Summary

Analysis

Rastignac receives letters from his mother and eldest sister. His mother has sent the biggest sum she
can and begs him to make good use of it, because she can give no more in secrecy. Rastignac’s letter has
filled his mother with dread, and she warns her son that “crooked paths do not lead to greatness.” His
aunt Marcillac, she adds, has even sacrificed keepsakes in order to send more money. She closes by
reminding Rastignac that he must succeed; they have sacrificed too much for him to do otherwise.

Rastignac successfully plays on his family’s emotions and ideals in order to get what he needs from
them. His mother correctly perceives that Rastignac has embarked on a questionable scheme of some
sort and that it won’t take him where he wants to go. Already, Rastignac’s ambition is leading him to
manipulate others’ emotions—even his own family’s.

ACTIVE THEMES

After reading this letter, Rastignac cries. His mother’s words make him think of Père Goriot flattening
out his silver in order to pay off a debt for his daughter, and he feels remorseful. The letter from his
sister Laure reports how she and Agathe, their other sister, joyfully emptied their savings for his sake.
Rastignac takes the money and immediately hires a tailor. The prospect of new clothes temporarily
erases all his doubts; his confidence and ambition are renewed.

Rastignac’s tears show that he still has a conscience. He recognizes that he’s no better than Goriot’s
daughters, who’ve taken advantage of their father and then cast him off. Yet he’s still a flawed human
being—the allure of dressing in the style of a wealthier Parisian, looking the part of a high society man,
effectively stifles his briefly awakened conscience.

ACTIVE THEMES
 

RELATED QUOTES WITH EXPLANATIONS

Vautrin has been closely watching Rastignac lately, though Rastignac isn’t sure why. One morning, he
impulsively follows Vautrin out of breakfast and into the boarding house garden, determined to learn
what’s on his mind. At first sounding hostile, Vautrin soon takes on a paternal air toward the younger
man, and in spite of his irritation, Rastignac is intrigued. Vautrin begins by telling Rastignac about
himself: he says that he simply does what he likes and is good to those who are good to him. But he’s
hostile to those who mistreat him, and he has no qualms about killing when he has to; he is experienced
at dueling and has survived a bullet-wound.

The aloof Vautrin expresses a fatherly interest in Rastignac. His approach to life sounds as cynical as
Madame de Beauséant’s, and perhaps even more so. The vicomtesse urges Rastignac to use people for
his own purposes and then abandon them, though she seems to feel genuine concern for him. Vautrin,
for his part, is even content to kill anyone who gets in the way of what he wants, and it seems this
attitude should put Rastignac on his guard.

ACTIVE THEMES

There are only two choices in life, Vautrin says: obedience and revolt. Vautrin does not obey anyone.
Vautrin turns to considering Rastignac’s situation. He seems to know all about Rastignac’s family and
their meager financial situation, as well as Rastignac’s ambitions. That’s why Rastignac is studying law,
he knows, despite the fact that it’s dull and time-consuming. Rastignac’s best case scenario, Vautrin goes
on, will be to get a thankless position in some provincial court of law by age 30. By 40, he’ll have enough
money to marry a working-class girl with a small dowry. If he’s willing to court political favors and
compromise his conscience a little, he might ascend faster and gain more impressive positions.

Whereas Rastignac has been trying to learn how to play by society’s rules, Vautrin encourages him to
reject them altogether. Doing things the conventional way, he explains, will take much too long and
ultimately won’t be very satisfying. Much as the boarding house looked shabbier after Rastignac visited
the homes of Parisian nobility, Vautrin’s picture of Rastignac’s likely future is meant to look pathetic next
to the more outwardly impressive life available to someone who’s willing to cut corners and use others
to their own benefit.
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Vautrin tells Rastignac that he stands at the crossroads of his life. Having gotten a taste of luxury, he
now has the word “Succeed!” branded on his forehead. Trying to get there through effort and struggle
will take a long time. Unless he can get there through exceptional brilliance, he must get there through
corruption, the “weapon of the mediocre majority.” He says corruption is everywhere in Parisian society,
and that it’s “the only morality nowadays.”

Manipulatively, Vautrin represents Rastignac’s future to him as if it’s a choice between two options. He
heavily implies that Rastignac, like him, is too hungry for success to settle for the conventional, time-
consuming approach to life. But since Rastignac isn’t a genius, this means that he’ll have to do what
everyone else supposedly does: cheat.
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RELATED QUOTES WITH EXPLANATIONS

Vautrin says that he’s about to offer Rastignac something that nobody would refuse. He has a dream of
moving to the United States, living a kingly life on a Southern plantation with hundreds of slaves. If
Vautrin can get Rastignac a huge dowry, Rastignac will then give him a 20-percent commission. He will
find some clever way of defrauding his naïve, loving wife out of this commission. Out of any 60 society
weddings, Vautrin assures Rastignac, 47 are based on such transactions.

Unsurprisingly, given the way he’s just presented his outlook on life, Vautrin has a self-serving scheme
up his sleeve. In short, he’ll get Rastignac a wealthy wife in exchange for a hefty commission—a shortcut
to both wealth and a better marriage. He presents this as if it’s what nearly everybody really does but
few will admit to.
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Vautrin tells Rastignac that such a gullible, devoted girl is right in front of him: Victorine. If her

father, Taillefer, were to lose his son, Vautrin is sure that he would acknowledge Victorine and give her
the son’s dowry. Victorine will then marry Rastignac. This can be easily achieved when Vautrin calls in a
favor from a friend, who will happily pick a quarrel with Victorine’s brother and kill him in a duel. In a
word of closing advice, he encourages Rastignac never to stick to his opinions. Instead, he should adjust
his opinions to circumstances around him.
Vautrin coldly recommends manipulating and using Victorine, even eliminating the problem of the
withheld dowry by arranging to have her brother murdered. The interesting question that emerges from
this exchange is whether Vautrin’s “morality” is in fact any better than Madame de Beauséant’s; after
all, both involve using and discarding people. The question will be explored as their respective
characters are developed.
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Summary

Analysis

Two days later, Poiret and Mademoiselle Michonneau sit in the boarding house garden, talking to a

detective named Monsieur Gondureau. Slyly discerning that both Poiret and Michonneau respect
bureaucracy, Gondureau tells them that France’s Minister of Police has determined that Vautrin is
actually an escaped convict from Toulon, known as Death-Dodger. He had been imprisoned for
involvement in a forgery charge.  Vautrin’s real name is Jacques Collin, and he now serves as a kind of
agent and banker for the inmates at Toulon, making a good living from this. Some of Death-Dodger’s
money is also believed to come from the Society of Ten Thousand, an association of professional
thieves, for whom Death-Dodger is an expert adviser. Death-Dodger’s resources and expertise “support
a standing army of villains permanently at war with society.”

Vautrin’s background is finally revealed, and at this point, it’s not much of a surprise—his stance toward
society (as a professional thief) matches his outlook on the world (society is there to be manipulated
and used according to his liking). Vautrin’s position as a director and adviser of other thieves also
matches his manipulative role in Rastignac’s life. He molds others in his own image in order to unleash
them on society and do further damage.

