed everything human in the daughters of the protagonist. The characterization of Gorio's father can not do without a critical look at this character. Professionals who subsequently analyzed the novel reproached the author with the fact of reckless love, insisting that it was an unnatural, pathological feeling, which was more like insanity.
Essay analysis
What can the reader learn for himself in the novel Father Gorio? An analysis of this work allows us to reconsider family relationships. On the one hand, a loving father who cannot boast of a brilliant education or belonging to an ancient aristocratic family, however, personifies the ideal of parental love. On the other hand, the daughters of the protagonist, who, as soon as their father successfully married them out, hurriedly turned away from him. At the end of the novel, the main character dies, but in fact he was dead at the beginning of the story, because without a trace he gave himself to his own children. The finale of the work is tragic and psychologically difficult: lying on his deathbed, Gorio does not curse his daughters, on the contrary, he forgives them and blesses. Realizing the immense pragmatism of his children, he cannot blame them, and even more so - he justifies their actions. What happened to the children of this unfortunate person? Is father to blame for spoiling them? After his death, this fact becomes obvious. Unfortunately, Honore de Balzac is forced to admit that true love is not honored in Paris - it has been replaced with something completely different. As the author of the novel observes through the lips of one heroine - the whole life of Parisians is built on titles and money, sincerity here is not considered virtue, but rather, in a bad tone or even vice.
The problems disclosed in the novel
This composition is striking in its versatility: it would seem that in the foreground there is an eternal conflict between generations, but this is only the upper layer of all that Balzac wanted to say. What problems did the author of the novel Father Gorio want to highlight? The issues disclosed in the work affect relationships not only in the family, but also in society. It must be understood that the French society of that time was rather heterogeneous, and the gap between different groups was so wide that the transition from one social stratum to another was not possible. Including the author is trying to focus on this problem.
The image of Rastignac
The image of Rastignac in the novel Father Gorio is very indicative because it combines not only positive but also negative qualities, that is, the reader can trace the changes that took place in the worldview of the young man throughout the novel. At the beginning of the work, he appears as an enthusiastic young man who recently left his parental home, but significant changes have taken place with him since moving to Paris. Of course, there was a period when, in contact with the real life of Parisians, Rastignac categorically condemned it. However, towards the end of the work, significant metamorphoses occur with him. This is most pronounced when the young man comes up with the idea of killing the husband of his mistress.
Quotes
What attracts readers in the novel Father Gorio? The quotes taken from the work became real aphorisms, as they are filled with wise meaning and undisguised life realities:
- "Selling has become a weapon of mediocrity, and its tip is felt everywhere."
- “From here I can see what face these sanctuaries will have if God takes and cancels the Last Judgment.”
- “There is no greater pleasure for women to listen to the murmur of tender words.”
The meaning of the novel
The work of Honore de Balzac “Father Gorio” made a huge contribution to world literature, adding to its treasury a worthy novel. For the first time, the reader had the opportunity to come across a work that so vividly and realistically conveys the atmosphere of everyday life. The advantage of realism is that it does not eliminate and smooth out the dark sides of human nature, but helps to take a fresh look at society, rethink priorities and reflect on prospects.