Summary of the "Father Gorio" Honore de Balzac: the main characters, issues, quotes

Honore de Balzac is one of the founders of realism in European literature. Topics touched by the writer are not isolated from everyday realities. His works are quite tough and ruthless, however, as sometimes life itself in relation to people. In the literary masterpieces that came out from under his pen, the characters look natural, alive, they are interested in things that attract each of us. Many of the heroes of his novels - 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 novel is related to Balzac's idea of writing a series of stories that were supposed to portray the life of his countrymen. The work was the first in a series of works, then combined into a collection called "The Human Comedy." When did this work Honore de Balzac? "Father Gorio" was established in 1832, but the publication took place only two years later. During this time, the genius's imagination formed a plan for writing stories that were supposed to show the real life of French society, the aspirations and the charm of the writer's contemporaries. What did Honore de Balzac want to convey to the reader? "Father Gorio" shows a range of ordinary feelings experienced by a person, including impartial ones, such as greed, satisfaction of one's own ambitions through the humiliation of others and the pathological desire for a string of endless pleasures.

The summary of the work "Father Gorio"

Events take place in Paris, a city that, according to the author, takes away all human beings from the 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, having spent a minimum of time on it.

The events of the novel take the reader to a small boarding house located on the outskirts of Paris. The people living in it are very different, but they are united by one thing - luck has long ceased to favor them.

Among the guests of the establishment there lives an old man, who has a rather bad character. Nobody suspects that in fact he is an impoverished nobleman desperate to arrange a happy future for his daughters. His roommate is Rastignac, the only one who accidentally finds out about it. This discovery completely changes the opinion of the young man about the unhappy old man. The summary of "Father Gorio" contains the quintessence of key events and a description of the characters' works that are important for analysis. There are times when it is necessary to resort to the help of a more condensed story, for example, if there is a huge amount of information during the exams. In such situations, the short content of "Father Gorio" will allow in a few seconds to understand the direction of author's thought, as well as the main ideas of the work.

The main characters of the novel

The work has a large number of characters, both main and secondary. In this chapter, consider the significant characters of the work of the great Honore de Balzac. Undoubtedly, the short content of "Father Gorio" partially allows the reader to understand and imagine the inner world of the characters in the novel, but in order to make the picture more complete, one should pay attention to the characterization of each hero. What is remarkable about in the work "Father Gorio"? The characters of this literary masterpiece are thought out by the author to the smallest detail, down to habits and memories.

• The protagonist, the so-called father of Gorio, the incurable King Lear, who is quiet and meek in his madness. However, he genuinely loves his daughters, who use their unfortunate father solely to receive financial assistance for their amusements.

• Eugene de Rastignac, a student who came from the province. In the beginning of the novel he had pure youthful hopes to get education, to benefit the parents, but once hitting the higher world, he completely changes his life priorities and, following the "cream" of the Parisian society, turns to depravity. Over time, he becomes the lover of the second daughter of Gorio - the beauty of the Baroness. Rastignac is the only one who has a little respect and pity for the old man.
• Dolphin de Nucingen is the eldest daughter of Gorio, who is married to a rather wealthy man, but openly betrays him, however, as he does to her.
• Anastasi de Resto, the youngest daughter of the old Gorio, married to the Count.
• Vautrin is a neighbor of Gorio and Rastignac on a boarding house. If you carefully analyze the images of the work, the hypocrisy and hypocrisy of many of the characters in the novel can be traced very clearly. But Vautrin, although literally the embodiment of world evil in the novel, is at least honest. This is a former convict, a rather dangerous person who plays other people's lives. In the work "Father Gorio", whose characters are described very skillfully, this criminal seems not so bad against the greedy and dishonest neighbors, whom he openly despises.
• Vicotessa de Bosean is a relative of Rastignac who introduces the unripened youth into the upper world, thereby pushing him to fall.
• Voke is the proprietress of the boarding house, a widow of fifty. Once a woman wanted to marry Gorio, but was rejected. After that, she became hostile to the protagonist. Her scorn increased when signs of his apparent ruin became apparent.

Characteristics of Father Gorio

The protagonist embodies the all-consuming fatherly love, which completely deprives him of the opportunity to analyze what is happening between him and his daughters. Undoubtedly, it was he who caused the daughters to grow up like this. His reckless love led to such a tragic ending. The author emphasizes that the wonderful feeling that gives people joy and happiness, yet must be subordinated to reason.

Love is a terrible weapon that can kill, because that's what happened in the novel. The paternal feeling, not knowing the measures, killed everything human in the daughters of the protagonist. Characteristics of Father Gorio can not do without a critical look at this character. Professionals who later analyzed the novel, reproached the author for the fact of reckless love, insisting that this is an unnatural, pathological feeling that, rather, looks like a madness.

Analysis of the work

What can the reader learn from the novel "Father Gorio"? Analysis of this work allows you to re-evaluate the relationship in the family. On the one hand, a loving father who can not boast of a brilliant education or belonging to an ancient aristocratic family, however personifies the ideal of parental love. On the other hand - the daughter of the protagonist, who, as soon as their father successfully married them, hastily turned away from him. At the end of the novel, the protagonist dies, but in fact he was dead at the beginning of the narrative, because without a remnant he gave himself to his own children. The final 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 them. Realizing the immense pragmatism of their children, he can not blame them, even more - justifies their actions. What happened to the children of this unfortunate person? Is it my father's fault that he spoiled them? After his death, this fact becomes obvious. Unfortunately, Honore de Balzac is forced to admit that true love is not in Paris's honor - it was replaced by something quite different. As the author of the novel notes with the lips of one heroine - the whole life of Parisians is built on titles and money, sincerity here is not considered a virtue, but rather, a bad form or even a vice.

The problems revealed in the novel

This work strikes 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 kind of problems did the author of the novel "Father Gorio" want to cover? The problems revealed in the work affect the relationship not only in the family, but also in society. It is necessary to understand that the French society of that time was rather heterogeneous, and the gap between the different groups is so great that the transition from one social stratum to another was not possible. Including on this problem the author tries to focus attention.

The image of Rastignac

The image of Rastignac in the novel "Father Gorio" is very revealing because it combines not only positive, but also negative qualities, that is, the reader can trace the changes that occurred in the world outlook of the young man during the whole novel. At the beginning of the work, he appears as an enthusiastic youth who recently left his parents' house, but since his move to Paris he has undergone significant changes. Of course, there was a period when, in touch with the real life of the Parisians, Rastignac categorically condemned it. However, by the end of the work, significant metamorphoses take place with him. This is most evident when a young man comes up with the idea of killing his mistress's husband.

Quotes

What attracts readers in the novel "Father Gorio"? Quotations taken from the work became real aphorisms, as they are filled with a wise sense and bare realities of life:

• "Sales became a weapon of mediocrity, and its edge is felt everywhere."
• "I can see from here what muzzle these holy men will have if God takes and overturns the Last Judgment."
• "There is no greater pleasure for women, how to listen to the murmur of gentle words."

The meaning of the novel

The work of Honore de Balzac "Father Gorio" made a huge contribution to the world literature, replenishing her treasury with a worthy novel. For the first time the reader had the opportunity to encounter a work that so brightly and realistically conveys the atmosphere of everyday life. The advantage of realism is that it does not eliminate and does not smooth out the dark side of human nature, but helps to take a fresh look at society, rethink priorities and think about prospects.