A complete analysis of Honore de Balzac's story "Gobsek". Grading a lesson

Composition

Difficult topic ... How to determine where the values ​​are mental, where the values ​​are real? Say, is gold a mental or real value? I'm talking about gold because main character- moneylender. Gold is a mental value, since absolutely no one needs it: it cannot be eaten, it is not suitable for making an ax or a hoe. One philosopher, who is now out of fashion, suggested making toilet bowls out of it. And the philosopher argued that they had already begun to make this useful thing out of gold. Nevertheless - try to live in this world without gold or its paper surrogates. You won’t eat money either, but you won’t be full without it either. So, is gold a mental or real life value?

Obviously, it was meant that I would immediately talk about high human qualities.

For example, loyalty and gratitude. But I read about the life of the Comtesse de Restaud. She betrayed her husband with Maxim, who is none other than the gigolo. For the sake of this bastard, she made the Viscount de Resto almost a beggar ... From another part of the "Human Comedy" we learn that she left her old father to the mercy of fate as soon as he gave his property to his daughters-heirs. Let's finally decide if marital fidelity is a real value or not? Let's add maternal feelings there ... and daughters!
And let's go back to thinking about gold, or money. The whole story told in Balzac's story is the story of the search for money, its significance in people's lives. In relation to money, you can evaluate the characters. Gobsek, for example, is none other than the priest of an old pagan cult. He does not need a golden robe, a golden tiara, or an adamant rod - he still has the unsurpassed power of the Golden Calf behind him, he only distributes and collects gold, which accumulates with him the more he distributes it. Gobseck's clientele (and this is, so to speak, the flower of France) has rams in the stall, which will be slaughtered when the last tuft of the golden fleece has been cut from them by the dexterous hands of the Great Priest.

Nevertheless, they all pray to gold, making it the most valuable, the total equivalent of everything that is in their lives. The narrator in the story is the lawyer Derville. Well done by the author, who transferred the responsibility for assessing the situation to the hero. When something is wrong, then let the wolf eat grass about him. But…

Dealing with money and a moneylender, the lawyer cannot believe that everything in the world is based on money. There is something that cannot be bought with gold or silver. Derville's professional conscientiousness is beyond doubt; people cordially trust him with their money and destinies. However... Looking around me now, I'm asking myself a bad question; maybe gold just hasn't been given a real price yet?

True, there are intimate feelings that are difficult to convert into money. For example, Fanny's love for Derville. But we see how Alastazi, having got into a new debt, buys himself a little more love from Maxime de Tray. So, can you buy? And is it just the amount?

Or does the author deliberately put us in a situation where we have to decide on our own what we will not sell in our lives? Or is there something else we didn't sell for a glass necklace, like the Indians sold the island of Manhattan?

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Composition

Honore de Balzac entered world literature as an outstanding realist writer. It was he who conceived, perhaps the world's largest cycle of novels about the life of the whole society, which he called "The Human Comedy". And in fact, sometimes human efforts expended on trifles, wastefulness, anger, and frivolity seem comical. They look comical until they start ruining someone else's life. So, Anastasi de Resto's romance with a secular young man Maxim de Tray began as a light flirtation that does not cause trouble to anyone. But the shameless lover brazenly breaks into the life of the whole family, as the unprincipled Madame de Resto allowed him to do this. And now the honor of the family, the husband is neglected. Anastasi does not even think about children. Balzac seems to be watching this through the eyes of his hero, the usurer Gobsek. This clever man, educated and even wise.

At least in relation to other people's lives. When it comes to money, he has no equal. But here's a miracle: he lived his life not at all wisely. Gobsek did not even notice how money, which first gave him freedom, and then power over people, gradually became his goal, his idol, subordinated his whole life to accumulation, replaced his whole life. He understood that a person needs just so much money so as not to think about it every second. So Fanny Malva is satisfied with this amount, who borrows money from him for linen and threads to work with.

But she borrows as much as she can give, unlike Anastasi de Resto, who does not know the value of money, however, like all other values. The writer psychologically accurately portrays not only the actions of the characters, but also their motives. Balzac is rightly considered a connoisseur of human souls, since he managed to convey the subtlest notes of the souls of heroes, to look into the most hidden corners of the souls of his contemporaries, and, in the end, of all people. Reading his works is very interesting precisely because they are true to life and contain wise observations, answers to many questions that life will always put before everyone.