ACTIVE THEMES

 
Gondureau explains that the Minister wants to be sure he’s got the right man, so he
needs Poiret and Michonneau to work undercover for him. Gondureau will give them a phial of a drug
that, when mixed into someone’s drink and swallowed, makes a person look as if they’ve suffered a
stroke. They’ll mix this into Vautrin’s wine or coffee and, after he collapses, have him carried off to bed.
Then, they’ll sneak into his room, undress him, and check for the branding of a thief on Vautrin’s
shoulder. If Vautrin does turn out to be Death-Dodger, Poiret and Michonneau will receive a reward of
three thousand francs.

In a way, the inconspicuous boarders Poiret and Michonneau are being manipulated and corrupted, too
—tempted with money to betray a fellow boarder. Although their intentions are arguably more noble
than other characters’ manipulative ploys (after all, they’ll be bringing a criminal to justice), their
involvement in this scheme shows that everyone in the world of the novel is motivated by financial gain
to some extent.

ACTIVE THEMES

After Gondureau leaves, Mademoiselle Michonneau and Poiret discuss the ethics of the whole

situation. Should she forewarn Vautrin, Mademoiselle wonders? After all, he’d probably reward her
financially. On the other hand, if they don’t go through with this scheme and Vautrin murders the
inhabitants of the boarding house, won’t they be culpable for those murders too? They don’t notice
that Bianchon overhears bits of the whole conversation on his way home from his medical school
lecture. They do, however, notice Rastignac and Victorine engaged in an intimate conversation as they
enter the boarding house.

The two boarders try to decide if they want to be complicit in the scheme to arrest Vautrin.
Mademoiselle Michonneau’s reasoning largely seems to be based on how the decision will affect her.
Meanwhile, Rastignac’s manipulation of Victorine, set in motion by Vautrin, continues apace.

ACTIVE THEMES

This morning, Rastignac is in despair over Madame de Nucingen. Inwardly, he has given in to Vautrin’s

plan, having made certain promises to Victorine. Victorine is decidedly in love. Rastignac, meanwhile,
struggles with his conscience: he knows he’s behaving wrongly, but tells himself that he’ll make up for it
by making Victorine happy.
Rastignac is deeply entangled in Vautrin’s plan and in the false rewards of high society. He soothes his
feelings for Madame de Nucingen by using and betraying Victorine, based on the vague assumption that
he’ll make it up to the young woman later.
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After Victorine goes to her room, Vautrin comes in and informs Rastignac that his friend who owes him
a favor has instigated a quarrel with Victorine’s brother—all is going according to plan. Tomorrow the
duel will take place, and by evening, Victorine will be an heiress. Rastignac slumps in shock, unable to
respond, but Vautrin tells him that Taillefer’s vast fortune will set him straight. Rastignac quietly
resolves to warn the Taillefers that evening.

Though Rastignac has been playing with fire by giving in to Vautrin’s plan so far, he still hadn’t accepted
how high the stakes are—until Vautrin tells him that someone’s life is in the balance. The fact that
Rastignac decides to intervene shows that his conscience isn’t totally corrupted.
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Then, Goriot comes in and draws Rastignac aside. He tells Rastignac that he and Delphine have set aside

a luxurious apartment for Rastignac to move into in three days’ time—it’s a surprise they’ve been
working on. He asks Rastignac if he can move into the room above the apartment so that he can be
closer to his daughter, wiping away tears of happiness at the very thought. Rastignac can hardly
respond. The contrast between the impending duel and the prospect of having his dreams of Delphine
realized is too overwhelming. Nevertheless, he happily accepts a beautiful watch that Delphine has sent
him by way of Goriot. Before he goes to see Delphine personally, he asks Goriot to drop by Taillefer’s
and ask him when Rastignac might drop by—Rastignac must speak with him urgently. Before Rastignac
can explain why, however, Vautrin interrupts, standing in the doorway and singing loudly.

Two threads of Rastignac’s journey in society are coming together: his pursuit of success by way of
Madame de Nucingen and his corruption by Vautrin. Their overlap suggests that, no matter what, the
attempt to maneuver in Paris’s high society will end up corrupting a person one way or another. Vautrin,
never far away, continues to disrupt Rastignac’s lingering good intentions, suggesting that Rastignac is
now too entrenched in all of this to escape.
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Vautrin, Goriot, and Rastignac go downstairs to dinner together. Vautrin is in high spirits, dismaying
Rastignac and drawing Mademoiselle Michonneau’s keen glance. Vautrin has brought a bottle of
Bordeaux to share with the other boarders. He pours a glass for Rastignac and Goriot, and after the
other two have already drunk, he samples some himself and decides it’s no good. Vautrin
has Christophe get out bottles for everyone else, and soon everyone is roaring drunk. Goriot and
Rastignac, however, grow drowsy—and just before Rastignac drops off to sleep, Vautrin whispers in his
ear that he can’t outsmart “Papa Vautrin.”

Vautrin has obviously poisoned the wine he offered to Rastignac and Goriot, thwarting Rastignac’s
intentions of disrupting his plan. Rastignac’s good intentions were too little, too late.
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Vautrin invites Madame Vauquer to go to the theater with him that

evening. Sylvie hauls Goriot upstairs to bed, while Rastignac falls asleep on Victorine’s shoulder, to her
delight. When Vautrin draws up with the carriage, Victorine wants to leave the room, afraid that Vautrin
will make off-color remarks. But Madame Couture says that Vautrin is a good man, no matter how blunt
he appears. When Vautrin comes in, he admires the young couple and tells Madame Couture that
Rastignac is angelic, surely as beautiful in his soul as in his features. He asks to see Victorine’s hand,
claiming that he knows something about palmistry. Studying her hand, he says that Victorine is destined
to become a wealthy heiress before long.

Vautrin’s amiable character fools even the most good-hearted and innocent people, like Madame
Couture. Vautrin’s pretended fortune-telling is chilling, since the audience knows what the women
don’t: that Vautrin has already put in motion the murder of Victorine’s brother.
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After Vautrin and Madame Vauquer leave for the theater, Madame Couture and Victorine talk about

Victorine’s future. Victorine says that she could never enjoy becoming an heiress if it cost her brother’s
life. The two women help Rastignac to bed, and Victorine steals a kiss on his forehead, going to bed
happy.

Victorine’s genuine emotions are heart-wrenching, contrasting with the insincerity, calculation, and
manipulative efforts at control coming to fruition all around her. She is the only fully sincere character in
the novel.
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That night’s revelry, which Vautrin intended as a way to get Goriot and Rastignac drunk, turns out to be

costly for him, too. Bianchon, after getting drunk, forgot to ask Mademoiselle Michonneau about what
he’d overhead on his way home. If Bianchon had said the name “Death-Dodger” at the dinner table, as
he’d intended, Vautrin would have been put on his guard. Meanwhile, after Vautrin teased Michonneau
in questionable taste, she decided to go ahead and betray Vautrin instead of warning him about the
investigation. She and Poiret go to Gondureau to collect the phial of potion. Gondureau admits that he
and his men are hoping for some violence during the arrest, so that they’ll have an excuse to kill Death-
Dodger and avoid the expense of custody and trial. He will see them the next day.

