The story “Gobsieck” appeared in 1830. Later it became part of the world-famous collection of works “The Human Comedy”, authored by Balzac. “Gobsec,” a summary of this work will be described below, focuses readers on such a property of human psychology as avarice.
Honore de Balzac "Gobsec": a summary
It all starts with the fact that in the house of the Viscountess de Granlier sat two guests: the solicitor Derville and the Count de Resto. When the latter leaves, the Viscountess tells her daughter Camille that she should not be shown the favor of the Count, since not a single Paris family would agree to intermarry with him. The Viscountess adds that the Count's mother is of low origin and left the children penniless, having squandered a fortune for her lover.
Listening to the Viscountess, Derville decides to explain to her the true state of affairs by telling a story about a loan shark named Gobsek. A summary of this story is the basis of Balzac's novel. The solicitor mentions that he met Gobseck as a student, when he lived in a cheap guesthouse. Derville calls Gobsec a cold-blooded "bill-man" and "golden idol."
Once the moneylender told Dervil how to recover the debt from one countess: fearing the revelations, she handed him a diamond, and her lover received the money. “This dandy can ruin the whole family,” argued Gobsec. A summary of the story will prove the veracity of his words.
Soon Count Maxim de Tray asks Derville to bring him to the named usurer. First, Hobseck refuses to give a loan to the Count, who has only debts instead of money. But the previously mentioned countess comes to the moneylender, who mortgage the magnificent diamonds. She does not hesitate to agree to the terms of Hobseck. When the lovers leave, the countess's husband bursts into the usurer and demands that the family jewels that his wife mortgage be returned. But as a result, the count decides to transfer the property to Gobsek in order to save his fortune from his greedy lover of his wife. Further, Derville indicates that the described story occurred in the family of de Resto.
After a deal with a loan shark, Count de Resto falls ill. The countess, in turn, breaks all relations with Maxim de Tray and jealously cares for her husband, but he soon dies. The day after the count’s death, Derville and Gobshek are at home. The summary cannot describe all the horror that appeared before them in the count’s office. In search of a testament, his count's wife was a real defeat, not ashamed and dead. And most importantly, she burned papers addressed to Derville, as a result of which the property of the de Resto family passed into the possession of Hobsek. Despite the pleas of Derville to take pity on the unfortunate family, the moneylender remains adamant.
Upon learning of Camilla and Ernest's love, Derville decides to go to the moneylender's house named Gobsec. The summary of the final part is striking in its psychology. Gobsek at death, but in old age his stinginess turned into mania. At the end of the story, Derville informs the Viscountess de Granlier that the Count de Resto will soon regain his lost state. Thinking, a noble lady decides that if de Resto becomes very rich, then her daughter may well marry him.