In the 30s, Balzac turned entirely to the description of the morals and life of modern bourgeois society. At the origins of the “Human Comedy” stands short story"Gobsek", which appeared in 1830. Although outwardly it seems to be a novella entirely of portraiture, a kind of psychological sketch, it nevertheless contains all the key moments of Balzac's worldview.
The short story, along with the novel, was Balzac's favorite genre. Moreover, many of Balzac's short stories are built not around a specific center - although they sometimes tell very dramatic twists and turns - but around a certain psychological type. Taken together, Balzac's short stories are like a portrait gallery of various types of human behavior, a series of psychological sketches. In the general concept of The Human Comedy, they are, as it were, preliminary developments of characters, which Balzac later releases as heroes on the pages of his major plot novels.
And it is extremely significant that the first to appear in this gallery of types is Gobsek, the moneylender, one of the key, main figures of the entire bourgeois century, as if a symbol of this era. What is this new psychological type? In our critical literature Unfortunately, the image of Gobsek is often interpreted one-sidedly. If you do not read the story itself, but read other critical opinions about it, then we will be presented with the image of a kind of spider sucking the blood from its victims, a man devoid of any mental movements, thinking only about money - in general, this figure, as one can imagine, depicted by Balzac with hatred and disgust.
But if you carefully read the story itself, you will probably be somewhat confused by the categorical nature of these strictly negative judgments. Because in a story you will often see and hear something completely opposite: the narrator is completely positive and honest man, lawyer Derville, speaks of Gobseck, for example, like this: “I am deeply convinced that outside of his usurious affairs he is a man of the most scrupulous honesty in all of Paris. Two creatures live in him: a miser and a philosopher, an insignificant and sublime creature. If I If I die, leaving behind young children, he will be their guardian.” I repeat, this is said by the narrator, who clearly speaks on behalf of the author.
Let's take a closer look at this strange character. Gobsek is, without a doubt, ruthless towards his clients. He strips them, as they say, of three skins. He “plunges people into tragedy,” as they said of old.
But let's ask a logical question - who is his client, from whom does he take money? The novel features two such clients - Maxime de Tray, a socialite, gambler and pimp who squanders his mistress's money; the mistress herself is Countess de Resto, blindly in love with Maxim and robbing her husband and children for the sake of her lover. When her husband becomes seriously ill, his first concern is to make a will so that the money is left not to the wife, but to the children; and then the countess, truly losing her human form, protects the dying count’s office with vigilant surveillance in order to prevent him from handing over the will to the notary. When the count dies, she rushes to the dead man's bed and, throwing the corpse against the wall, rummages through the bed!
Do you feel how this complicates the situation? After all, these are different things - does the moneylender Gobsek rob just helpless people in trouble, or people like these? Here we must, apparently, be more careful in our assessment of Gobsek, otherwise we will logically have to feel sorry for poor Maxime de Traya and Countess de Resto! But maybe Gobsek doesn’t care who to rob? Today he squeezed the Countess and Maxim, tomorrow he will squeeze a decent man?
We are assured that he almost drinks human blood, but he throws it in Maxime de Tray’s face: “What flows in your veins is not blood, but dirt.” He tells Derville: “I appear to the rich as retribution, as a reproach of conscience...”
It turns out that what kind of Gobsek is! But maybe this is all demagoguery, but in reality Gobsek takes just as much pleasure in fleecing poor and honest people? Balzac, as if anticipating this question, introduces into his short story the story of the seamstress Fanny - Gobsek feels sympathy and passion for her.
You don’t need to have any special instinct to see that the hero’s speeches here are not hypocritical: they sound completely sincere, they were composed by Balzac in order to highlight precisely human essence Gobsek! True, in the same scene Gobsek, getting emotional, almost offers her a loan of money. minimum rate, “only out of 12%,” but then changes his mind. This seems to sound sarcastic, but if you think about the situation, it is again more complicated. Because Balzac has no ridicule here - on the contrary, the whole stronghold of Gobseck’s existence is shaking here! He is a moneylender, a seemingly ruthless character, he himself is ready to offer to lend money, and he forgets himself so much at the sight of Fanny that he is ready to demand the minimum interest rate in his understanding. Isn’t it obvious that here it is important for Balzac not to mock Gobsek’s sentimentality, but to emphasize precisely his shock - clearly human, humane feelings began to speak in him! His professional instinct remained stronger, but it is curious that his rejection of this idea was not due to greed, but to skepticism, distrust of people: “Well, no, I reasoned with myself, she probably has a young cousin who will force her to sign bills and will cleanse the poor thing!" That is, Fanny alone Gobsek was still ready to show kindness! Here we have before us not so much sarcasm or satire, but Balzac’s deep psychological insight; here the tragic sides of human psychology are revealed - even trying to do good to worthy people, he does not dare to take this step, because his entire psychology is already poisoned by distrust of people!
The entire plot of the story convinces us of the complexity of Gobsek’s character and the remarkable human resources of his soul. After all, at the end of it, it is Gobsek who is trusted by the dying Count de Resto to protect his children from the intrigues of his own mother! The Count, therefore, implies in him not only honesty, but also humanity! Further, when Derville is about to found his own notary office, he decides to ask Gobsek for money because he feels his friendly disposition. Another brilliant psychological detail follows - Gobsek asks Derville for the minimum amount of interest in his practice, he himself understands that it is still high, and therefore almost demands that Derville bargain! He is literally waiting for this request - so that, again, he himself does not violate his principle (not to take less than 13%). But ask Derville, he will reduce the amount even more! Derville, in turn, does not want to humiliate himself. The amount remains 13%. But Gobsek, so to speak, organizes for him additional and profitable clientele free of charge. And as a farewell, he asks Derville for permission to visit him. What you see in that scene is again not so much a spider as a victim of his own profession and his own distrust of people.
So Balzac, with subtle psychological skill, exposes to us the secret nerves of this strange soul, “the fiber of the heart of modern man,” as Stendhal said. This man, supposedly bringing “evil, ugliness and destruction,” is in fact himself deeply wounded in his soul. His insightful, sharp mind is cold to the extreme. He sees the evil reigning around, but he also convinces himself that this is all he sees: “If you live with me, you will learn that of all earthly blessings there is only one reliable enough for a person to chase after it. This is gold.”
Balzac shows us the path of thought that led the hero to such ethics, he shows us in all its complexity the soul that professes such principles - and then these words already sound tragic. Gobsek turns out to be a deeply unhappy man; the surrounding evil, money, gold - all this distorted his fundamentally honest and kind nature, poisoned it with the poison of distrust of people. He feels completely alone in this world. “If human communication between people is considered a kind of religion, then Gobsek could be called an atheist,” says Derville. But at the same time, the thirst for real human communication in Gobsek has not died completely, it is not for nothing that his soul was so drawn to Fanny, it is not for nothing that he becomes so attached to Derville and, to the meager measure of his strength, strives to do good! But the logic of the bourgeois world, according to Balzac, is such that these impulses most often remain just fleeting impulses - or acquire a grotesque, distorted character.
