Masterpiece Reading "The Elderly Man" Introduction
Author Introduction
Balzac, a great French critical realist writer of the 19th century, the founder and outstanding representative of European critical realist literature. His works are known as ? a mirror of French society? At the time of his death, Hugo, the master of Romantic literature, stood in the drizzling rain of Paris, France, facing thousands of mourners and commented impassionedly: ? Among the greatest characters, Balzac is among the best; among the best characters, Balzac is the best.
Introduction to the work
"The Elderly Man" is Balzac's masterpiece, where the basic theme of "The Human Comedy" is embodied, and its artistic style is most representative of Balzac's characteristics. In this novel, the author uses for the first time his created ? The method of character reproduction allows a character to appear not only in one work, but also in successive works in the future, it not only allows us to see the different stages of character formation, but also makes a series of works constitute a whole and become an organic part of The Human Comedy. Here, some of the main characters, such as Rastigne, Viscountess de Baucerion, and Voltron Cold have made their appearances, and The Human Comedy opens.
The Old Man takes the stories of the Old Man and Rastigne as the two main clues, and intersperses the stories of Voltron and Madame de Beauchene. Several clues are intricately intertwined, and the clues seem to be complicated, but in fact, they are clear and organized. The central plot of the work is about the abandonment of the old man after being drained of his money by his daughter, with Rastigny as the central character, and through his activities, he connects the upper class with the lower class, and the aristocratic salon with the bourgeoisie's living room. The plot climaxes as the mystery of the High Old Man unfolds and is solved before the eyes of Rustigne. Rustigne is a witness to the arrest of Voltron, the abandonment of Madame de Beauchene, and the tragic death of Gauleiter. The ugliness of the society confirms the negative education he has received, and the day of Gauleiter's burial is also the end of Rastigne's youth. Several clues are closely intertwined, interlocking, step by step, play a deepening, complement each other, so that a profound expression of the theme of the work.
Synopsis
In the winter of 1819, in the Latin Quarter of Paris, there was a room called Voget's Apartment, an old American woman named Voget. There are all kinds of people living here: Rastigny, a poor university student; Goriot, a flour merchant who has gone out of business; Ghostly, a man nicknamed ? Ghostly? Vodou Leng; by the big banker kicked out of the home of Miss Teyfan; skinny spinster Mishuno and so on. The dining room of the inn is particularly lively at meal times, as everyone can make fun of the old man together.
The 69-year-old Gao Lao lived in the Vogel apartment six years ago after closing his trade. At that time, he lived in the second floor of one of the best rooms, paying 1200 francs a year for boarding, he was well dressed, and every day he had a barber come to comb his hair, and even the snuff box is gold, he is considered the most decent tenant in the apartment, and people call him Mr. Goliath. The widowed owner of the house even scratched her head at him, wanting to remarry him and become a rich wife of the region.
Mr. Goriot put all his love into his two married daughters and was not tempted by Mrs. Vogel. At the end of the second year, the old man asked for a second-class room, and the whole winter without fire heating the house, the boarding fee was reduced to 900 francs. He was regarded as ? the most mysterious figure produced by vice, impudence, and imbecility? Often two noblewomen came to him, everyone thought he had a love affair, the old man told everyone, it was his daughter: Countess Riesdal and banker Mrs. Neuchingen. The third year, the old man and asked to change to the lowest room, the monthly room money down to 45 francs, he quit snuff, sent the barber, diamonds, gold smoke box, gold chains and other ornaments are gone, the person is also more and more skinny, living like a poor worm.
Later, the mystery of the old man was finally unraveled by Rastigne. Rastigne is from the field to Paris to study in the University of young people, from the ragged aristocratic family, white skin, black hair, blue eyes, passionate and talented, want to do a clean and upright judge. But the luxury of life in Paris stimulation strengthened his? s desire for power and desire to excel. He believes that by their own diligent study in order to get ahead of the road is too hard, but also too far away, not necessarily work, and the real world rely on a few rich women as a ladder of progress is much easier, so he wanted to ? To conquer a few women who can be his backstage. As a result of his aunt's introduction, he met a distant cousin, the Viscountess de Beauchene, a prominent position in Parisian society. Rastigne proudly told the tenants of the Vogel's apartment about meeting the Countess at the ball. The high priest asked excitedly: ? Was Mrs. Rostov beautiful last night? The lady who owns the apartment decides that Gauleau must be poor for those women. Rastigne wants to find out the relationship between Gao Lao and the Countess, and decides to go to the house of the Countess of Resto. In the house of the countess of his shabby look caused the servants contempt; then he recklessly rushed into a bathroom, a big show; and then mentioned and high old man living together, but caused the count and his wife's displeasure, threw him out. Rastigny was so chagrined that he rushed to his cousin for advice. Mrs. Bausayon told him that Mrs. Resto was the daughter of Gauleau.
