Le Père Goriot

In 1819 Paris, the area surrounding the Sorbonne school is packed with boarding houses that cater to lower-middle-class students, middle management clerks, and people who are now retired and living in a modest fashion. The Maison Vauquer is one of these boarding houses. It is situated on the Rue Neuve Sainte Geneviève. The building has a pestilent atmosphere. On the outside, it is ugly. On the inside, it is falling apart. The Maison Vauquer is owned and run by Madame Vauquer, whose husband has been dead for a number of years. She is spendthrift, selfish, and prone to hypocrisy.

Inside, the occupants’ rooms correspond to their relative wealth. The most expensive rooms on the lower floors are rented to Madame Couture, who was married to a military man but is now widowed. She lives with Victorine Taillefer, whose mother is dead and whose father is estranged. Victorine’s father is a rich banker who plans to leave his entire estate to his son. Victorine is quiet, reserved, pale, and resigned to her status. She lacks love letters and pretty dresses, the two things that give “new life to any woman” (11).

An elderly man named Poiret occupies the second floor. He dresses in shabby clothes and is mostly ignored by society, though he considers himself to be witty and intelligent. Also on the second floor is Vautrin, a middle-aged man with dyed facial hair and a wig. Vautrin is boisterous and outgoing. He studies people and society, giving him a mysterious—and somewhat menacing—aura. Madame Vauquer favors him and occasionally borrows money from him.

An elderly unmarried woman named Mademoiselle Michonneau resides on the third floor. She received her modest savings when her companion (an elderly man) remembered her in his will. An old man named Goriot was once a wealthy merchant but now also lives on the third floor of the Maison Vauquer. The other tenants look down on Goriot. The final room on the third floor is currently occupied by Eugène de Rastignac, who comes from a noble but poor family in the provinces of France. Rastignac is a student with big ambitions, recently arrived in the big city of Paris. The Maison Vauquer also has a small room in the attic, where Christophe and Sylvie, the handyman and the cook, live.

Goriot arrived at the Maison Vauquer six years ago. At the time, he was a 62-year-old widower who had recently retired from a successful career as a businessman. Madame Vauquer was immediately impressed by him, as she is always impressed by wealth. Secretly, she harbored ambitions that she might one day become his second wife, but there were many other benefits in renting a room to a wealthy man. With his name, she was able to improve the reputation of her boarding house and attract a wealthier standard of lodger. A 36-year-old woman named Madame la Comtesse de l’Ambermesnil came to the Maison Vauquer because Madame Vauquer advertised her association with Goriot. Again, Madame Vauquer was very favorable to the arrival of a wealthy guest, and she became well acquainted with her new lodger. She recruited her new friend to serve as a go-between for herself and Goriot to see whether he might be interested in a romantic relationship. In reality, the countess accepted because she was interested in Goriot for herself. When Goriot rebuffed her advances, the countess was angered and began to criticize the “absurdly suspicious” Goriot in front of Madame Vauquer. Eventually, she left the Maison Vauquer without paying six months’ worth of rent.

This incident was a pivotal moment in Madame Vauquer’s feelings about Goriot. From this point on, she blamed him for everything. Any affection she once had for him turned into bitterness and spite. Goriot remained indifferent. He barely noticed when she began to deny him the small benefits and favors that she once showered upon him, as Goriot lives a simple, “frugal” life. His indifference only annoyed Madame Vauquer further. She encouraged the other lodgers to treat Goriot with contempt. When he asked to move to the cheaper second floor, she felt as though her campaign was working. She began to refer to him as Père Goriot (literally “Father Goriot,” but akin to “Old Goriot” in its derisiveness).

One day, a pretty young woman was visiting Goriot. Goriot said that the woman was one of his two daughters, but Madame Vauquer believed she was his mistress. Nevertheless, she tolerated the daughters’ visits when she believed Goriot was wealthy. As he fell in her estimation, however, she began to object to his behavior. Goriot then moved to the third floor, a further downgrade in his status, and his clothes became cheaper, causing him to fall even further in the estimations of Madame Vauquer. When he became very thin, the medical student Bianchon worried that he might be sick. Only mention of his daughters could stir his attention.

In the present, Rastignac returns to the Maison Vauquer after a trip to his family home in the provinces. He now views provincial life as dull compared to the “special allurements of Parisian life” (26). Rastignac has set his ambitions high: He wants to join high society and believes that hard work alone will not boost his status. He requires connections and views women as particularly important social forces. Rastignac therefore seeks a female patron. He remembers how his aunt, Madame de Marcillac, told him all about her connections to high society. She has written a letter of introduction for him to Madame la Vicomtesse de Beauséant, renowned in Paris for her wealth and influence. Madame de Beauséant invites Rastignac to a ball, where he meets many aristocratic young women and dances with Comtesse Anastasie de Restaud, among the most attractive and desirable of all the guests. She invites him to visit her whenever he pleases.