In other words, Balzac depicts here not the tragedy of Maxime de Traya and Countess de Resto, who fell into the clutches of a money-lender spider, but the tragedy of Gobseck himself, whose soul was distorted and twisted by the law of the bourgeois world - man is a wolf to man. After all, how senseless and tragic at the same time the death of Gobsek! He dies completely alone next to his rotting wealth - he dies like a maniac! His usury, his tight-fistedness is not a cold calculation, but a disease, a mania, a passion that consumes the person himself. We must not forget about his vengeful feelings towards the rich! And it is no coincidence, of course, that this whole story is put into the mouth of Derville, who tells it in a high-society salon - this story is clearly built on the fact that Derville is trying to dissuade his listeners, in any case, to tell them the truth about Gobsek’s life. After all, his listeners know this story from the same Gobsek victims - from the same Maxim, from the same Countess de Resto. And they, of course, have the same idea about Gobsek as in the critical judgments I quoted above - he is a villain, a criminal, he brings evil, ugliness, destruction, and Derville, a lawyer by profession, builds his entire story on mitigating circumstances. And so, paradoxically, it is Gobsek’s fate that becomes an indictment of bourgeois society - his fate, and not the fate of Maxim and Countess de Resto!
But having realized this, we also realize Balzac’s serious artistic protest in this image. After all, pronouncing a condemnation of mercantile ethics, Balzac as main victim and the prosecutor chooses, of course, a figure who is not the most suitable for this role. Even if we assume that there were such moneylenders, it can hardly be assumed that such a moneylender’s fate was typical. She is definitely an exception. Meanwhile, Balzac clearly raises this story above the framework of a particular case; he gives it a general, symbolic meaning! And in order for Gobsek’s role as an accuser of society to look legitimate, so that the author’s sympathy for the hero looks justified, the author not only gives a subtle psychological analysis Gobsek’s soul (which we saw above), but also reinforces this with a kind of demonization of the image. And this is a purely romantic procedure. Gobsek is shown as a brilliant but sinister expert on human souls, as a kind of explorer of them.
Balzac essentially elevates the private, everyday practice of the moneylender to majestic proportions. After all, Gobsek becomes not only a victim of the golden calf, but also a symbol of enormous practical and educational energy! And here the purely romantic manner of depicting irresistible demonic villains, for whose villainy the world is to blame, invades the technique of the remarkable realist. And not themselves.
Very little time will pass, and Balzac will become much more unambiguous and merciless in his portrayal of bourgeois businessmen - this will be the image of old Grandet. But now, in Gobsek, he is still clearly wavering on a very important point - the question of purposefulness, the moral cost of bourgeois energy.
By creating the figure of the all-powerful Gobsek, Balzac clearly pushes into the background the immorality of the ultimate goal of usury - pumping money out of people that you, in essence, did not give them. Gobsek’s energy and strength still interest him in themselves, and he is clearly weighing for himself the question of whether this practical energy is for good. That’s why he clearly idealizes and romanticizes this energy. Therefore, it is in matters of the ultimate goal that Balzac looks for Gobsek to mitigate mitigating circumstances that mystify the real state of affairs - either for Gobsek it is a study of the laws of the world, or observation of human souls, either revenge on the rich for their arrogance and heartlessness, or some kind of all-consuming “one single passion.” Romanticism and realism are truly inextricably intertwined in this image.
As we see, the entire story is woven from the deepest dissonances, reflecting the ideological fluctuations of Balzac himself. Turning to the analysis of modern morals, Balzac still mystifies them in many ways, overloading the fundamentally realistic image symbolic meanings and generalizations. As a result, the image of Gobsek appears on several levels at once - he is both a symbol of the destructive power of gold, and a symbol of bourgeois practical energy, and a victim of bourgeois morality, and also simply a victim of all-consuming passion, passion as such, regardless of its specific content.
Parisian society after the Restoration was a rather motley society. The largest bourgeois tycoons, at the price of gold and marriage contracts, penetrated among the hereditary aristocrats, who were constantly in need of their capital. “Blue bloods,” obsessed with the power of money and the thirst for luxury, willingly sacrificed their dubious aristocratic principles for the sake of “big money,” allowing the newly-minted nobility into their circle. This phenomenon, characteristic of the Parisian light of the Restoration era, was masterfully reproduced by Balzac on the pages of the story “Gobsek”. “Mr. de Resto would have to be very rich for a family like ours to agree to intermarry with his mother,” says Viscountess de Granlier, quite in the spirit of her time. Only in this case does the hereditary aristocratic family agree to allow young nobleman, in whose veins flows the blood of the noodle maker Goriot.
Representatives of this society constitute the main clientele of the moneylender Gobsek. Holding the fates of many of them in his hands, he at the same time understands that in their eyes the moneylender is a creature of a lower order, whose services are sought only in cases of extreme necessity. Seeing the insignificance of these people, the pitiful helplessness of their claims to moral superiority and exclusivity, covered with aristocratic arrogance, Gobsek stands before them with noble dignity. In response to Maxim de Tray's insult, he calmly takes out his pistols and, as an equal, invites the secular dandy to fight, while enjoying his fright.
Having a great understanding of people, he evaluates them accurately and quickly. When he first saw Maxime de Tray, Gobsek “read on his face the whole future of the Countess” de Resto. Maxime de Tray and Countess de Resto are “ready to plunge headlong into the mud” for the sake of money. Even Gobsek is disgusted by them.
“Idol of the world” Maxime de Tray for Gobsek is just “a subject who inspires... contempt, a know-it-all and a complete ignoramus,... a brute, more stained with dirt than stained with blood.” Calling Maxime de Tray “a brilliant connecting link between the inhabitants of penal servitude and the people high society", Balzac, with deadly irony, lists the “advantages” of this idol of Parisian salons: “He wears a tailcoat inimitably, he inimitably drives horses drawn by a train. And how Maxim plays cards, how he eats and drinks! You won't see such elegance of manners in the whole world. He knows a lot about racehorses, fashionable hats, and paintings. Women are crazy about him. He squanders a hundred thousand a year, but it is not heard that he has a run-down estate or at least some kind of rent. This is an example of a knight errant of our time - he wanders through the salons, boudoirs, boulevards of our capital...”
However, these two antipodes - Gobsek and Maxime de Tray - are tightly bound together by strong ties of social relations. And in fact, the moneylender has nothing to object to the cynical remark that Maxim de Tray throws in Gobsek’s face: “If it weren’t for the spendthrifts, what would you do? You and I are necessary for each other, like soul and body.”