Madame de Beauchene teaches Rastigny that society is mean and cruel, and that he should fight it with an eye for an eye. She says: ? The more heartless you are, the faster you rise higher. The more you strike people without mercy, the more they fear you. He is nothing here without the concern of a woman who is young, rich and beautiful. Following his cousin's instructions, Rastigny resolves to seduce Mrs. Nucingen, the second daughter of the old man.
Voltron is a sharp-eyed thief, and sees that Rustigne wants to move up the ladder. He said to Rustigne: ? In this society of devouring each other, honesty is useless, if not like a cannonball blasted in, you have to be like a plague in general, honesty is useless. He instructed Rustigne to pursue Mademoiselle Victoire, that he could have Mademoiselle Théophane's brother killed, and make her the heiress, so that the banker's inheritance would fall into Rustigne's hands, in return for a payment of two hundred thousand francs. Rastigne, though impressed by the nakedness of Voltron's words, did not dare to agree to them.
Rastigny met Mrs. Nucingen through Madame de Beauchene, and she was not the one he wanted to court. Her husband is very strict with her financially, and even asks Rustigne to take his only 100 francs to the casino to win 6,000 francs for her. So Rustigne turns to Miss Théophane.
By this time, Vautrin has gotten his associates to provoke a duel with Mademoiselle Théophane's brother and kill him. Rastigne is conflicted between his love for Mademoiselle de Victoire and his love for Madame de Nucingen. In the end, he chose the latter, he thought? There is neither sin nor anything in such a union that would teach the strictest moralist to frown.?
The tenant, old Miss Mishuno, accepts an assignment from the police department's undercover agent to spy on Voltron's identity. She puts an anesthetic in Voltron's drink and Voltron is drunk and unconscious. Mishuno removes Voltaren's coat and slaps him on the shoulder, immediately revealing a reddish color on his skin. The word "Prisoner of Hard Labor" is written on his shoulder. on his skin. When Voltron woke up, the police had surrounded Vogel's apartment. The chief of the secret service knocked off his wig, and immediately the blood rushed to his face all over his body, and his eyes glowed like a wildcat's, and with a burst of brute strength he roared out a loud roar, which made all the tenants shriek in terror. The secret agents pulled out their pistols in unison, and at the sight of the shiny barrels, Voltair Leng suddenly changed his face, calmed down, and took the initiative to put up his two hands. He admitted that his name was Jacques? Kerleng, nickname? Ghost? , sentenced to 20 years of hard labor, he was arrested.
The high old man learned that Rustigne loved his second daughter, wanted to match Rustigne with his daughter, and purchased a small building for their rendezvous. One day, Mrs. Neuchingen rushed to find the high old man, explaining that her husband agreed to let her and Rustigne to come and go, but she can not ask him back to accompany the dowry money, the high old man asked his daughter not to accept this condition, ? Money is life, and with money you have everything.? At that moment, Mrs. Raisdor came too. She cried and told her father: her husband had used the money she had sold her necklace for to pay her lover's debts, and now that almost all her property had been taken from her, she asked him to give her twelve thousand francs to save her lover. The two daughters quarreled, and the old man, who could do nothing to help them, fainted in his anxiety, and suffered from an incipient cerebral hemorrhage.
During his illness, the youngest daughter did not come to see him once, she was concerned about attending the long-awaited ball of Madame de Beauchene; the eldest daughter came once, but not to see her father's illness, but to ask her father to pay her a thousand francs owed to the tailor's deposit. The old man is forced to pay the last penny, causing a violent attack of apoplexy.