Vautrin, for all his carefully laid plans and criminal expertise, is human, too—he can’t fully control the
circumstances around him. And even a passing remark can cause a petty individual, like Mademoiselle
Michonneau, to move against him. Gondureau’s intentions aren’t pure, either—like many people, he’d
prefer to take questionable shortcuts in order to make life easier for himself.
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The next day is a momentous one for the Maison Vauquer. Most of the residents sleep late,
and Mademoiselle Michonneau uses this opportunity to pour the potion into Vautrin’s usual cup. When
breakfast finally begins, Rastignac receives a letter from Madame de Nucingen. Delphine writes to
Rastignac that she waited up for him until two in the morning. She begs for reassurance and an
explanation. Rastignac, frantic, asks what time it is. Vautrin, calmly stirring his coffee, informs him that
it’s half-past eleven.

Vautrin succeeded in stopping Rastignac from fulfilling his plan to warn the Taillefers, to Rastignac’s
horrified realization. But, in a point of dramatic irony, Vautrin is about to be thwarted anyway.
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Just then, a cab can be heard outside. One of Monsieur Taillefer’s servants hurries in. Victorine is
urgently needed, he says—her brother Frédéric has been mortally wounded in a duel. Vautrin wonders
how such a wealthy young man could have gotten into a quarrel—he muses that the young don’t know
how to behave themselves. Rastignac shouts at him in horror. After Victorine and Madame
Couture rush out, Madame Vauquer remarks that Vautrin seems like a prophet for having predicted the
young woman’s match with Rastignac.

Vautrin’s seemingly detached musings show the extent of his coldness. Madame Vauquer’s naïve
comment also shows that she’s willfully deluded about Vautrin, who’s actually orchestrated the whole
situation between Victorine and Rastignac.
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Rastignac, however, tells Madame Vauquer emphatically that he has no intention of marrying Victorine.

He sends a message back to Madame de Nucingen that he’s on his way. Furious, he mutters to himself
that “there’s no evidence.” Vautrin smiles, but right then, Madame Michonneau’s potion takes effect,
and he falls over. Thinking Vautrin has had a stroke, Madame Vauquer sends for the doctor. After
Vautrin has been maneuvered into his bed, Mademoiselle Michonneau sends Madame Vauquer in
search of ether, while she and Poiret hastily get Vautrin’s shirt off and check his shoulder. Sure enough,
they find the thief’s branding on his shoulder.

Rastignac worries that he’ll be implicated in Victorine’s brother’s death, a possibility that will tarnish
Rastignac’s efforts to ingratiate himself with high society. Rastignac’s selfish concerns in this situation, as
opposed to being worried about Victorine, exhibit the moral corruption associated with chasing wealth
and status. And as the dramatic tension mounts, Mademoiselle Michonneau and Poiret confirm that
Vautrin is definitely Death-Dodger.
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Rastignac takes a walk, wondering what to do. Will he be named as an accomplice in Vautrin’s crime?
He interrogates his own conscience and finally concludes that Delphine’s love is his anchor. He will
remain faithful to her, and he will treat Goriot like a father, he decides. Rastignac decides there is
nothing sinful in their relationship. After all, they’re not lying to anyone, and Delphine and the Baron de
Nucingen have lived apart for a long time.
Rastignac’s tortured musings suggest that, once a person becomes mired in the moral compromises
inherent in Paris society, there is no end in sight. Rastignac plays the situations with Vautrin and with the
de Nucingens off against each other at this point, desperate to quiet his conscience.
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Back at the Maison Vauquer, Bianchon has given Vautrin an emetic and sent the results to his hospital
for chemical analysis. Mademoiselle Michonneau tries to stop him, confirming Bianchon’s suspicions. By
the time Rastignac returns, Vautrin is recovered and standing in the drawing-room. When Vautrin says
that it would take much more to kill him, Bianchon speaks up that he’s heard of a fellow nicknamed
“Death-Dodger” and that this title would suit Vautrin. Vautrin turns pale and staggers, and
Mademoiselle Michonneau has to sit down. Vautrin’s jovial face turns ferocious.

Vautrin’s true nature is close to being revealed. Ultimately, though, he’s undermined by an overheard
conversation and a deceitful old woman—suggesting that even a hardened criminal can be betrayed by
someone who’s sufficiently motivated by self-interest. This is an ironic confirmation of Vautrin’s self-
serving worldview.
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Then, everyone hears a group of men marching down the street. Before Vautrin can escape, four armed
soldiers appear at the door, while others block the various exits. Everyone’s eyes are fixed on Vautrin.
The chief of the soldiers knocks Vautrin’s wig off his head, revealing closely cropped red hair. Seeing his
cunning intelligence, mounting rage, and animalistic energy, everyone suddenly understands who
Vautrin really is.

There’s a certain humor in this scene—apparently, all it takes is the removal of Vautrin’s wig to reveal
him for the terrifying criminal he really is. This suggests that, in reality, the truth about Vautrin is never
far beneath the surface—it’s just that people, all too willing to be manipulated, haven’t been willing to
see it for themselves.
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ACTIVE THEMES

RELATED QUOTES WITH EXPLANATIONS

Vautrin subdues his anger and calmly submits to arrest, to the onlookers’ admiration. He admits to
everyone present that his name is Jacques Collin, known as Death-Dodger. When Madame Vauquer,
shocked, says that he went to the theater with him last night, Vautrin replies that it did her no harm. In
fact, he goes on, none of the boarders are any better than him—the brand of the thief is no worse than
what these people have in their hearts. He tells Rastignac that their deal is still on, and that even from
prison, he knows how to collect payment.

Vautrin’s claim to Madame Vauquer is that, in a certain way, he’s more honest than the rest of them are
—it’s just that he’s acted on the criminal intentions of his heart, while others conceal them. Everyone, in
other words, is somehow complicit in the failings of a corrupt society.
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Vautrin correctly guesses that Mademoiselle Michonneau is his betrayer and says that he would have
paid her off handsomely if she had warned him of the coming arrest. The others look at Michonneau in
disgust. Before Vautrin leaves, he says goodbye to Rastignac in a gentler tone. After he’s gone, everyone
except for Poiret refuses to continue eating with Mademoiselle Michonneau. If Madame
Vauquer throws her out, they say, they’ll all keep quiet about the incident with Vautrin. At last, Poiret
offers his arm to Mademoiselle, and the two depart in the midst of the other boarders’ mockery.

Vautrin seems to harbor a real fatherly affection for Rastignac—but whether this is because he admires
the young man’s lingering innocence, or because he sees in Rastignac a younger version of himself, is
left for the audience to decide. Meanwhile, the boarders, still not reconciled to the truth about their
friendly housemate, are more scandalized by Mademoiselle Michonneau’s betrayal than by the criminal
charges.
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Then, a messenger comes in with the news that Victorine’s brother died that afternoon. Madame
Couture and Victorine will now live with Taillefer, who has accepted his daughter. Madame
Vauquer laments that disaster has come upon her boarding house. Soon, Père Goriot arrives in a cab
and insistently takes Rastignac out with him to dine with Delphine in Rastignac’s new apartment.