The power of gold in the world in which they live determines their characters and relationships. But for Gobsek, at least until he falls into senile insanity, money is just a commodity that allows him to buy everything. For the hereditary nobleman Maxime de Tray, money is something for which one can profitably sell even oneself. Therefore, he is confident in himself as long as he knows that they want to buy him. And as long as there is a demand for people like him in high society, “his bills will always be paid.”
The thirst for luxury and pleasure drives these noble gentlemen to the moneylender. This thirst “forces them to steal millions in a dignified manner, to sell their homeland,” Gobsek states with contempt. And this same insatiable thirst turns out to be stronger than any, even the most sacred, feelings. Magnificent beauty, graceful socialite Countess Anastasi de Resto, reminiscent of “one of the beautiful Herodias painted by Leonardo da Vinci,” amazes the reader with the contrasting discrepancy between external beauty and internal emptiness. Her selfishness and arrogance, immorality and cruelty towards members of her own family give Gobsek a vengeful feeling of satisfaction when in the countess’s house he pronounces his internal monologue: “Pay for all this luxury, pay for your title, pay for your happiness... to protect their wealth, the rich invented tribunals, judges, the guillotine... But for you, for people who sleep on silk and cover themselves with silk, there is something else: reproaches of conscience, gnashing of teeth hidden by a smile, chi-meras with a lion’s mouth, plunging their fangs into your heart.” Material from the site
The ghost of poverty drives Countess de Resto into a frenzy. Where does her supposed good manners, sophistication, and high-society manners go when, in search of documents that could deprive her of her fortune, she turns into a fury, ready for any meanness. “As soon as the count gave up his breath, his wife broke open all the cabinets, all the drawers of the desk, and the carpet around her was thickly covered with scraps of torn letters, boxes were broken, briefcases were cut - her daring hands were rummaging everywhere... The corpse of Count de Resto lay face down, head to the wall, hanging over the bed, disdainfully thrown away, like one of those envelopes that was lying on the floor, for it was now just an unnecessary shell... The pillow had been thrown off, and the print of a woman’s shoe was still visible on it.”
The scene in the office of the deceased count is Balzac’s merciless verdict on the inner emptiness that people around Countess de Resto and Maxime de Tray are trying to cover up with noble origin and “in a dignified manner” with stolen millions. The words of the late count also turned out to be prophetic in relation to Countess de Resto: “You were a bad wife, a bad daughter, you will be a bad mother...”
By placing representatives of the nobility next to the bourgeoisie in his story, Balzac brilliantly showed not only their mutual antagonism, but also their mutual interest in each other’s existence. Brilliant artist realistically accurately reflected in artistic images The story tells the essence of the relationships that determined the appearance of the Restoration era in France.
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in Balzac, in almost every novel of the “Human Comedy” on our list, there is an image of a financier. Basically, these are moneylenders who live with a frantic passion for money, but also some other representatives of the bourgeoisie.
When creating the image of his moneylender, Balzac included it in the context of a very complex social era, which contributed to the revelation of various aspects of this image.
Just like the antiquarian in “Shagreen Skin,” Gobsek seems to be an ethereal, dispassionate person, indifferent to the world around him, religion and people. He is far from his own passions, because he constantly observes them in people who come to him for bills. He inspects them, but he himself is in constant peace. In the past, he experienced many passions (he traded in India, was deceived by a beautiful woman), so he left it in the past. Talking with Derville, he repeats the formula shagreen leather: “What is happiness? This is either strong excitement that undermines our life, or a measured activity.” He is so stingy that in the end, when he dies, there remains a heap of goods, food, moldy from the owner's stinginess.
Two principles live in him: the miser and the philosopher. Under the power of money, he becomes dependent on it. Money becomes magic for him. He hides the gold in his fireplace, and after his death, he does not bequeath his fortune to anyone (a relative, a fallen woman). Gobsek - zhivoglot (translation).
The short story “Gobsek” is one of the first works of Balzac, a realist. It was written in 1830 and is included in the scenes privacy“Studies on Morals.”
“Gobsek” by Balzac is a complex work in genre and composition.
Genre of the work: short story
(small epic work with an adventurous plot, often an unexpected ending). Almost all elements of this genre are present in the work.
Determine the compositional features of the work
IN this work We encounter the following types of composition:
Ring;
Retrospective.
Question:
Such a complex composition is intended to more fully and deeply reveal the image of the main character of the work - Gobsek.
Question:
Another characteristic feature of the short story is the image of the narrator - Derville. Tell us about it in more detail.
Derville is a lawyer. This is a young man who has made a career solely through his hard work and professional integrity. Derville is “a man of high integrity” (this is how the heroes of the work speak of him). He is Gobsek's friend.
Explain the reason for the appearance of Derville in the story?
Answer:
Gobsek and Derville are people of the same profession.
Derville helps readers understand the legal terms and concepts mentioned in the work.
The author introduces the image of the narrator-narrator in order to more fully and objectively depict the image of Gobsek.
Thanks to Derville, we see Gobsek as if “from the inside” (what he is like in everyday life, what his human passions and weaknesses are, we learn his background and views on life).
Derville is a decent person, so we can trust his opinion.
Balzac was a monarchist by nature. All his life he dreamed of becoming a representative of aristocratic society and hated the bourgeoisie for its inertia and thirst for money. But above all, Balzac was a brilliant writer, so his talent forced him to truthfully and comprehensively show representatives of various segments of the population.
Question:
Determine your attitude towards Gobsek. Give examples of heroes from other works similar to the image of Gobsek.
Answer:
The first impression of Gobsek’s image is sharply negative. This is due to his profession (loan shark) and defining character trait (stinginess). We have already encountered similar characters in world and Russian literature. This is the Miser from Moliere’s comedy of the same name, Gogol’s Plyushkin, the moneylender from Gogol’s story “Portrait”, the old money-lender Alena Ivanovna from Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”. They all are sharp negative characters. The authors denounce them for spiritual impoverishment and the desire to get rich at the expense of the weaknesses and misfortunes of other people. There is not one in these images positive trait, therefore neither the author nor the readers feel any sympathy for them.
Teacher:
This is how Gobsek seems at first glance. But his image is much deeper than the images of the heroes we have named. Let’s prove this statement by creating a table of “contradictions” in Gobsek’s behavior and character:
Gobsek is a rich man
(Only five people in Paris can compare with him in terms of wealth.)
He drags out a miserable existence.
Afraid to advertise his wealth (didn't pick up the gold)
Misanthrope.
He hates all his relatives.
Maintains friendly relations with Derville
I have concentrated the power over the world in my hands (...I own the world without tiring myself.” At the same time, he himself goes to clients and humiliatingly collects payments
A hero devoid of any human feelings:
“man is an automaton”;
“a person is a bill of exchange”;
“golden image.”