Rastignac returns from the ball in a delirious mood, not caring that the time is almost two o’clock in the morning. He enters the boarding house only to notice a strange groaning sound emerging from Goriot’s room. He bends down and looks through the keyhole, seeing Goriot twisting a number of silver plates into silver ingots. As he works, Goriot weeps and sighs for a “poor child.” At first, Rastignac suspects that Goriot is a thief. Then he worries that he has rushed to condemn a clearly emotional elderly man. He returns to his room, hearing muffled footsteps from behind Vautrin’s door, followed by what sounds like money and then the sound of a person leaving. Rastignac wonders what the mysterious Vautrin might be doing at so late an hour. Thinking of these strange events, he retires to bed, still fantasizing about Anastasie.

Christophe and Sylvie discuss the strange Vautrin, noting that he frequently receives male guests late at night. He pays Christophe to keep these visits a secret. Christophe says an unnamed person asked him about Vautrin, including whether he dyes his facial hair. Christophe also mentions that he saw Goriot carrying a package; the old man, he says, receives attractive young women into his room but insists that they are his daughters. The conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Madame Vauquer and Vautrin, who mentions that he saw Goriot visit a moneylender named Gobseck. He believes that Goriot is selling everything he has to fund his affairs with his young mistresses. Christophe announces that he has a message from Goriot for Anastasie. Vautrin tries to sneak a look at the letter. When he peeks inside the envelope, however, he sees only “a receipted account” (37). This makes him even more sure that Goriot is paying for mistresses. Victorine and Mademoiselle Couture enter. Mademoiselle Couture complains about Victorine’s bad luck, assuring Victorine that they will try to visit her father and repair their estranged relationship. Overhearing this, Vautrin offers his assistance in his typically ironic and intrusive style.

Goriot, Rastignac, and Michonneau enter at 10:00 am. As they sit at the table to eat, Rastignac chatters excitedly about his wealthy cousin and the party. He met a charming woman, whom he was surprised to have seen that morning near the lodging house. Vautrin suggests that she may have been visiting Old Gobseck the moneylender. Her name is Anastasie de Restaud, he offers, and he claims that Goriot must know her well. Rastignac is shocked, as he had not identified the charming woman. Once the women and Goriot have left, Vautrin expands on his ideas about the women of high society and Goriot’s possible affairs. He suggests that Anastasie must be Goriot’s mistress, which shocks Rastignac further. After eating, Rastignac returns to his room. He is determined to learn “the truth” about Anastasie. Victorine and Mademoiselle leave to visit Victorine’s father, Monsieur Taillefer. In a display of gallantry, Poiret offers to take Mademoiselle Michonneau for a walk in a nearby park.

That afternoon, the occupants of the Maison Vauquer return for dinner. Mademoiselle Couture complains about her failed meeting with Monsieur Taillefer. He rudely refused to acknowledge Victorine, who was also treated coldly by her brother, Frederic. The inhumane treatment of Victorine by her family members infuriates Goriot. Over the meal, the boarders swap jokes they find very witty. Amid this atmosphere, Vautrin takes Goriot’s cap and crams it onto his own head. Goriot is displeased but, after a brief outburst, withdraws quietly. Everyone else mocks him. Rastignac turns to Bianchon to say that he has changed his opinion of Goriot’s foolishness. He asks Bianchon to use phrenology—the pseudoscientific study of skull shape as indicative of character traits and intelligence—to prove his theory. Bianchon refuses, noting that his foolishness might be contagious.

At 3:00 pm the following day, Rastignac dons his only impressive outfit and calls on Anastasie. As he walks, he happily imagines the favorable impression he left on her during their previous encounter. When he reaches her house, however, his happiness is dashed by the disdainful attitude of her footman, who studies him and presumes that Rastignac is not a man of means. Dressed in evening attire in the afternoon and arriving on foot rather than in a carriage, Rastignac is not projecting an image of wealth and status. Rastignac’s pride is hurt. In an effort to show that he is familiar with the Restaud family, he walks ahead of the footman, only to walk straight into the servants’ quarters by mistake.

Eventually, Rastignac is shown into the drawing room, where he meets Anastasie’s lover, Maxime de Trailles. In spite of himself, Rastignac cannot help but admire the man’s clothes and sense of superiority. Anastasie treats Rastignac coldly, much to his surprise, leading him to assume that she is only interested in Maxime. This angers Rastignac, who chooses to impose himself on the lovers to annoy them. When the count comes into the room, he greets his wife’s lover but not Rastignac—until he learns that Rastignac is from an aristocratic background. The social dynamics of the situation confuse Rastignac. He is astonished that the count seemingly tolerates the presence of his wife’s lover. Rastignac continues to talk, hoping to annoy Anastasie and Maxime. He recognizes that they would rather be left alone. During the conversation, he mentions Goriot. The old man’s name changes the mood. The count turns cold, and Anastasie is suddenly flustered. Rastignac knows that he has made a faux pas. He makes his excuse and leaves. Once he is gone, the count tells the footman never to allow Rastignac into the house again.