Events are unfolding as Vautrin had predicted and plotted that they would. But Madame Vauquer can
only think about the consequences to herself—just another example of how, in Balzac’s view, people are
primarily self-interested in their emotions.
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Leaving the boarding house in the cab, Rastignac feels disoriented by the events of the day. Goriot is
joyful at the prospect of dining with his daughter for the first time in years. Soon, they’re in Rastignac’s
new bachelor apartment, tastefully furnished and overlooking a garden. There they find Delphine,
whom Rastignac embraces, weeping with relief.

Though Goriot seems to have a genuine affection for Rastignac, he mainly sees the young man as a
means for getting closer to his daughter. At the same time, for Rastignac, Delphine mostly seems to
symbolize escape from his circumstances.
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After touring the apartment, Rastignac tells Delphine that he cannot accept it. Vautrin’s arrest is still too
fresh in his mind; he realizes how much he’s been spared, and he can’t deny his ideals now. He feels
depressed. Goriot tries to change Rastignac’s mind, telling him that success is written on his face. He
says that he’s offering Rastignac the weapons needed in order to succeed in modern society. Goriot
surprises both Rastignac and Delphine by admitting that he has paid for it all himself—Rastignac can pay
him back later. Living upstairs, after all, Goriot can get by on almost nothing. When Rastignac says that
he will try to be worthy of Goriot’s actions, Goriot tells Delphine that Rastignac is going to
refuse Victorine and her millions for Delphine’s sake. Rastignac wishes that the old man had kept silent
about that.

Rastignac continues to vacillate over the path he’ll take in life; Vautrin’s arrest has scared him, and it’s
enough to tarnish the glamor of Delphine’s offer. Interestingly, Goriot’s attempts to persuade Rastignat
echo Vautrin’s—suggesting that there are many paths to corruption, whether they’re Vautrin’s naked
self-interest or Goriot’s desperation for his daughters’ affection.
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Over dinner, Goriot is almost childish in his fawning attentions to Delphine. Rastignac can’t help feeling
a little jealous. As he and Goriot return to the boarding house by carriage, they try to outdo each other
with praise of Delphine. Rastignac admits to himself that Goriot’s love is purer and deeper than his own,
and that his own can never surpass it.

Now that Goriot is close to his goal of being closer to Delphine, it doesn’t actually seem to elevate him.
In Rastignac’s case, the indulgence of desires seems to bring out emotions that are more self-serving,
not less.
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RELATED QUOTES WITH EXPLANATIONS

When they get home, Madame Vauquer is sitting up with Sylvie and Christophe, lamenting the

disappearance of her boarders—now Goriot and Rastignac will join the rest. She tells the others
that Vautrin was such a good man, it’s hard to believe he could really have been a criminal. The next
morning, Madame Vauquer has collected herself, but she laments that the boarding house seems to be
cursed—she’s sure that somebody will die within 10 days. Who will it be?

Madame Vauquer continues to see the whole situation in a self-serving way. More than that, she can’t
reconcile herself to the truth about Vautrin. She continues to delude herself that he’s a decent human
being, supporting Balzac’s argument that people are generally happy to be manipulated if it allows them
to maintain their delusions.
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That noon, Rastignac receives an invitation to give to the de Nucingens, to a ball held by Madame de

Beauséant. He can’t wait to convey this desirable news to Delphine. A man’s first love in Paris can never
be rivaled, because love in Paris is unlike love anywhere else. Such love is false and excessive, almost a
religion, and it leaves devastation in its wake. Only those who live in isolation manage to escape its
demands. Rastignac is not such a person—he wants to remain engaged in the world, attempting to
master love without having any sense of the end goal.

All along, Madame de Nucingen has been longing for the social status gained through an introduction to
Madame de Beauséant, and she finally has it. Rastignac knows full well that this is primarily what she
wants from him, but as the narrator points out, it doesn’t even matter to him at this point—his passion
for Delphine has degraded into a kind of fanaticism that doesn’t worry about the implications.
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Despite Rastignac’s attraction to the aristocratic life, he had always remained a nobleman at heart.
However, now that he’s seen the apartment Delphine furnished for him, his mind has changed. He’s
gotten a taste of material wealth, and there is no going back. He is like a different Rastignac from the
one who first arrived in Paris a year ago.
Rastignac, like his friend Bianchon, hails from the effectively middle-class nobility of the rural provinces.
But, unlike his friend, Rastignac can no longer be content with that life. The temptation of wealth has
corrupted his ambition too thoroughly.
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As predicted, Delphine is delighted to receive the invitation to Madame de Beauséant’s ball. She

embraces Rastignac and tells him that she’s ready to make any sacrifice for him. She also tells Rastignac
some rumors concerning her sister Madame de Restaud. Anastasie is said to have sold her diamonds in
order to pay off her lover Monsieur de Trailles’s massive debt. For that reason, she’s planning to appear
at the ball in a fine new dress. Delphine is therefore determined to appear at the ball, too, so that she
won’t be outshined by her sister.

Delphine and Rastignac’s relationship is transactional, and they both acknowledge this fact. Delphine’s
relationship with her sister, meanwhile, is characterized by jealousy and rivalry. In both cases, the
overriding concern is one’s reputation in society—not one’s genuine feelings.
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Later that evening, as Delphine and Rastignac say a lingering goodbye, Delphine admits that she has a
premonition of some catastrophe, as if she must pay for her happiness. But Rastignac goes home happy,
planning to leave the boarding house for good the next day. As he passes Goriot’s room, Goriot says
that tomorrow, they’ll start their life of happiness.

Delphine’s ominous premonition echoes Madame Vauquer’s prediction that someone will die in the
next 10 days. No matter how Delphine tries to delude herself otherwise, her so-called happiness isn’t
genuine. It’s implied that the same must be true of Goriot, though he appears cheerfully unsuspicious of
this fact. 
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Summary

Analysis

The next day, Rastignac and Goriot prepare to move out of the Maison Vauquer. Around

noon, Madame de Nucingen shows up. In his room, Rastignac overhears Delphine’s conversation with
her father: she’s in financial trouble. She’s just learned that Baron de Nucingen has been investing all
their money, including her dowry, into various stalled projects. If Delphine insisted on the Baron
returning her dowry, as Goriot’s lawyer has been insisting on her behalf, then the de Nucingens will have
to declare bankruptcy. If Delphine can wait a year, the Baron promises that he’ll amass a fortune,
making her mistress of all his property.

The fragile “happiness” the characters experience is short-lived, as Delphine’s visit portends. She is
trapped by her husband’s financial problems, and Goriot’s unhappiness seems to come partly from the
fact that his money is being misspent in this way. In other words, the happiness he tried to secure for his
daughter through her marriage has finally proven to be an illusion.

ACTIVE THEMES

 
 

Baron de Nucingen has promised to mend his ways and grant Delphine freedom with her money, if only
she will do this. He’s at her mercy and has been raving in a suicidal manner. Goriot insists that the Baron
is fooling her and just trying to exploit her financially. He can’t bear the thought that his hard-earned
fortune be surrendered to Baron de Nucingen. “Money,” he says, “is life”—his happiness consists in
knowing that Delphine is well provided for. Goriot wants to resolve this matter at once and, his rant
concluded, begins to feel unwell.