Madame de Beaucheyen gave a grand ball, which was attended by princesses, lords, and ladies of distinction, and was brightly lit by the lamps and candles of more than 500 cars. The Viscountess was elegantly attired, with no expression on her face, as if she had retained her noblewoman's countenance, while in her mind the splendid palace had been turned into a desert. As soon as she returned to her chambers, she could not refrain from weeping long and shivering all around. After the ball, Rastigne saw his cousin, Madame de Baucheon, into the limousine and said goodbye to her for the last time. He felt? His education was over? He thought he? had gone to hell and was going to stay there?
The poor old man was dying, and he was still hoping that his two daughters would come to see him. Rastigny sent someone to invite his two daughters, both daughters are put off not to come. The old man, a tear in each eye, rolled on the edge of the bright red eyelids, he let out a long sigh, said: ? Alas, the daughter of a lifetime of love, in the end, anti-daughter abandonment!
Only Rustigne opened the funeral of the high old man, the two daughters and sons-in-law only sent two empty car to follow the coffin. The coffin was bought cheaply from the hospital by a college student, and the funeral expenses were paid by Rastigne selling his gold watch. Witnessing this tragedy, and burying his last sympathetic tear with the burial of the old man, he resolved to challenge society, ? Now let's both put up a fight!? He then arrives at Mrs. Nucingen's side to have dinner with her***.
Characters
(a) Rastigny
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Rastigny is the successful portrayal of the young ambitious man in "The Elderly Man". Rastigne was originally a provincial aristocratic young man, wanted to come to Paris to enter the university to revitalize the family business, but witnessed the high society of the money, wine and liquor, his desire to climb up the ladder multiplied, he was instigated by the Viscountess de Beauchene and the fugitive Voltron, increasingly lost the conscience of the integrity of the people, and began to sell the integrity of the money, especially in the witness of the two daughters of the old man's father treated his father like a squeezed lemon in general, and even more determined to the road to the bourgeoisie. Especially after witnessing the two daughters treating their father like a squeezed lemon, he becomes even more determined to go down the bourgeois road. The main characterization of his ambitious character in The Elderly Man is the process of formation, and in a series of later works he is even more uncontrollable, by selling his morals and conscience to become Under-Secretary of State and a member of the House of Lords, and all of them rely on the principle of extreme self-interest.
Rastigny's metamorphosis from a nobleman's son to a bourgeois ambitious man is typical. This metamorphosis is a change in his class attributes, and the transformation of the simple provincial youth into an unscrupulous ambitious man is the fall of his moral character.
[Metamorphosis]
1. The starting point: his involvement in Parisian high society.
Born in the provinces to a broken noble family, he was a good, unspoiled young man who dabbled in the world. But when he arrives in Paris, he falls into the dyke, and develops the evil idea of looking for a woman as a backer to climb up the ladder.
2. Abetted by two teachers: In the process of climbing up the ladder and looking for women, he met two ? The two teachers?
The first? The first teacher? is his distant cousin, the upper-class ? The first teacher was his distant cousin, the social queen of high society. the Viscountess de Baucheon. She teaches him in gentle terms to use bloodless, legal means of ? self-interested gold-digging. He soon meets a second? Teacher? Voltron, a hardened criminal hunted by the lower classes, who teaches Rastigne in the language of the naked robber to use the illegal means of bloodshed? Profit has been worshipped?
Abetted by the two divisions, his conscience shriveled, his ambition swelled, and his depravity intensified.
3. Three lessons of life.
Lesson 1: Mrs. Bowthorne's retreat proves that ? noble disciple? ,? The first lesson is that Mrs. Baucheon's retreat proved to be the best of all possible worlds. Can not fight the money, so that he witnessed even between lovers are practicing self-interest in the cold reality of the principle of gold, otherwise it will be very difficult.
Lesson 2: Voodoo's arrest in the cold proves that the superlative ? guts and intellect? can't compete with money, once again allowing him to validate the principle of gold worship practiced among ordinary people.
Lesson 3: The tragic death of the old man proves that a father's love is not enough. noble fatherly love? can not beat money, so that he y know that the principle of self-interested gold worship is not only popular in the whole society, but also penetrate the family between the flesh and blood.