One of the most important moments of the entire work of the outstanding French realist Honore de Balzac was the desire to recreate a complete picture of the era. Almost all of his works, according to the writer's intention, were parts of the great epic "The Human Comedy", which was supposed to cover all possible phenomena of the life of that time. According to the plan, this epic cycle was to consist of three sections: “Etudes on Customs”, works that depicted the life, way of life and customs of different strata of French society, “Philosophical Studies”, which was supposed to summarize Balzac’s artistic discoveries and his idea of ​​the regularity of life , and, finally, “Analytical Studies”, in which the writer tried to formulate the laws that govern reality.

In the first section (“Etudes on Customs”), Balzac created a gallery of the most typical images of his contemporaries, who had different social status and different professions. The story "Gobsek" is included in its composition. The name of the central character of this work - the usurer Gobsek - has become a household name. Nevertheless, it was in his image that A. Balzac not only described a typical usurer, but vividly reproduced a special psychological type of a person who lives with only one feeling - self-interest in its purest form. Money is the only goal, the only love and vocation of Gobsek. fiction there are many images of greedy people and misers, but they are not the same. The miserly knight of A. Pushkin really strives for power, money for him is only a means of achieving it. So he is more like a hidden lover of power than a real greed. Plyushkin by G. Gogol is a petty miser of the “domestic” type. It is no coincidence that people who do not want to throw away yesterday's newspaper or something like that are called “plushkins”: no one will compare them with Gobsek. This image summarizes completely different features of private property psychology, brought to its logical conclusion (although almost absurd from the point of view of a normal person).

Here is Gobsek's life philosophy: “What can satisfy our 'I', our vanity? Gold! Streams of gold. In order to satisfy our whims, time is needed, material possibilities and effort are needed, gold has all this, and it actually gives everything. At the same time, Gobsek does not try to take advantage of the possibilities of gold he mentioned, it is enough for him to have it. Not for something else. For Gobseck, there is no satisfaction other than the realization of his wealth.

Did he have other features? Through the brightness main characteristic, his life's most important task, they are almost imperceptible. “He was an automaton who was turned on every day,” Balzac writes about him. Even a person whom he seems to sympathize with, Gobsek lends money only on slightly softened terms than others, and even brings a kind of “ideological basis” to this act, they say, it will be more useful for his character. In general, people turn to usurers only in the most difficult moments of their lives, in despair, when there is no other source to get money. For example, when bankruptcy approaches, and banks refuse credit. In usury itself, as a phenomenon, something cruel was originally laid down, and Gobsek surpasses even his “colleagues” in this: watching people who are at an impasse becomes entertainment for him. There is no mention of empathy at all.

Gobsek, for all his limited goals, is, surprisingly, not primitive. He is able to draw conclusions about the nature of society, to analyze its destructive forces. He also knows the psychology of people. To draw a conclusion about the omnipotence of gold and create your own philosophy regarding this, you also need to be able to think. So, he is an intelligent person, but his passion is stronger than his mind. The power of gold, in which he so believed, makes Gobseck himself a victim, he creates a trap for himself.

What could be more absurd than starving to death in the midst of vast wealth? Gobsek is killed by his own idea of ​​the omnipotence of gold and its immense value. He was so afraid of losing his property that he imperceptibly destroyed them in physical sense: expensive fabrics, dishes, paintings - everything has deteriorated, everything has been lost to the world. If we take into account the presence of the author's intention, this deliberate external absurdity is the natural conclusion of such an attitude to life.

“Is there a God in this person?” - rhetorically asks another hero of the work, Derville. Yes, there is: this is Mammon, in other words, money. Gobsek gave life to serving this ideal. Balzac sternly and ruthlessly condemns the thirst for accumulation and the actual process of enriching a person. Gold does not bring happiness to either Gobseck or others. And even if the image of Gobseck is an isolated case, it testifies to what the path of self-interest leads to, and artistic skill The writer makes this warning even more convincing.

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Gobseck (Nominative Heading Type) Honore de Balzac

The story was written in 1830 and subsequently included in the collected works of "The Human Comedy".

The story "Gobsek" did not immediately find its final form and place in the "Human Comedy"; it belongs to the works, the very history of creation of which sheds light on the formation of the titanic Balzac idea.

It first appeared (in April 1830) under the heading "The Perils of Debauchery" in the first volume of Scenes from a Private Life. The first chapter of this work a little earlier, in February 1830, was published in the form of an essay in the magazine Fashion and was called The Pawnbroker. In 1835, the story was included in a new edition of "Scenes of Parisian Life" and was entitled "Papa Gobsek." And finally, in the landmark year 1842, Balzac included her in the "Scenes of Private Life" of the first edition of the "Human Comedy" under the title "Gobsek".

