"Gobsek": a brief summary of the immortal story of Balzac

The story "Gobsek" appeared in 1830. Later it became a part of the world famous collection of works "The Human Comedy", authored by Balzac. "Gobsek", a brief outline of this work will be described below, focuses readers' attention on such a property of human psychology as stinginess.

Honore de Balzac "Gobsek": a summary

It all begins with the fact that the Viscountess de Granlieu's house was occupied by two guests: the solicitor Derville and the Count de Resto. When the last one leaves, the viscountess tells his daughter Camilla that she can not show the location of the count, because no family in Paris will agree to be related to him. Vicontessa adds that the count's mother is of low birth and left the children without a penny, having squandered the fortune of her lover.

Listening to the viscountess, Derville decides to explain to her the true state of affairs, telling the story of a usurer named Gobsek. The summary of this story is the basis of Balzac's story. The solicitor mentions that he met Gobsek during his student years, when he lived in a cheap boarding house. Derville calls Gobsek a cold-blooded "bill-man" and "golden idol."

One day the usurer told Dervil how he had sought a debt from one countess: fearing revelation, she handed him a diamond, and her lover received money. "This dandy can ruin the whole family," Gobsek asserted. The brief content of the story will prove the veracity of his words.

Soon Count Maxim de Tray asks Derville to bring him down with the named usurer. At first Gobsek refuses to give a loan to the count, who has debts instead of money. But to the pawnbroker comes the aforementioned countess, who lays a fine diamond. She agrees without hesitation to the conditions of Hobsak. When the lovers go away, the countess's husband breaks into the pawnbroker and demands the return of family jewelry, which the wife left in the mortgage. But as a result, the count decides to transfer the property to Gobsek to save his fortune from the lover's lover of his wife. Further, Derville points out that the described story took place in the family of de Resto.

After the deal with the pawnbroker, the Count de Resto gets sick. The countess, in turn, breaks all relations with Maxim de Tray and jealously cares for her husband, but soon he dies. The next day after the Count's death, Derville and Gobsek are in the house. The summary can not describe all the horror that appeared before them in the Count's office. In search of a will, his count's wife is a real rout, not ashamed and dead. And most importantly, she burned the papers addressed to Dervil, as a result of which the property of the family of de Resto passed into the possession of Gobsek. Despite Dervil's entreaties to take pity on the unhappy family, the usurer remains adamant.

Learning about the love of Camilla and Ernest, Dervil decides to go to the house of a usurer named Gobsek. The summary of the final part is striking in its psychology. Gobsek at death, but in his old age, his stinginess turned into a mania. At the end of the story, Derville tells Viscountess de Granle that the Count de Reste will soon return the lost state. Thinking, the noble lady decides that if de Resto becomes very rich, then her daughter may well marry him.