Generous man: experienced a “feeling of pity” at the sight of impending poverty threatening Countess de Resto;
Gobsek was “almost moved” when he saw the room of the seamstress Fanny
“Savage” (experienced the “evil triumph of a savage who took possession of shiny stones” after acquiring the countess’s diamonds.) Educated person:
Knows all the intricacies of jurisprudence, is well versed in politics and art
Moneylender. “Gobsek is an honest man”
They live in it
“the miser and the philosopher”
“a base creature and a sublime one”
He is “an old man and a child”
"old baby"
So, Gobsek is a complex, multifaceted and contradictory personality.
Teacher:
Let's try to explain Gobsek's actions and character.
First of all, Gobsek is a moneylender, and his profession leaves an imprint on his personality and people’s attitude towards him.
Explain why Gobsek chose the profession of a money lender? What is his life credo?
Answer:
Gobsek deliberately chose the profession of a usurer. He considers money a commodity that can be sold and bought at a profit. Therefore, he does not see anything immoral in lending money at high interest rates and making a profit from it. These are the rules of any trade.
Question:
Gobsek speaks with affection about Fanny: “She believed in something...”
And what does Gobsek himself believe in?
Gobsek believes in the limitless power and authority of gold.
He declares: “Gold is the spiritual value of today’s society.”
How does Gobsek prove his position?
Answer:
“You believe everything, but I believe nothing. Well, save your illusions if you can. I'll sum it up for you now human life. What causes delight in Europe is punished in Asia. What is considered a vice in Paris is recognized as a necessity in the Azare Islands. There is nothing durable on earth, there are only conventions, and in each climate they are different... all our moral rules and beliefs are empty words... Just live with me, you will learn that of all earthly blessings there is only one, quite reliable, so that it is worth a person to chase after him. Is this gold.
All the forces of humanity are concentrated in gold... And as for morals, people are the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, everywhere. And it is inevitable. So it’s better to push yourself than to allow others to push you.”
Thus, Gobsek argues that there are no absolute values and truths in the world. U different nations its own morality, its own laws, its own concept of morality.
And only gold is the absolute truth and value in all countries and at all times. Only gold can give a person absolute, real power over the world.
Gobsek's power over the world is limitless. Then explain why the hero does not use his power to the fullest (he lives like a beggar, collects tribute from clients himself, is ready to put up with being called a “supplier”)?
Answer:
The main thing that distinguishes Gobsek from other heroes is an internal sense of superiority, the ability to be independent. A.S. Pushkin in the monologue of the Stingy Knight gave a very precise explanation of this character’s behavior:
“Everything is obedient to me, but I am obedient to nothing; // I am above all desires; I am calm; // I know my strength; I’ve had enough // of this consciousness.”
Find in the text evidence of the great trials that befell Gobsek.
Answer:
“His mother assigned him as a cabin boy on a ship, and at the age of ten he sailed to the Dutch possessions of the East Indies, where he wandered for twenty years. The wrinkles of his yellowish face kept the secret of terrible trials, sudden terrible events, unexpected successes, romantic vicissitudes, immeasurable joys, hungry days, trampled love, wealth, ruin and newly acquired wealth, mortal dangers, when a life hanging in the balance was saved by instantaneous and, perhaps cruel actions justified by necessity.”
Before Maxim de Tray’s visit to Gobsek, the moneylender prepares pistols, saying: “... I am confident in my accuracy, because I happened to walk on a tiger and fight on the deck of a ship in a boarding fight not to the stomach, but to the death...”
In Derville’s conversation with Count de Resto, the solicitor speaks about Gobsek’s past:
“I don't know anything about his past. Perhaps he was a corsair; perhaps he wandered around the world, trading in diamonds or people, women or state secrets; but I am deeply confident that not a single human soul has received such cruel hardening in trials as he did.”
Perhaps Derville is the closest person to Gobsek. But even for him the moneylender did not make an exception and gave the required amount at high interest. How does Gobsek himself explain the reason for his action?
Answer:
“I spared you the gratitude, and now we are the best friends in the world.”
IN in this case Gobsek acted very wisely: he really saved Derville from hypocrisy, the humiliating position of a dependent person, and now they are united not by monetary relations, but by sincere sympathy for each other.
Teacher:
Thus, we can conclude that Gobsek is a product of his time, a true product of the bourgeois world. He lives by the laws of this world, accepts the established rules of the game and honestly (!) fulfills them. It is no coincidence that Derville, in a conversation with Count de Restaud, directly speaks about Gobseck: “... outside of these matters, he is a man of the most scrupulous honesty in all of Paris.”
He seems ruthless, but if he is generous even once, he will go broke. It is no coincidence that Gobsek forever remembered how he once “spared one woman” and “trusted her,” and she “plucked” him great. Gobsek is a skeptic and a materialist, he has experienced a lot, therefore he does not believe in the inviolability of universal human values, for him there is no religion or morality. Perhaps he himself regrets this when he notes “with emotion” that the seamstress Fani “... believed in something” (!) But he no longer believes in anything. Therefore, the hero himself creates his own teaching, where the main truth is gold. And in terms of the level of power over the world, he almost equaled himself with God. It is no coincidence that Gobsek says: “I have the gaze of the Lord God: I read in hearts.”
Teacher:
So, with all the complexity of Gobsek’s image, many of his actions can be understood and justified. As we delve deeper into this image, the author begins to feel sympathy and involuntary sympathy for him. Therefore, the death scene in the work is filled with truly tragic pathos. Let's reread it:
“He sat up in bed; his face stood out clearly, like bronze, on the white pillow. Stretching out his withered hands, he grabbed the blanket with his bony hands, as if he wanted to hold on to it, looked at the fireplace, as cold as his metallic gaze, and died in full consciousness, showing his gatekeeper, the invalid and me an image of wary attention, like those elders ancient Rome, whom Lethierre depicted behind the consuls in his painting “The Death of the Children of Brutus.”
Well done, you old bastard! – the disabled man said like a soldier.”
Teacher:
In the novella, Balzac mercilessly criticizes not Gobseck, but representatives of high society: Countess de Resto and Maxime de Tray.
We will not find a single positive feature in the characterization of Maxime de Tray. Please provide relevant citations.
The narrator calls him an “elegant bastard.”
“Fear him like the devil,” I whispered in the old man’s ear,” recalls Derville.
“...I looked with disgust at her young companion, a real killer, although he had such a clear brow, ruddy, fresh lips, a sweet smile, snow-white teeth and an angelic appearance.”
Explain what is the power of influence of this person on others? Why did even Derville, who knew the base nature of Maxime de Tray, fall under his influence?