Rastigny buried the old man, and with it, buried the last tears of his young man, completed the education of the three great lessons of life. His conscience is dead, and his desire to throw himself into the casino of self-interest and money worship, from the aristocratic young man into a bourgeois ambitious.
[Significance]
Rastigny's metamorphosis is a clear evidence that money destroys human nature and corrupts conscience. At the same time, it shows the change of the times, that is, the sons of the aristocracy could not withstand the lure of money and threw themselves into the embrace of the bourgeoisie, which is one of the ways of the decline of the aristocracy.
(II) Gao Lao Tou
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Gao Leo is the main character of Gao Lao Tou, an old man from a humble background, who sold noodles as a business when he was young, and later made a fortune as a contractor supplying food to the army. He loved his two daughters, let them dress up bejeweled, flamboyant, and finally to the value of tens of thousands of compensation for the marriage of them to the nobleman's son, so that the flour merchant's daughter became a countess; however, the two daughters of the money like dirt, like vampires like to extract the father's money, when the old man was penniless, no longer allowed the father to come to the door, so that it died in poverty in a broken attic, the daughters did not even the funeral to participate in. The daughters do not even attend the funeral. Through the tragedy of Old Man Gao, the author criticizes the construction on the basis of money? Father's love and family love
Gao Lao is a typical image of fatherly love destroyed by money. Money is the symbol of the new era of capitalism, and fatherly love is the residual feelings of the outdated patriarchal system, both of which constitute the contradictory character of Gao Lao.
In the society, Gao Lao is a capitalist who follows the times and chases after money. However, within the family, is a laggard of the times, he still retains a piece of his late wife and daughter's infatuation, to the point of morbid, crazy, he puts the love of blood relatives above the status of money, and thus the money exhaustion, this ? Fatherly Christ? Like a wild dog, died a horrible death in the apartment.
[Significance]
In the tide of the era of rapid change from monarchy to capitalism, the tragic death of Goliath is the destruction of money, the destruction of human nature, corruption of conscience, the destruction of the family, the essence is the feudal patriarchal concepts by the bourgeoisie, the moral principle of the supremacy of money over the tragedy of the tragedy.
Highlights Appreciation
1.? One does not come,? The old man sat up and continued, ? They have something to do, they are sleeping: they won't come. I knew it. I've known it all along. I didn't know what a daughter was until I was dying! Alas! My friend, don't marry, don't have children! You give them life, they give you death. You bring them into the world, they drive you out of it. They won't come! I've known that for ten years. Sometimes I think that in my mind, I just can't believe it.?
A tear sprang from each of his eyes and rolled to the edge of his bright red eyelids, not falling.
[Appreciation] Gao Lao wanted to see his daughter when he was dying and could not, under the pain of his own ten years ago, but never want to think about the fact that he did not dare to recognize, full of grief and remorse. At this time, the old man's heart is like ashes, remembering his fatherly love but in return for such a result, his liver is cut off, and even said to Rastigne: "My friend, don't get married, don't have children. My friend, don't get married, don't have children! You give them life, they give you death. You bring them into the world, they drive you out of it.? The author exposes the naked money relationship of capitalism, the loss of human nature due to money, and the ugly face of the society by writing about the tragedy of Old Man Gao. Old Man Gao is a pathetic person who is the embodiment and the victim of money relationship. His foolish love for his daughter ultimately harms her and himself. His mind is still deep in the feudal nature of the warm and affectionate father-daughter relationship, and he cannot see that the capitalist family relationship is also a kind of money relationship.
2. Rastigne alone in the cemetery to the high place a few steps, far away from the view of Paris, only to see Paris lying sinuous and winding on both sides of the Seine River, slowly lit up. His burning eyes rested between the Place Vend?me and the crooks of the Palais d'Anvarette. That was the area of high society to which he had no desire to belong. Facing this bustling hive, he shot a glance as if he would like to suck the nectar out of it in a single day. At the same time he said with a great air of dignity: ? Now let's both of us spell it out!!!?
Then Rastigny, in order to challenge society, went to Mrs. Neukirchengen's house for dinner. Mrs. Nucingen's house for dinner.
Then Rastigny went to Mrs. Te?