This situation seems to undercut Goriot’s belief that “money is life”—if anything, it’s no better than an
insufficient temporary fix for perennial problems—yet he can’t seem to let go of the delusion after all
this time. It seems, though, that maintaining the illusion has taken a physical toll on Goriot—suggesting
that the reality of a situation has to break through in one way or another, no matter what lies people tell
themselves.

ACTIVE THEMES

Madame de Nucingen cautions Goriot that Baron de Nucingen is blackmailing her. If she lets him do as

he likes with her money, she explains, he won’t raise a fuss over her relationship with Rastignac. In
other words, if she wants to get away with romantic indiscretions, then she has to allow her husband to
get away with his shady financial dealings, using her money. Delphine doesn’t even know how to trace
all the tremendous sums that her husband has paid. At this, Goriot collapses to his knees in despair at
having given his daughter to such an unscrupulous man.
The Baron’s threats to his wife are ultimately about saving face socially, as one would expect in a society
marriage. Relationships are increasingly unraveling, showing that there’s very little that’s genuine at
their core. Goriot’s self-delusion, too, begins to unravel.

ACTIVE THEMES

Just then, another carriage arrives—Madame de Restaud’s. Somewhat embarrassed to find her sister
here, she announces sadly that she has been ruined. She explains that Maxime’s massive debts have
driven him to despair. She confesses having pawned her mother-in-law’s diamonds to the
moneylender Gobseck in order to save Maxime—the rumors are true. Now her husband knows
everything, however, and Anastasie faces ruin. He has made her promise that she will grant him
authority to sell her property whenever he likes. And the sale of the diamonds didn’t even cover
Maxime’s gambling debts—he’s still short 12,000 francs. Goriot, in despair, admits that he has almost
nothing left—he’s spent his securities on fixing up Rastignac’s new apartment.

The simultaneous financial ruin of both sisters seems almost comically unlikely, yet it serves to show
that the entire family’s happiness has been based upon delusions. Additionally, the complicated
romantic entanglements that are so fashionable in the Paris society of the novel seemingly plunge
people into almost unfathomable problems, proving to be self-defeating. The fact that Goriot has
exhausted his resources helping Rastignac and Delphine maintain their affair is further proof of this fact.
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Anastasie and Delphine begin squabbling over which of them is a more loyal daughter and which of
them is more complicit in ruining their father financially. Appearing wild with grief, Goriot finally gets
them to say they forgive one another. He says he would do anything to salvage Anastasie from this
situation—even serve as a military substitute or rob a bank or commit murder. Finding himself useless to
help his daughters, Goriot wants to die. He begins banging his head against the wall while his weeping
daughters try to stop him.

The sisters’ situation continues to unravel—and as their happiness is revealed to be an illusion, so is

their father’s. As Goriot’s laments sound less and less in touch with reality, it’s increasingly clear that his
identification of his wellbeing with theirs has been self-destructive. Now that he’s running out of options
to help Anastasie and Delphine, his sense of self is also disintegrating.
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Appalled at what he’s hearing, Rastignac takes the blank bill of exchange he’d initially meant to use to
pay back Vautrin and fills it out for 12,000 francs. He walks into Goriot’s room, pretending to have been
asleep until their conversation woke him. He tells Anastasie to cash the bill of exchange and he will pay
it off. Anastasie is furious that Rastignac has overheard her and accuses Delphine of allowing this
knowingly. Goriot collapses on his bed in grief.

Rastignac steps in to try to salvage things, but once again, he’s only using money (or at least credit) to
temporarily fix a fraught situation. Predictably, this gesture only further inflames the whole situation.
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Anastasie leaves and Rastignac sees Delphine home, but then he returns to the boarding house,

worried about Goriot. Bianchon observes the old man at dinner and confides to Rastignac that he
believes Goriot has suffered a cerebral edema and is on the verge of a stroke, seemingly the result of a
violent shock. That night at the theater, Delphine brushes off Rastignac’s alarm, saying that her father is
tough. The only disaster she couldn’t face, she tells him, would be to lose Rastignac’s love—nothing else
matters to her. Anyway, she goes on, she and Anastasie can’t help their father’s sadness—he’s seen
through the façade of their ugly marriages, and really, it’s his fault for not seeing the truth of them to
begin with. Rastignac can’t help feeling moved by Delphine’s display of emotion, particularly her
confession of love toward Rastignac himself.

Goriot’s obsession with his daughters’ wellbeing has finally undermined his health, as it’s slowly
threatened to do over the years. Yet this fact fails to make a deep impression on Delphine, whose
callous comments reveal how little she truly cares for Goriot. And Rastignac, despite his care for the old
man, is so infatuated with Delphine that he is still readily flattered by her. The bargains everyone has
made—money in exchange for affection, real affection in exchange for fake—are coming back to haunt
them.
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Delphine changes the subject, explaining that the Marquis d’Ajuda’s marriage contract

with Mademoiselle de Rochefide is being signed by the king tomorrow. Madame de Beauséant doesn’t
know anything about the marriage and will be taken aback when she hears the news at the
ball. Rastignac stays at his new apartment that night, and when he returns to the boarding house the
next day, Goriot has taken to his bed. Madame Vauquer, annoyed about the two men overstaying their
lease and not paying their rent, tells him that Goriot had gotten dressed up and gone out with his
remaining silver earlier that day.

Just as Goriot’s family’s self-delusions are becoming unraveled by reality, so is Madame de Beauséant’s
—in a very public way, at that. Goriot still seems to be grasping for a way to salvage the entire situation
with his daughters.
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Bianchon is watching over Goriot, and he explains that Goriot overdid things earlier that day. He’s also
had a visit from Anastasie, who couldn’t afford her new gown for the ball, and Goriot couldn’t bear that
she be outclassed by her sister, so he pawned his silver and took out a loan from Gobseck to help her.
He will just eat bread. He continues rambling about his daughters, saying he’ll go back into the pasta
business and travel to Odessa to import grain. Bianchon and Rastignac take turns watching over Goriot
all night. Madame de Restaud just sends a messenger to collect her money.

As Goriot’s actions concerning his daughters become increasingly senseless, so does his grasp on reality,
suggesting that pretense is finally giving way to the truth. In this way, the novel suggests that such
falsehood is unsustainable in the long term—it will inevitably lead a person to ruin, no matter how
deeply they’ve deluded themselves.
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That night Delphine sends a letter reminding Rastignac to take her to the ball tonight and that, after the
humiliation of learning about d’Ajuda’s engagement, Madame de Beauséant will certainly throw no
more balls, so Delphine won’t waste this opportunity. Rastignac writes back that Goriot is dying. Since
the doctor says that death isn’t imminent, Rastignac, grieving, goes to see Delphine in person, but she’s
just upset that Rastignac isn’t yet dressed for the ball. Unable to reason with her, Rastignac goes to his
apartment to dress. He reflects on the dreariness of society and its petty crimes—at least Vautrin’s
crimes were more honest. He wishes he were among his family, living their quiet, virtuous life. Yet he
can’t bring himself to disappoint Delphine, knowing he’s selfishly in love with her. Thus, he rationalizes
going to the ball anyway.