Answer:
Maxime de Tray knows how to cleverly manipulate people. He is able to find the innermost strings in every person and play the melody he needs on them. He knows very well that Countess de Resto is seriously infatuated with him and is afraid of losing him, so he whispers in her ear: “Farewell, good Anastasi. Be happy. And I... Tomorrow I will get rid of all my worries.”
And a distraught woman in love is ready to commit a crime to preserve their connection.
Knowing Derville's scrupulous honesty and decency, Maxime de Tray entangles him with words. Monsieur de Tray “bewitched” him. “This Chrysostom de Tray simply managed to entangle me with magical dexterity with his speeches, spinning into them, and always very appropriately, such words as “honor”, “nobility”, “countess”, “decent woman”, “virtue”, “despair” and so on,” the narrator recalls.
Maxime de Tray is a kind of double of Gobsek in the story. How does the hero himself talk about this?
Answer:
“You and I are necessary for each other, like soul and body.”
Teacher:
Gobsek is a shrewd man, he knows very well the low and insidious nature of people like Maxime de Tray, so he refuses to accept his challenge to a duel, ending his speech with very precise words: “To shed your blood, you must have it, my dear, but you have in the veins there is dirt instead of blood.”
After such scenes, you involuntarily begin to understand Gobsek’s psychology and justify his actions.
One of the most dramatic episodes the short stories are the scene of the death of Count de Resto. The count's son, with an indignant and sorrowful expression on his face, blocked Gobsek's path to the door so that his mother could say goodbye to the dying man and atone for her sins before God. But the moneylender “laughed with his silent laughter,” threw the young man away like a feather, opened the door and... as always, he turned out to be right. Let's re-read this episode:
“What a sight we saw! The room was truly in disarray. The countess stood motionless, disheveled, with an expression of despair on her face, and looked at us in confusion with sparkling eyes, and around her were scattered the dead man's dress, papers, crumpled rags... The count's corpse lay face down, head to the wall, hanging over the bed, disdainfully thrown away, like one of those envelopes that was lying on the floor, because now it was just an unnecessary shell.”
The Countess, instead of belated repentance, burned the papers, thinking that this was her husband’s changed will. After such scenes, you begin to understand why Gobsek hated his heirs. He had witnessed such a scene too often.
But even in this situation, Gobsek remains a moneylender. The author says: “In this major scam, Gobsek was an insatiable boa constrictor.”
What scam are we talking about?
Answer:
He received a fideicommiss, i.e. the legal right to use someone else's property for the purpose of transferring it to a third party.
Question:
How does Gobsek behave in this situation?
Answer:
Even while making this deal, the hero behaved with dignity. He did not take advantage of the advantageous situation and did not “warm his hands” on the count’s inheritance, but, on the contrary, increased it.
Question:
But here too Gobsek remained true to himself. Until he came of age, he provided Ernest with an extremely meager allowance. How does Gobsek explain this decision?
Answer:
“Misfortune - best teacher. In misfortune he will learn a lot, he will learn the value of money, the value of people - both men and women. Let him swim on the waves of the Parisian sea. And when he becomes a skilled pilot, we will promote him to captain.”
Teacher:
The author concludes his story about the life and death of a moneylender with an absolutely natural scene - a description of his wealth. This description is worthy of the brush of Flemish painters, just as the image of Gobseck himself is “worthy of the brush of Rembrandt.”
And yet the outcome of the hero’s life is deplorable. Following Derville, we can only feel sorry for the old man who put all the values of the world at stake with his greed: friendship, the love of loved ones, a prosperous existence. The outcome of the old man’s life is not comforting: all the goods he acquired fell into disrepair or remained unclaimed.
The world of profit, of which Gobsek was a part and whose power over himself he wanted to recognize, nevertheless turned out to be higher than the hero and swallowed him into its abyss.
And again one involuntarily comes to mind of the appeal to to the younger generation from the poem by N.V. Gogol “ Dead Souls”: “And a person could condescend to such insignificance, pettiness, and disgustingness! Could have changed so much! And does this seem true? Everything looks like the truth, anything can happen to a person... Take it with you on the journey, emerging from soft teenage years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, you will not pick them up later!”
This parting word from the Russian writer to the younger generation can become a kind of conclusion to Balzac’s short story “Gobseck”.
The image of Gobsek in creativity Balzac- an image of enormous generalizing power.
– Do you recognize the characters of our classical literature? Name them and their works, authors.
– What unites these images?
“And he began to tell me how angry and capricious she was, that all she had to do was miss the mortgage for one day, and the thing disappeared, and she charged five and even seven percent a month, etc.”
(Alena Ivanovna, old woman-pawnbroker, F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment")
“And in fact, after him there was no need to sweep the street: a passing officer happened to lose his spur, this spur instantly went into the well-known pile; if a woman somehow got lost at the well and forgot the bucket, he would drag the bucket away too. However, when the man who noticed him immediately caught him, he did not argue and gave back the stolen item; but if it ended up in a pile, then it was all over: he swore that the thing was his, bought by him at that time, from such and such, or inherited from his grandfather. In his room, he picked up everything he saw from the floor: sealing wax, a piece of paper, a feather, and put it all on the bureau or on the window.”
(Plyushkin, N.V. Gogol “Dead Souls”)
I've been waiting all day for minutes to get off.
To my secret basement, to my faithful chests.
Happy day! I can today
To the sixth chest (to the chest still incomplete)
Pour in a handful of accumulated gold.
Not much, it seems, but little by little
Treasures are growing... (Baron, A.S. Pushkin " Stingy Knight»)
“All the characters worship the power of money, and this worship destroyed them.” living soul" One cannot help but exclaim while watching them:
“And a person could stoop to such insignificance, pettiness, and disgustingness! Could have changed so much! And does this seem true? Everything seems to be true, anything can happen to a person.”
Leading question:
“There is an opinion that all the forces of humanity are concentrated in gold, that man is the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich. And it is inevitable. It’s better to push yourself than to let others push you.”
– Do you agree with this statement?
Teacher:
In O. Balzac’s short story “Gobsek” (1830), a grotesque, ugly figure of the true master of life appears, an image of enormous generalizing power: a usurer, a money maker out of money. The image of Gobsek is much deeper than the mentioned heroes of Gogol, Pushkin and Dostoevsky.
Balzac was a monarchist by nature. All his life he dreamed of becoming a representative of aristocratic society and hated the bourgeoisie for its inertia and thirst for money. But above all, Balzac was a brilliant writer, so his talent forced him to truthfully and comprehensively show representatives of various segments of the population.
The elements of Balzac's philosophical pessimism are precisely based on the unshakable truth of Gobsek's thoughts about bourgeois society. Of course, the emotional attitude to such conclusions is fundamentally different: what makes the writer suffer inescapably serves as the basis for the activity of a successful moneylender.