Initially, the story was divided into chapters: "The Pawnbroker", "The Lawyer" and "The Death of a Husband". This division corresponds to the main thematic episodes that make up the work: the story of the usurer Gobsek, the years of apprenticeship and the beginning of the career of the solicitor Derville, the love drama of Anastasi de Resto, which largely led to the premature death of her husband.

Genre story

The story "Gobsek" belongs to the epic, since the story is middle view epic, and not only for this reason.

1. The plot is not focused on one central event: stories from the life of Gobsek associated with Derville and the de Resto family, but on a whole series of events covering a significant part of Gobsek's life, for example, his childhood and youth.

2. The epic, in turn, reproduces, captures not only what is being told, but also the narrator, in this case it is Derville - the attorney. He is a young man who has made a career out of his hard work and professional integrity. Derville is “a man of high honesty” (this is how the heroes of the work speak of him). He is a friend of Gobsek.

3. Free organization of time and space in the story. The author covers a significant part of Gobsek's life, taking him, along with readers, to the places of his youth and childhood.

4. The story is written in prose, which is also typical for the epic.

The main theme is the theme of the power of money (eternal), which is just the same and is confirmed throughout the whole work, not only by individual events (instead of belated repentance, the Countess burned the papers, thinking that this was a changed will of her husband. After such scenes, you begin to understand why Gobsek hated their heirs.), but also by individual characters (Maxim de Tray and others.)

In addition to the theme of the power of money, there are a number of other themes in the story, such as: the theme of seclusion and alienation of a person (Gobsek) from society, the theme of human and social vices, etc. etc.

The leading motive of the work is the motive of power

1. The motive of the power of money over a person and society

2. The motive of the power of one person over the fate of other people (The power of the usurer over Anastasi, and in the future her son Ernesto)

There are also motives

The motive of adultery

Countess Anastasi cheating on Count with Maxime de Tray

Treasure search motive

“He tried everything to get rich, even tried to find the notorious treasure - gold buried by a tribe of savages somewhere in the vicinity of Buenos Aires.”

The motive of friendship between the old man and young man

The motive of human loneliness

The motive of stinginess and other human vices

The motive-character of the philosopher

The motive-character of a hard worker (Fanny Malvo)

Motif-character of a beautiful girl (Anastasi de Resto)

The motive-character of a young man-tempter

The motive of contemplation by a person from the outside world

motive for loss of reason

The problems that the author describes in the story were so relevant and exciting that he repeatedly returned to them, gradually polishing his idea. The protagonist of the story is the usurer Gobsek, who profits from the fact that he gives a loan at interest.

The problem of O. de Balzac's story belongs to such a type as social, namely the problem of the power of money over society and a person separately, but this is only part of the problem, as a consequence of the first problem, a second, no less important one can be distinguished: the degradation of the human personality and morality under the influence of this power.

It was an era of despondency in the best human features, in normal human relationships built on trust and respect. The world and society were imagined by many French people of that time as a big mechanism, which is controlled by money and power. Interestingly, the images of the story "Gobsek" are not one-dimensional. They were not unambiguous contemporaries of Balzac: many of them had an analytical mind, were able to think independently, and were a non-overlapping personality. Nevertheless, the big mechanism, the machine, which is controlled by gold, was launched, and it grinded the fate of people or the fate of entire families in its millstones.

In his story, Balzac protests against this image of society. The writer rightly considers it erroneous, unnatural, unhealthy. Balzac emphasizes that neither relations with people, nor society, nor the state, and realistic images can be built on the foundations; - love, decency, nobility. They should retreat...but, unfortunately, they don't.

1. Conflict between the individual and society

This is a conflict between "Papa Gobsek" and the society in which he lives.

He is detached from it. This is a lonely person, who, however, consciously does not seek to society. Gobsek takes extremely high interest from his clients, taking advantage of their predicament, in fact ruining them. He does not believe in human honesty, decency, love and friendship. This characterizes Gobsek as a callous and heartless person.

2. Social conflict

Pushing aside the nobility by the bourgeoisie and the disintegration of the family as a consequence of the power of monetary relations. (Gobsek family de Resto)

3. Between a father and his children

“... But children!.. Let them be happy at least... Children, children!...

I only have one child! - exclaimed the count, in despair stretching out his withered hands to his son.

4. Family household

Within the de Resto family

5. Ideological or philosophical

1. Dramatic

2. Tragic (personal)

Tragedy of the family of the Comte de Resto, his wife and their children

“This girl seemed like a fairy of loneliness.