In society, everyone’s behavior is governed by the necessity of maintaining appearances in the face of
cruel reality—and distracting themselves from their own suffering by reveling in one another’s.
Rastignac begins to suspect that Vautrin was right—at least Vautrin was honest about his own heart and
didn’t rationalize his cruelties the way people do when they reconcile themselves to society’s rules. Yet
within the Paris of the novel, there seems to be no escape from the toxic influence of these social
norms.
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Rastignac can’t stop thinking about Goriot, but Delphine refuses to visit him until after the ball. At the
ball, all of society has turned out to witness Madame de Beauséant’s downfall. Yet she is completely
composed, neither sorrowful nor faking cheerfulness. She greets Rastignac with genuine warmth,
however, and asks him never to betray a woman. She sends him to d’Ajuda to collect her letters. When
Rastignac returns with the letters, the vicomtesse burns them. She tells Rastignac that tomorrow, she is
leaving Paris “to bury [herself] in the depths of Normandy.” As a token of friendship, Rastignac
accompanies his cousin as she makes her rounds at her last ball. Afterward, the vicomtesse bids a
sincere goodbye to Madame de Langeais, who asks the vicomtesse’s forgiveness for having wronged her
at times. At five o’clock in the morning, Rastignac bids his cousin goodbye and walks home.

Despite her participation in her corrupt society and her efforts to train Rastignac in the same, Madame
de Beauséant seems to retain a measure of integrity. She defies society’s expectations by taking her
humiliation in stride. Nevertheless, like Goriot’s decline in the face of reality, the vicomtesse is “dying” in
her own way, even if it’s just a social death. Rastignac’s gestures of kindness to his cousin show that he,
too, isn’t yet completely corrupt. It’s possible, then, to extricate oneself from Paris society unscathed—
but one basically has to be willing to commit social suicide in order to escape.
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The next day, Bianchon tells Rastignac that Goriot doesn’t have much time left, but that they will nurse
him to the last. Neither of them has money for the old man’s care; Rastignac will gamble for it or beg
Goriot’s sons-in-law if he must. After hearing Bianchon’s final instructions, Rastignac sits down with
Goriot, who deliriously asks about his daughters. Rastignac reflects that noble souls can’t last long in this
society. Goriot rallies slightly as Rastignac keeps him company, and his complaints of pain mix with
questions about his daughters, whom he’s sure will be coming to visit him soon.

Especially after witnessing his cousin’s gracious departure the night before, and now seeing how Goriot
continues to care for his daughters even as their selfishness costs him his life, Rastignac reflects that
sincere emotions don’t have a lasting place in this corrupt society. Yet, in common with his friend
Bianchon, Rastignac still retains enough humanity himself to care for the abandoned old man, who
persists in his delusion.
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RELATED QUOTES WITH EXPLANATIONS

Christophe has been sent to summon Goriot’s daughters. When he returns, he reports that Madame de

Restaud was discussing business matters with her husband but promised to come afterward. Madame
de Nucingen is still sleeping after last night’s ball, and her maid refuses to disturb her. Goriot wakes up
at this point and laments that his daughters aren’t coming. He says he’s known for years that it would
end up like this, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself.

Anastasie and Delphine are too consumed by the lives they’ve chosen for themselves to show any final
loyalty to their dying father—a fact that he finally admits to having suspected all along.
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Goriot goes on to lament that money buys anything, including daughters. If he were rich and hadn’t
spent all his fortune, he knows that his daughters would be here, weeping over him. If a person is poor,
at least he knows that others’ love is sincere. Yet he’d give anything just to have his daughters here.
Goriot talks to Rastignac about his history with the girls and the pain of first discovering, not long after
their marriages, that they were embarrassed by his presence. He cries out to God that he has atoned for
the sin of loving his daughters too addictively. Raving, he alternates between blaming and cursing his
daughters for their negligence and interceding on their behalf, blaming himself for spoiling them and
becoming their dupe.

Goriot sees that money has thoroughly corrupted his relationship with his daughters, and yet he’d be
willing to pay for the privilege of seeing them one last time—showing how badly damaged their
relationship has become. In the end, it seems there’s no peaceful resolution for their relationship—
Goriot must both curse and mourn what he’s helped to bring about.
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Frightened by the old man’s raving, Rastignac sends Christophe for a cab. Goriot collapses again, almost
lifeless. Rastignac leaves Bianchon, who has just run in, the watch Delphine gave him with instructions
to pawn it for Goriot’s expenses. When he reaches the de Restauds’ and is finally admitted by Monsieur,
the comte coldly brushes off his news of the man’s imminent demise. Goriot, he says, has only caused
him trouble. But he finally lets Rastignac speak to Anastasie, who is crying and appears to be totally
cowed by her husband. She tells Rastignac that her father would forgive her if he knew the situation,
and Rastignac leaves, realizing that Anastasie isn’t free to follow.

The pawning of Delphine’s watch, in some small measure, seems to pay Goriot back for his efforts to
bring Rastignac and his daughter together. In the end, though, his daughters—especially Anastasie—
effectively choose the marriages that their father secured for them over Goriot himself, or at least feel
helpless to do otherwise. This situation confirms Balzac’s argument that society incentivizes status-
driven relationships and that genuine ones are a casualty of this.
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When Rastignac gets to the de Nucingens’ house, Delphine complains of a chill and says she’d better not
go out; she doesn’t believe Goriot is as ill as Rastignac says. She notices, however, that Rastignac isn’t
wearing the watch she gave him. He tells her he’s pawned it to pay for her father’s death shroud. She
finally springs up and gives him what little money she has. Rastignac, hopeful, rushes back to Goriot,
telling him that Delphine is on her way. Though the doctor has no more hope, Rastignac
and Bianchon want to change Goriot’s shirt and bedding so that he can die with greater dignity. When
Rastignac goes downstairs to ask Madame Vauquer for  help, she demands payment for the sheets and
other sundries, but she finally sends Sylvie upstairs to assist the men.

Delphine chooses to believe what she wants to believe, another example of someone preferring self-
delusion and self-flattery over reality. Madame Vauquer’s selfish reaction to Rastignac’s request further
confirms Balzac’s argument that all people are generally self-serving, though Rastignac’s and Bianchon’s
faithful labors are a quiet exception to the rule.
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As Rastignac and Bianchon struggle to change Goriot’s soiled shirt, Goriot asks, with inarticulate

gestures, for the locket containing his daughters’ hair. The locket replaced, Goriot finally gives a sigh of
contentment, his expression turned from agony to joy. As Sylvie grudgingly changes the sheets,
Rastignac and Bianchon, both crying, support the dying man’s weak frame. Mistaking the two for his
daughters, Goriot grasps both young men by the hair, whispers, “Ah! My angels!”, and passes into
unconsciousness.