In his role as an exposer of an unjust society, Gobsek is right. He directly states that the state in a society of personal interest is at the mercy of its wealthy part: “To protect their property, the rich have elected tribunals, judges, the guillotine...”
Noble gentlemen are no different from the bourgeois in their corruption, selfishness, complete absence moral principles and civic virtues. The thirst for money “forces them to steal millions in a decent manner and sell their homeland.
Cards, chatter about art, frivolous intrigues, playing politics, gluttony and boasting about a carriage, a horse, a piquant affair... “Madmen and sick people,” “fools,” “simps,” “boobs” make up this society. Gobsek does not want to be like them.
– Why did Gobsek choose to become a moneylender?
Gobsek chose the profession of a moneylender deliberately. He considers money a commodity that can be sold and bought at a profit. Therefore, he does not see anything immoral in lending money at high interest rates and making a profit from it. These are the rules of any trade.
– What is the essence of the Gobsek doctrine?
Everything in the world is illusion and vanity, everything is false, “of all earthly blessings there is only one, reliable enough for a person to pursue it. This is...gold”, life is “a machine that is set in motion by money; “gold is the spiritual essence of the entire current society.”
– What did this man achieve thanks to his countless treasures?
- A rich man. Only five people in Paris can compare with him in terms of wealth.
Teacher:
Hoarding and usury of Gobsek, as a result of which nothing is ordered, nothing is created, but only an unthinkable combination of wealth is formed, the consequence of which is the destruction of healthy principles social life, the collapse of human destinies, the antisocial nature of the activities of financial capital - the main object of Balzac's criticism.
The monumental, solid, hyperbolic figure of Gobsek is an artistic verdict on him.
Gobsek means Crookshanks.
Tell us about Derville. How is it related to the image of the main character?
– Derville helps readers understand the legal terms and concepts mentioned in the work.
– Derville and Gobsek are people of the same profession.
- Derville is a lawyer. This is a young man who has made a career solely through his hard work and professional integrity.
– Derville is a “man of high integrity” (this is how the heroes of the work speak of him) Derville is a decent person, so we can trust his opinion.
– He is Gobsek’s friend.
– Thanks to Derville, we see Gobsek as if “from the inside” (what he is like in everyday life, what are his human passions and weaknesses, we learn his background and views on life).
– What happens to a person who chooses money as his idol? Determine your attitude towards him.
– Gobsek’s very appearance, his manners, his gait evoke a feeling of closeness to a soulless machine, a metal robot: “it was some kind of automaton man,” a “bill man” with an ingot of metal in his chest instead of a heart.
- “The facial features... seemed cast from bronze... The sharp tip of the long nose... looked like a gimlet.”
– Collecting bills, he ran all over Paris “on thin, lean legs, like a deer’s.”
- Callousness has been brought to the point of automatism: “... he conserved vital energy, suppressing all human feelings in himself.”
– This person, inaccessible to prayer, is a man “turned into a golden image”
– Indifference to people, complete indifference to their destinies become life principle: “If humanity and communication between people are considered a kind of religion, then Gobsek could be called an atheist.”
Teacher:
This character is not an ordinary usurer, he is a genius of usury, a pawnbroker-poet in an eerie romantic reflection of extraordinary intelligence and a harmonious philosophy of endless contempt for humanity.
– Where did this philosophy of endless contempt for humanity come from?
Find in the text evidence of the cruel trials that befell Gobsek.
“His mother assigned him as a cabin boy on a ship, and at the age of ten he sailed to the Dutch possessions of the East Indies, where he wandered for twenty years. The wrinkles of his yellowish face kept the secret of terrible trials, sudden terrible events, unexpected successes, romantic vicissitudes, immeasurable joys, hungry days of trampled love, wealth, ruin and newly acquired wealth, mortal dangers when a life hanging in the balance was saved by instantaneous and, perhaps, perhaps cruel actions justified by necessity.”
– Before Maxim de Tray’s visit to Gobsek, the moneylender prepares his pistols, saying: “... I am confident in my accuracy, because I happened to walk on a tiger and fight on the deck of a ship in a boarding fight not to the stomach, but to the death...”
– In Derville’s conversation with Count de Resto, the solicitor speaks about Gobsek’s past: “I know nothing about his past. Perhaps he was a corsair; perhaps he wandered around the world, trading in diamonds or people, women or state secrets; but I'm deeply confident that not a single human soul has received such cruel hardening in trials as he did.”
– Why do you think, being a rich man, he eked out a miserable existence, was afraid to advertise his wealth (he didn’t pick up a gold coin), went to clients himself and humiliatingly collected payments?
– And although wealth makes him independent and an inner feeling of superiority over them lives in his soul, the fear of losing what he had acquired settled in his soul forever and turned him into an ugly creature.
According to the narrator Derville, Gobsek's friend, he is "a miser and a philosopher, a base creature and a sublime one."
– How does his “sublimity” manifest itself?
– Gobsek is an educated person.
– He knows all the intricacies of jurisprudence, is well versed in politics, art (it is no coincidence that the author compares him with the statue of Voltaire - one of the most educated people of his time).
- Gobsek sold old paintings - he knew a lot about art, he was familiar with classical literature - he borrowed comparisons from Moliere.
– Gobsek admires the beauty of Countess de Resto’s diamonds.
- This is a big one strong character: “...a Dutchman worthy of Rembrandt’s brush.”
“Judges, bureaucrats, businessmen, people of art - all are under the secret supervision of powerful capital. It is not for nothing that Gobsek is suddenly seen as “a fantastic figure, the personification of the power of gold.” But he states with good reason:
“I am rich enough to buy human conscience, to manage all-powerful ministers...”
- Derville is forced to admit that “Mr. Gobsek is an honest man.”
– How did it happen that you became a “mean creature” and a “miser”?
– Gobsek is a product of his time. He lives by the laws of this world, accepts the rules of the game and honestly (!) follows them. It is no coincidence that Derville, in a conversation with Count de Resto, directly speaks about Gobseck: “... in these matters he is a man of the most scrupulous honesty in all of Paris.”
Gobsek is a skeptic and a materialist, he has experienced a lot and lost faith in everything.
So, it’s worth remembering how he once “spared a woman” and “trusted her,” and she “plucked” him greatly, which made him finally become convinced of the depravity of people.
– Can we say that everything human died in Gobsek?
We think not. Sincerity, spiritual purity, gullibility, hard work, religious faith in the goodness of Fani Malvo evoked emotion even in Gobsek. Perhaps he even regrets that he cannot believe in anything but gold, when he notes “with tenderness” that the seamstress Fanny... into something I believed."
He prefers to be friends with a worthy man, Derville.
- But why didn’t the moneylender make an exception even for him and give him the required amount at high interest?
- “I saved you from gratitude, and now we are the best friends in the world.”