Before me, no doubt, was a girl who was forced by necessity to work without straightening her back - probably the daughter of some honest farmer: on her face one could still see the small freckles characteristic of peasant girls. Something good, truly virtuous emanated from her. It was as if I entered into an atmosphere of sincerity, purity of soul, and somehow it even became easier for me to breathe. Poor bastard!"

The story is life-like, since it lacks any fantastic elements, it is a story ordinary people who lived at that time, pushing back the nobility of the bourgeoisie. People who have the flaws and virtues of ordinary mortal people who live their lives as part of society, who are obliged to work in order to survive ...

The realism of Balzac is manifested in the story primarily in the disclosure of characters and phenomena typical of the French society of the Restoration era. In this work, the author sets himself the goal of showing the true essence of both the nobility and the bourgeoisie. The approach to depicting the surrounding life in "Gobsek" becomes more analytical, as it is based primarily on the study of phenomena by means of art. real life, and his conclusions about society as a whole flow from this analysis.

The artist shows the decline and decay of the old French aristocracy, (Maxime de Tray, Resto family). De Tray is shown as an ordinary gigolo, a man without honor and without conscience, who does not hesitate to profit at the expense of a woman who loves him and his own children. “In your veins, instead of blood, there is dirt,” the usurer throws contemptuously in the face of Maxime de Tray. Count Resto is much more sympathetic, but even in him the author emphasizes such an unattractive trait as a weakness of character. He loves a woman who is clearly unworthy of him, and, not having survived her betrayal, falls ill and dies.

Characteristics of the narrator and manner of presenting the material

a) The narrator does not claim to be completely objective, since he expresses himself and his attitude towards Gobsek. You could say even more: they were friends. Derville helps readers understand the legal terms and concepts mentioned in the work.

· Gobsek and Derville are people of the same profession.

· Thanks to Derville, we see Gobsek as if “from the inside” (what is he like in everyday life, what are his human passions and weaknesses, we learn his background and views on life).

· Derville is a decent person, so we can trust his opinion.

b) the figure of Derville did not go beyond the framework of the story, the narrator did not interfere in the events, Gobsek was in the center of the story, and only Gobsek.

Story style

The style is expressive, since the personality of the narrator is displayed in the story: Derville is a lawyer. He is a young man who has made a career out of his hard work and professional integrity. Derville is “a man of high honesty” (this is how the heroes of the work speak of him). He is a friend of Gobsek.

The style of speech also expresses the personality of Derville, as an educated person and belonging to such a profession as a lawyer. successful person, honest and decent.

The plot and the plot of the story "Gobsek" coincide.

Plot type multiline

The line of Derville, Gobsek and the de Resto family

Line of Derville and Vicomtesse de Granlier

Line of history and life of Gobseck himself

The plot is dynamic. External.

plot components:

2.exposure

3.string

4.development of action

5.climax

6. interchange

Plot organization techniques used in the story:

Reception of a retrospective

Reception of retardation

Reception of the ring organization

Receiving concurrency

Reception of forecasting

“I have no doubt that he will become an outstanding figure. And when "this young man" is in power, wealth itself will come into his hands.

Character composition

One central (main) and secondary characters

The work contains such types of chronotope as discrete and conditional

The view is specific.

Chronotopic space - close, open.

Chronotopic time - terrestrial, historical

The speech of this work is very rich and rich, expressive and accessible to every reader, there is also a huge number of expressive and visual techniques in the work, here are some of them

a man-promissory note, a man-machine, a golden idol, a hand-written handsome man, a cold look, a heartbreaking smile, lean legs.

Comparisons:

as if you were going, like a minister of some nabob, like a dandy from the Chaussé d'Antin, like a ferret, as if repenting of his "talkativeness", as if swollen, as if entering an atmosphere as cold as ice.

Metaphors:

soundless laughter, a haze of gaiety, her eyes sparkled, energy was in full swing in her, glory thundered, burning eyes, unbridled frankness.