In a tragic deathbed scene, Goriot’s self-delusion endures to the end—his need to believe in his
daughters’ love outweighs his need to acknowledge the truth. Within Goriot’s dying thoughts, Rastignac
and Bianchon represent the devotion and love that he longed to receive from his daughters all along.
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Delphine’s maid arrives just then, asking for Rastignac—Delphine has fainted after a heated argument
with her husband over money for her father’s care. Then, Madame de Restaud arrives. She
kisses Goriot’s lifeless hand and asks for forgiveness. She tells Rastignac that she cannot possibly be
more miserable. She has finally been disillusioned, as Monsieur de Trailles, her lover, has also
abandoned her. A short time later, Goriot is dead.

In the end, one of Goriot’s daughters does come to his bedside, so he isn’t completely abandoned—
although it’s too late for it to matter to him. Both daughters remain entangled in financial problems and
loveless, superficial marriages.
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When Rastignac and Bianchon finally come downstairs for a bite of dinner, the other boarders don’t
want to hear about Goriot and soon lapse into random chatter. The two young men are horrified by
their indifference. They find a priest to pray over Goriot’s body that night. The next morning, even after
pooling their money, they barely have enough left over to cover the most basic shroud and coffin—the
sons-in-law have sent no money.

The other boarders remain selfishly oblivious to what’s just transpired upstairs, preferring to remain
wrapped up in their own superficial lives. In the end, the two young students have to stand in as Goriot’s
family members.
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When Rastignac goes to check on Delphine and Anastasie later that day, neither of them will receive his
call; he’s told that both are in deep mourning. Finally, Rastignac knows enough about Paris society to not
press his luck. He leaves a note for Delphine, asking her to sell some jewelry for the burial, but
the Baron throws it into the fire. When Rastignac returns to the boarding house, he cries at the sight
of Goriot’s shabby coffin resting in front of the gates. Bianchon has left a note that they can’t even
afford a full Mass for the old man; they’ll have to make do with a shorter burial service. Rastignac
sees Madame Vauquer toying with Goriot’s gold locket and takes it back.

Ironically, though Anastasie and Delphine women couldn’t be bothered to provide for their father’s care,
they use his death for their own selfish purposes much as they used his life. Rastignac is the only one to
demonstrate genuine grief for Goriot. Tragically, money remains the measure of Goriot’s life, as his
burial can only be attended with as much honor as the young men can afford.
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When the hearse comes, only Rastignac and Christophe accompany it to the churchyard. Christophe

speaks kindly of Goriot as the two wait for the priest. After the brief service, Goriot’s body is borne to
the cemetery, followed by the carriages of the de Restauds and the de Nucingens. But only the family
servants occupy the carriages. The servants stand with Rastignac and Christophe while the gravediggers
hastily throw some dirt over the coffin and then wait for their tips. Rastignac has to ask Christophe for a
loan, and he stands there crying after the others leave.

Only Christophe and Rastignac are there to mourn for Goriot and to display genuine emotion over his
death. His daughters’ expressions of mourning are a mere empty show, as is expected by this point.
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Alone, Rastignac walks to the highest point of the cemetery and overlooks Paris. He thinks about the
society he’s fought so hard to enter. With a hungry look, he speaks to the city below him, “It’s between
the two of us now!” Then, he goes to dine with Madame de Nucingen.

The novel’s conclusion is ambiguous. Rastignac has been disillusioned about the nature of Paris society,
and his closing words sound like a declaration of war on the city’s pretenses. Yet he still desires it, too—
and his last act in the book is to go back to his lover, even knowing what a shallow woman she is.
Rastignac knows that the society he’s finally succeeded in entering is corrupt and insincere. The question
remains whether he’ll overcome its influence or whether he’ll end up being its victim, too.
Emerging outside in the rain, Rastignac knows that he’s given offense, but he doesn’t know how bad the
damage is. His coat and hat are also getting wet, and he realizes that he’ll need an entirely new
wardrobe in order to move within aristocratic society. When a cabby stops for him, Rastignac decides to
visit his cousin the vicomtesse for advice. When he isn’t sure of the Hôtel de Beauséant’s address, he
feels like even the cabby is laughing at him.

Rastignac is a picture of social failure—he’s been ejected from someone’s house on his first attempt to
ingratiate himself, he doesn’t have the right clothes, he doesn’t know how to use the right titles, and he
doesn’t even know where he’s going. Because he arrives in Paris lacking the right social tools, he is
limited in how far he can go toward realizing his ambitions.

ACTIVE THEMES

Ambition and Corruption Theme Icon

At his cousin’s, Rastignac sees an elaborate nobleman’s carriage, much fancier than the cab and even
Maxime’s carriage. Though Rastignac doesn’t know much about his cousin, the vicomtesse has been
having an affair with a Portuguese nobleman named the Marquis d’Ajuda-Pinto. Her husband, the
vicomte, knows about it and, unlike Monsieur de Restaud with his wife and Maxime, he doesn’t get
involved. Despite his happy relationship with the vicomtesse, the Marquis has decided to marry a
woman named Mademoiselle de Rochefide. The vicomtesse is the only person in Paris high society who
doesn’t know this. Rastignac arrives just before the Marquis intends to break the news to the
vicomtesse, to the Marquis’s relief.

In Paris high society, superficial marriages and entangling affairs are commonplace. In Rastignac’s
cousin’s case, there’s not even an attempt to hide the fact that she’s cheating on her husband.
Conversely, her lover, the marquis, shrinks from telling her that he’s pursuing a conventional marriage
that will destabilize their affair. As Rastignac is initiated into this strange world, he begins to understand
that human relationships in high society are marked by calculation rather than genuine affection.

ACTIVE THEMES

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As Rastignac watches the vicomtesse’s and the marquis’s goodbye, he feels envious of the luxury
surrounding the couple, and dizzied by the wealth he must amass in order to compete in this society.
Though the Vicomtesse feels ominous about the Marquis’s departure, she finally turns her attention to
Rastignac. Rastignac explains that he needs his cousin to be a “fairy godmother” and to help him
understand Paris life. Just then, the servant announces a new visitor, Madame la Duchesse de Langeais,
and when Rastignac makes a gesture of impatience, the vicomtesse warns him he must learn not to
express his feelings so openly.
Rastignac continues to recognize that, lacking wealth and status, he is at already at a disadvantage in
this society. He must rely on others’ intercession to help him get a head start. The first lesson the
vicomtesse gives him is that sincerity—the open expression of emotion—isn’t valued in high society.
One’s true feelings (and, to some extent, one’s true self) must remain buried if social advancement is
one’s goal.

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The Duchesse de Langeais, with wounding abruptness, tells the vicomtesse that tomorrow, the wedding
banns between d’Ajuda-Pinto and Mademoiselle de Rochefide are going to be published. The
vicomtesse turns pale but laughs off this news as a rumor. She turns her attention back to Rastignac,
giving him a warm look contrasting with the cold appraisal of the duchesse. Rastignac describes his
experience with Madame de Restaud, her husband, and her lover. The vicomtesse explains that
Madame de Restaud really is Goriot’s daughter—that Goriot is crazy about both his daughters, even
though they barely acknowledge him. His second daughter, Delphine de Nucingen, is married to a
German baron.