Gobsek acted in such a way that, in his opinion, he saved Derville from the humiliating position of a dependent person.
Maxime de Tray is a kind of double of Gobsek in the story.
– How does the hero himself talk about this?
“You and I are necessary for each other, like soul and body.”
– Why does Gobsek refuse to accept a challenge to a duel from Maxime de Tray?
Gobsek is a shrewd man, he knows very well the low and insidious nature of people like Maxime de Tray, and therefore refuses to accept his challenge to a duel. Concluding his speech with very precise words: “To shed your blood, you must have it, my dear, but in your veins instead of blood there is dirt.”
We will not find a single positive feature in the characterization of Maxime de Tray.
Please provide relevant citations.
“Yes, Count Maxime de Tray is the strangest creature, good for everything and good for nothing, a subject who inspires both fear and contempt, a know-it-all and a complete ignorant, capable of doing a good deed and committing a crime, either a scoundrel, or nobility itself, a brute, more stained with dirt rather than stained with blood, a person who may be tormented by worries, but not by remorse, who is more interested in sensations than thoughts, in appearance a passionate and ardent soul, but internally cold as ice ... "
The narrator calls him an "elegant scoundrel."
“Fear him like the devil,” I whispered in the old man’s ear,” recalls Derville.
“...I looked with disgust at her young companion, a real killer, although he had such a clear brow, ruddy, fresh lips, a sweet smile, snow-white teeth and an angelic appearance.”
– Explain what is the power of Maxime de Tray’s influence on others?
– Why did even Derville, who knew the base nature of Maxime de Tray, fall under his influence?
Answer:
Maxime de Tray knows how to cleverly manipulate people. He is able to find the innermost strings in every person and play the melody he needs on them. He knows very well that Countess de Resto is seriously infatuated with him and is afraid of losing him, so he whispers in her ear: “Farewell, good Anastasi. Be happy. And I... tomorrow I will get rid of all my worries.”
And a distraught woman in love is ready to commit a crime to preserve their connection.
Knowing Derville's scrupulous honesty and decency, Maxime de Tray entangles him with words. Monsieur de Tray “bewitched” him. “This Chrysostom de Trai was able to simply entangle me with magical dexterity with his speeches, including in them, and always very appropriately, such words as “honor”, “nobility”, “countess”, “decent woman”, “virtue”, “misfortune,” “despair,” and so on,” the narrator recalls.
– Why did Gobsek hate his heirs?
Answer:
Gobsek witnessed such scenes too often: “We would see a terrible picture if we could look into the souls of the heirs surrounding the bed. How many intrigues, calculations, malicious tricks there are - and all because of money!” That is why Gobsek hated the heirs so much.
Teacher:
The death scene of Count de Resto is one of the most dramatic episodes of the story. The count's son, with an indignant and sorrowful expression on his face, blocked Gobsek's path to the door so that his mother could say goodbye to the dying man and atone for her sins before God. But the moneylender “laughed with his silent laughter,” threw the young man away like a feather, opened the door and... as always, he turned out to be right.
Let's re-read this episode :
“What a sight we saw! The room was truly in disarray. The countess stood motionless, disheveled, with an expression of despair on her face, and looked at us with sparkling eyes in confusion, and around her were scattered the dead man's dress, papers, crumpled rags... The count's corpse lay face down, head to the wall, hanging over the bed, disdainfully thrown away, like one of those envelopes that was lying on the floor, because now it was just an unnecessary shell.”
– What conclusion can be drawn?
The Countess, instead of belated repentance, burned the papers, thinking that this was her husband’s changed will.
Question: Gobsek is always just a usurer. His only interest is profit. The author says: “In this major scam, Gobsek was an insatiable boa constrictor.”
– What scam are we talking about?
He received a fideicommissum, that is, the legal right to use someone else's property for the purpose of transferring it to a third party.
– How does Gobsek behave in this situation?
Answer:
Even when making a deal, the hero behaved with dignity. He did not take advantage of the advantageous situation and did not “warm his hands” on the count’s inheritance, but, on the contrary, increased it.
But Gobsek is true to himself. Until he came of age, he provided Ernest with an extremely meager allowance.
Question:
– How does he explain this decision?
Answer:
“Adversity is the best teacher. In misfortune he will learn a lot, he will learn the value of money, the value of people - both men and women. Let him swim on the waves of the Parisian sea. And when he becomes a skilled pilot, we will promote him to captain.”
Teacher:
The author concludes his story about the life and death of a moneylender with an absolutely natural scene - a description of wealth. This description is worthy of the brush of Flemish painters, just as the image of Gobseck himself is “worthy of the brush of Rembrandt.”
Let's return to the question again life position moneylender:
“Gold is the spiritual value of today’s society”
“You believe everything, but I believe nothing. Well, save your illusions if you can. I will now sum up human life for you. What is admired in Europe is punished in Asia. What is considered a vice in Paris is recognized as a necessity in the Azares. There is nothing durable on earth, there are only conventions, and in each climate they are different... all our moral rules and beliefs are empty words... Just live with me, you will find out that of all earthly blessings there is only one, reliable enough for a person to pursue behind him. Is this gold".
All the forces of humanity are concentrated in gold... And as for morals, people are the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, everywhere. And it is inevitable. It’s better to push yourself than to let others push you.”
– In a world with such a philosophy, can one be interested in the human soul, true human values?
Of course not. That is why the “simple-minded creature” Fanny the seamstress is so atypical and uninteresting to anyone in the “society” and uninteresting to those around her pastoral story the idyllic union of Derville and Fanny Malvo.
The fate of people is therefore tragic where “dead souls” dictate the laws of life on earth to people with a stranglehold.
Teacher:
And even though Gobsek is touched by Fanny’s “sweet girlish image,” sympathy, repentance, and kindness in his position in life will never be inherent in him. He is inaccessible to noble motives, the very concept of gratitude is alien to him. Even the lawyer Derville, a young man for whom he seems to feel affection, becomes the object of undisguised, shameless profit; according to Gobsek, this is also an educational measure: so that subsequently the young man will be spared the feeling of gratitude to the benefactor.
In this world where gold rules, Gobsek chose to remain Crookshanks, a misanthrope, an “automatic man,” a “bill man,” a “golden idol,” a “savage,” a “miser,” and a “squalor.”
And yet, the scene of Gobsek’s death is filled with tragic pathos.
Let's read it:
“He sat up in bed; his face stood out clearly, like bronze, on the white pillow. Stretching out his withered hands, he grabbed the blanket with his bony hands, as if he wanted to hold on to it, looked at the fireplace, as cold as his metallic gaze, and died in full consciousness, showing his gatekeeper, the invalid and me an image of wary attention, like those elders ancient Rome, whom Lethierre depicted behind the consuls in his painting “The Death of the Children of Brutus.”