This failure annoys Rastignac. He goes to visit his cousin, Madame de Beauséant, to talk about the matter. At her house, he meets her lover, the Marquis d’Ajuda-Pinto. The marquis greets Rastignac warmly, as this gives him an excuse to leave; he is thinking of proposing to Madame de Rochefide, a wealthy noblewoman, but he must first end his relationship with Madame de Beauséant. Though he tells Madame de Beauséant that he is heading for dinner at the British ambassador’s residence, she overhears him give the Rochefides’ address to his driver. Her hands tremble as she writes to the marquis, demanding an explanation. Though she is upset, her young cousin’s naivete lifts her mood. Rastignac tries to explain what happened at the Restauds’ home, only for the conversation to be interrupted by the arrival of the Duchess de Langeais, his cousin’s friend. After sitting down, the duchess immediately launches into a conversation about a friend potentially marrying the marquis. Madame de Beauséant turns pale, realizing that her failed romance is the subject of much gossip. She tries to change the subject by encouraging Rastignac to continue his story. When he reaches Goriot’s name, the two women understand: Anastasie de Restaud is Goriot’s daughter. The young woman does not appreciate being reminded that her father is a mere merchant, they say, and begin the story of Goriot.

As a merchant, Goriot made his money by selling flour and noodles. During the revolution, he made a fortune by dealing in the black market. His daughters were his weakness. He married one to a wealthy banker, the Baron de Nucingen, and the other to Monsieur de Restaud. During the chaos of the French Revolution and Napoleon’s subsequent rule, Goriot’s sons-in-law tolerated him. His money and influence offered them protection. Following the Bourbon Restoration, however, they pushed aside their common father-in-law, who was now an “embarrassment.” Goriot’s two daughters had by then become accustomed to their aristocratic lifestyle. They were used to being wealthy elites and did not like recalling their humble origins. He made a sacrificial gesture, removing himself from their presence so as not to remind them of his existence.

Madame de Beauséant and the duchess reflect on the wickedness of the society they inhabit. After the duchess leaves, Rastignac receives his first lesson from his cousin. In this society, she explains, the men are vain and the women are corrupt. In turn, he must learn to conceal his true feelings and treat people like post horses. When it is time, she says, he should “strike without pity” (72). She will help Rastignac with his ambitious plan. She suggests that he set his sights on Delphine de Nucingen, as she might be more receptive to his advances. Goriot might introduce them, and there is a rivalry between Goriot’s daughters that could cause Anastasie to compete against her sister. Since Baron de Nucingen is a foreigner from a less prestigious family, Delphine is not invited to the same elite parties that her sister attends, and she resents this. Madame de Beauséant can introduce Rastignac to Delphine by inviting her to a party. Once Rastignac finds favor with Delphine, she says, other women will fall at his feet.

Rastignac leaves his cousin’s house at 5:00 pm. He returns to the Maison Vauquer with his thoughts buzzing. At the same time, he feels angry at his social misstep at the Restaud house and overwhelmed by the growing realization of how inconsequential a poor man can be in a big city like Paris. Entering the Maison Vauquer, he resolves to work hard to become a wealthy lawyer and a fashionable man. At dinner that night, Vautrin mocks him for his pretensions of status. Rastignac is unimpressed. In an angry outburst, he warns Vautrin not to joke about either himself or Goriot. In doing so, he reveals the identity of Goriot’s daughter, which shocks the other boarders. Everyone is suddenly much more kindly disposed toward Goriot, but Goriot seems not to notice the change in their attitudes.

After dinner, Rastignac would like to get started on his plan. However, he needs money. He writes to his mother and his sisters, asking them to send him anything they can. This makes him feel ashamed, as he knows that they are poor and that they will need to sacrifice to do so. However, he feels desperate to succeed in Paris and can see no other option. Over the course of the following days, he visits Madame de Beauséant more frequently. He pauses his studies, assuring himself that he will make up the missed time later.

Rastignac makes an intense study of Goriot’s life. He is determined not to make another faux pas. Goriot loved two things, he learns: his wife and his business. When his wife passed, he diverted his passion to his daughters. Goriot loves his daughters intensely. He can refuse them nothing, no matter how outlandish their requests may be. He hired private tutors to ensure that they rose rapidly through society. His influence has made them ready for the world of the elite; they cannot return to their original, lowly social status. The daughters picked their own husbands. When his daughters were embarrassed that Goriot continued to work, he agreed to give up his business. He retired and moved into the Maison Vauquer, at which point his sons-in-law resolutely abandoned him. They refuse to associate with so common a man.