Hyperbolas:

a whole hundred smells mixed up, and such a roar, as if a hundred voices were shouting at once, capable of

swallow a millionth fortune, huge interest, huge wealth, the most courteous and most harmless, the youngest dandy

Litotes: down to the smallest, the smallest bank loan,

Metonymy:

who sleep on silk

Paraphrase:

clawed paw of inevitability (i.e. horror and fear, despair)

a crowd of all servants (i.e. servants)

in all naked nakedness (i.e. in all its glory)

went with her pimples (i.e. scared)

Oxymoron:

silent laughter

Lexical figures:

Professionalisms: promissory note, solicitor, junior clerk, protest a promissory note, tax

Figures in O. de Balzac's story are very rare, unfortunately, I could not find them.

balzac gobsek story

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A difficult topic... How to determine where the values ​​are fictitious, where the values ​​are real? What do we mean? Say, is gold a mental or real value? I'm talking about gold, because the main character is a usurer. Gold is a fictitious value, since a person absolutely does not need it: it cannot be eaten, it is not suitable for making an ax or a hoe. One philosopher, who is now out of fashion, suggested making toilet bowls out of it. And although the philosopher is not in fashion, they have already begun to make this useful thing out of gold. Nevertheless, try to live in peace without gold or its paper surrogates. You won’t eat money either, but you won’t be full without it either. So, is gold a fictional or real life value?

Obviously, it was meant that I would immediately talk about sublime human qualities. For example, loyalty and gratitude. But I read about the life of the Countess de Resto ... She betrayed her husband with Maxim, who is none other than a gigolo. For the sake of this bastard, she made the Viscount de Resto almost a beggar ... In another part of the Human Comedy, we learn that she left her old father to the mercy of fate as soon as he gave his property to his daughters-heirs. Let's finally decide whether marital fidelity is a real value or not? Let's add maternal feelings there ... and daughter ones!

And let's get back to thinking about gold, or money. The whole story told in Balzac's story is the story of the search for money, its significance in people's lives. In relation to money, you can evaluate the characters. Gobsek, for example, is none other than the priest of an ancient pagan cult. He does not need either a golden robe or a golden tiara - he still has the unsurpassed power of the Golden Calf, he only distributes and collects gold, which accumulates with him the more, the more he distributes it. Gobseck's clientele (and this is, so to speak, the light of France) are but rams on the altar, which will be slaughtered when the last piece of gold ore has been cut from them by the dexterous hands of the Great Priest.

However, they all pray to gold, making it their greatest asset, the common equivalent of everything they have in their lives. The narrator in the story is the lawyer Derville. The author did a good job of transferring the responsibility for assessing the situation to the hero. If something is wrong, then about him - let the wolf eat grass. But…

Dealing with money and a moneylender, a lawyer cannot believe that everything in the world rests on money. There is something that cannot be bought with gold or silver. Derville's professional conscientiousness is beyond doubt; people cordially trust him with their money and destinies. However… Looking around me now, I'm asking myself a bad question: maybe gold just hasn't been given a real price yet? True, there are special feelings that are difficult to evaluate in money. For example, Fanny's love for Derville. We see how Anastasi, climbing into a new debt, buys herself a little more love from Maxime de Tray. So, can you buy? And it's just the price?

Or does the author intentionally put us in a situation where we have to decide for ourselves what we will not sell in our lives? Is there anything we wouldn't sell for a glass necklace, like the Indians sold the island of Manhattan?

The novels and stories of Balzac cover all the diversity of French life at that time. The characters, situations and events invented by Balzac give the impression of an extremely convincing picture. He dedicated the story "Gobsek" to Baron Barsh de Penoen, his old comrade. It is no coincidence that Balzac wrote that "society is a real historian, and he, the writer, is only his secretary." The story of Gobsek is told by lawyer Derville. In the center of the story is an unusual image, a representative of the French bourgeoisie, the usurer Gobsek. The writer describes his hero as follows: “The pawnbroker's hair was completely straight, always neatly combed, with strong gray hair. The eyes, yellow as those of a marten, had almost no eyelashes and were afraid of the light. A sharp nose, marked with smallpox at the tip, rose like a gimlet, and his lips were thin ... He always spoke in a quiet, meek voice and never got angry.

Gobsek is a cruel capitalist. With millions, Gobsek lives in an abandoned room. He ruthlessly exploits his clients. Gobsek, like that spider, lures people to him, and then takes all their property from them. Victims then find it difficult to redeem their belongings. Gobsek is old, but saves on everything. After the death of Gobsek, a lot of money, spoiled food and other valuables remained. The room was littered with furniture, silverware, lamps, paintings, vases, books, engravings... Gobsek did not sell the silver, as he refused to bear the costs associated with delivery. He "fell into childhood and showed that inconceivable tenacity that develops in old people, possessed by a strong passion that outlasts their minds."

Throughout his life, Gobsek never used the accumulated wealth. Because of people like Gobsek, the fate of many people is broken. This story teaches that money is not the main thing. The greatest value is your kind heart.