- Well done, you old bastard! – the disabled man said like a soldier.”
Question:
– Why is it still impossible not to feel sorry for Gobsek?
Following Derville, one must feel sorry for the old man, who put all the values of the world at stake with his greed: friendship, the love of loved ones, a prosperous existence.
All the goods he acquired fell into disrepair or remained unclaimed.
The world of profit, of which Gobsek was a part and whose power over himself he did not want to recognize, nevertheless swallowed him into the abyss.
Teacher:
And again the appeal to the younger generation from the poem by N.V. comes to mind. Gogol’s “Dead Souls”: “Take with you on the journey, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, you will not pick them up later!”
Homework:
"Gobsek" is impressive deep meaning and the moral background of the plot. This work is associated with Balzac’s novel “Père Goriot,” and some characters appear in other works French writer, for example, in the novel “The Human Comedy”.
History of creation
Working on literary work, Balzac carefully formed the description of the heroes, raised the problems that worried him and exposed the vices. Greed, vanity, and hypocrisy were always reproached by the author. Besides main idea story, Balzac was thinking about how to give the work artistic sophistication. He tried to maintain the credibility of the characteristics, to make sure that the heroes collected in the ensemble of the work personified contemporary author era.
The exact date of writing is disputed by historians. After the writer’s death, three editions of the work were found, to which he made changes over the course of 18 years. The basis for the story was short story“The Moneylender”, written by Balzac to order for the magazine “Modnik”. It served as the basis for the first chapter of the work entitled “The Dangers of Dissipation.” In 1832 it was translated into Russian, and already in 1835 the public accepted the updated version of the story. The name was changed to “Papa Gobsek,” which readers associated with the name “Father Goriot.”
Balzac gave the story its current title in 1848, when, in a burst of inspiration, he returned to editing. He removed the soft address “dad”, deciding to introduce the reader to a rude and greedy moneylender with unusual biography.
In both versions of the story, Balzac denounced the victims of money and collateral, as well as those who had power over them in the form of bills. In Balzac's work, aristocrats and ordinary strata of the population are contrasted; those who are used to working without rest, and those who know how to spend gold, wasting their lives.
Art critics suggest that “Gobsek” is based on real events, which the author of the work witnessed. The story is called autobiographical, seeing parallels with Balzac's personal life. The writer discusses in his works the meaning of money, condemning its all-consuming power. The drama that masculine and female images, unpredictable collisions, a high degree of moralism captivate anyone who gets acquainted with the work of Balzac in general and the story “Gobsek” in particular.
Biography
All the characters in the story are described in detail by the author and have detailed characteristics. Gobsek's appearance says a lot about the character. old man with yellowish face round shape and unpleasant features does not evoke sympathy. The hero's nationality is hidden. His past is shrouded in mystery, but it is clear that the life of a moneylender was rich and varied. Gobsek argues that difficulties and grief make a person strong, and they also increase sensitivity.
Analysis of the hero suggests that in his youth he was a pirate. His stinginess and selfishness helped him accumulate some wealth, which he used by lending money at high interest rates. For his inaccessibility and severity, the old man was called the “golden image.” Gobsek was in demand among his community. After dividing “service areas” between the city’s moneylenders, he began working with aristocrats and representatives of the cream of society. Moreover, in any situation, no matter how delicate it was, he remained adamant in his decisions.
Illustration for the book "Gobsek" Gobsek is the personification of greed. The image combines romantic and realistic literary traditions. The character's appearance speaks of noble old age, sophistication with experience and worldly wisdom, and his actions make him a soulless money-making machine. The greater the moneylender's fortune became, the less humanity remained in him. Best professional In his field, he demonstrates a high degree of financial preparation, foresight and insight.
A savvy moneylender deftly pulls off scams while remaining a diplomat. A businessman and an experienced businessman, the hero gives advice, invests money, benefiting society, but does not follow the lead of idleness. The character is attractive due to his honesty and philosophical view. All the arguments he voices are supported by experience from his past life.
Gobsek was a corsair cabin boy in his youth, traded in precious stones and slaves, and was in the service of the state. He was driven by the instinct of self-preservation, which allowed the hero to survive in difficult situations that he encountered in his career.
The ending of the moneylender's life is amazing. His life was spent in hoarding, which brought neither pleasure nor benefit. Closer to death, the romantic nature took precedence over the rational grain, so Gobsek’s inheritance will go to his sister’s granddaughter.
Plot
The action begins with a conversation between Derville, Count Ernest de Resto and the Viscountess de Granlier in her salon. The daughter of a high-ranking person showed a clear affection for the count, for which she was reproached by her mother. Ernest, who did not have status and fortune, was an unfavorable match for her daughter. Hearing this dialogue, Derville cites as an example the story of Gobsek, which the reader perceives from his lips as from a storyteller.
The acquaintance of Derville and the moneylender has been going on for a long time. During this time, Gobsek gained confidence in the lawyer Derville and told a story about how he once collected a significant debt from a countess who had fallen into prison. difficult situation. The woman was forced to pawn the diamonds, and the money went to her lover through a promissory note. The moneylender's hint that he would ruin the countess's family was not heard, but soon came true.
Later, the favorite of society, Maxime de Tray, who needed the help of a moneylender, turned to Derville for help. Gobsek refused to provide services, knowing about the handsome man’s debts. The previously designated countess again began to come to Gobsek, pawning jewelry. She did this for the sake of de Tray, who vilely threatened to commit suicide. The Countess's husband found out about the deal and nobly hid his wife's affair. This man was the father of Ernest de Resto, who fell in love with the Viscountess's daughter.
The main characters of the story "Gobsek" (still from the film) Some time later, the count fell mortally ill, and after his death the countess burned the will, thereby transferring the family property into the hands of Gobsek.
Derville was a mediator in the matter of returning the inheritance to Ernest de Resto, but the moneylender did not make concessions. The moneylender died in terrible conditions, becoming a hostage to his own stinginess and greed. The condition was returned to the rightful owner. The marriage of the Viscountess's daughter was organized not without the efforts of Derville.
Film adaptations
Works of classical literature became the first material used for visualization in cinema. The directors did not ignore Balzac. The first film based on the story “Gobsek” was released in 1936. He took it off Soviet director Konstantin Eggert. The role of the main character was played by actor Leonid Leonidov. Alexander Shatov appeared in the image of Derville. It is curious that the director himself appears in the film as Count de Resto.
In 1987, director Alexander Orlov presented his own version of the story to the public. The film adaptation was prepared in the USSR, at the Moldova-Film studio. Gobsek was played by Vladimir Tatosov in the film. The role of Derville went to Sergei Bekhterev. The film became one of the first in the filmography to portray Countess de Resto in the frame. The young Count de Resto, played theater director, being at that time still a boy.