The vicomtesse immediately gives Rastignac a lesson in emotional concealment as she hides her feelings
about her friend’s news. At the same time, she seems to be genuinely warm toward Rastignac, perhaps
because she doesn’t have anything to gain from him. Society also exerts pressure on family
relationships, not just romantic ones. Goriot’s daughters occupy a social class that no longer has room
for a retired, working-class man like him.

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The vicomtesse explains that Père Goriot is a good father who gave five or six thousand francs to ensure
that his daughters could marry well and be happy, while keeping back only a trivial amount for himself
to live on. In doing so, he believed that he would ensure two comfortable homes in which to retire, but
within two years, both of his sons-in-law had banished him from their homes. This story fills the
idealistic Rastignac’s eyes with tears.

Goriot, acting according to social norms, tried to do what he believed was best for his daughters’
happiness, while also—he thought—providing for his own comfort. But those same social norms have
now undercut his relationships with his daughters.

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The duchesse recalls that during the Revolution, Goriot had made a fortune selling wheat at a premium.
His only passion was his daughters. At first, after marrying both girls off, his sons-in-law didn’t mind him.
But after the Bourbon Restoration, Goriot’s Revolutionary background became an embarrassment to
both. The daughters initially tried to please both their father and their husbands, inviting Goriot to visit
while they were home alone. But, the duchesse observes, “genuine feelings are neither blind nor
stupid,” so Goriot surely knew that his daughters were ashamed. He decided to sacrifice himself by
staying away.

Political circumstances have complicated Goriot’s relationship with his daughters. During the period of
relative peace and prosperity known as the Bourbon Restoration, association with the Revolutionary
upheavals of the 1790s—not to mention a working-class background like Goriot’s—is seen as socially
compromising. No matter how his daughters pretend otherwise, Goriot sees through their efforts to
accommodate him, and he removes himself from the picture for the sake of their continued social
success.

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After the duchesse leaves, the vicomtesse muses that there is always a friend who’s ready to stick a
dagger in you when you’ve suffered a misfortune. Then, she tells Rastignac that she will help him. She
tells him that the more calculating he is, the more he’ll succeed. People are just “post horses” to be used
and abandoned at each stage on the way to success. Rastignac must find a rich young woman who will
take an interest in him. Nevertheless, he must not reveal any genuine emotions to her; if he does, he’ll
be lost.

The vicomtesse’s curt advice to Rastignac seems to be fueled, in part, by the duchesse’s news of her
lover’s betrayal. In other words, the vicomtesse does have genuine feelings for her lover, and now she’s
suffering the emotional cost—and the social shame—of having indulged them. It’s better, she tells her
young pupil, to use people and then cast them aside. It seems that in the world of the novel, social
success and genuine human feelings can’t coexist.

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The vicomtesse explains that the two sisters are also locked in a rivalry. Because her husband is in the
French nobility, Madame de Restaud has been presented at Court and enjoys social acceptance, while
Madame de Nucingen, married to a German, does not, though she is very rich. De Nucingen is therefore
terribly jealous of her sister, and she would do anything to be admitted to the vicomtesse’s salon. Her
present lover, de Marsay, has not helped her to reach that goal. If Rastignac introduces Madame de
Nucingen to the vicomtesse, Rastignac will be adored. The vicomtesse advises Rastignac to “love her
afterwards if you can, otherwise just use her.” Père Goriot will introduce Rastignac to Delphine, and
Rastignac will quickly find himself sought-after and successful.
The vicomtesse offers Rastignac a straightforward formula for gaining social acceptance. He must exploit
the sisters’ rivalry to his own advantage by using his family connection to the vicomtesse to help
Madame de Nucingen ascend socially. Ideally, this will also help Rastignac himself rise socially by
extension. The entire process is transactional, rather than being based on real emotions. The vicomtesse
even encourages Rastignac to cast Madame de Nucingen aside after he’s gotten what he wants.
Realizing his social ambitions will depend on his willingness to use others.

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When Rastignac gets home, he is struck by the contrast between the two wealthy homes he has just
visited and the shabbiness of the boarding house. His ambition intensifies, and he resolves to become
both a skilled lawyer and a fashionable man. The narrator observes that Rastignac is “still very much a
child.” At dinner, when Rastignac speaks up in Père Goriot’s defense, the other boarders’ usual mockery
of the old man is silenced.

Witnessing wealth and luxury firsthand inflames Rastignac’s ambition further. Now that he’s seen what’s
possible, he is no longer satisfied with what he has. At this point, though, he continues to believe that he
can balance his initial professional ambition with securing a place in society. The narrator’s comment
that Rastignac is “still very much a child” suggests that this belief will be challenged.

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After dinner, Rastignac writes a passionate letter to his mother. He explains that he’s in a position to
become wealthy quickly. He must therefore obtain a large loan from her, though he cannot tell her why.
Rastignac promises that he is neither gambling nor in debt, but that he must find the means to make his
way in Paris’s high society. He urges his mother, for the sake of the family’s future comfort, to sell some
of her jewelry if need be.

Rastignac gets started on using and manipulating others right away. He plays on his mother’s fears,
affection, and desire for security in order to get the resources he needs to attempt his climb in society. It
remains to be seen whether, like Goriot’s daughters, Rastignac will sever the bond after it’s been of use
to him.

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Rastignac also writes letters to his sisters, asking them to send their meager savings, and to do it
secretly. As he appeals to their sense of honor, he knows that they’ll willingly sacrifice for him. Rastignac
feels a twinge of shame as he finishes these letters, knowing that the girls will innocently delight in doing
this for him.
Rastignac’s conscience bothers him about the way he’s using his sisters, showing that he hasn’t yet
reconciled to the price of social acceptance. His vague appeal to honor is a betrayal of their naïve
innocence.

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In the following days, Rastignac returns to Madame de Restaud’s house several times, but she never lets
him in. By now, he is neglecting his law studies, only showing up for long enough to answer the roll-call
at each lecture. He figures he can learn law at the last minute, just before his exams.

Ironically, in his determination to succeed socially, Rastignac is now distracted from the academic
discipline it will take to achieve professional success—the original reason he came to Paris.

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Before attempting to befriend Delphine de Nucingen, Rastignac gathers more information about her
father. Before the Revolution, Jean-Joachim Goriot was simply an enterprising pasta-maker. When the
Revolution occurred, Goriot became president of his section in order to gain protection for his business.
During the subsequent grain shortage, he accumulated a small fortune—he was very good at his trade.
In everything else, Goriot was a fairly dull, uncultured man. He adored his wife, who left him a widower
after seven years. At that point, he transferred his affections to his two daughters.

Goriot is, in a different way from Rastignac, a very ambitious man. It’s just that his ambitions have been
channeled not toward social success, but toward his daughters’ happiness. Instead of taking advantage
of social connections, he took advantage of the Revolutionary upheavals in order to establish himself
financially.(“President of his section” refers to the leadership of the local branch of the Revolution in the
1790s.) Ambition, in other words, might look different among different classes, but it’s universal.

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As his daughters grew up, Goriot’s only desire was to make them happy. He paid for the best education
and treated the girls like nobility. He gave them whatever they asked for, only asking for affection in
return. Goriot also let each of them choose her husband, receiving half his fortune as a dowry. Because
Anastasie wanted to enter the aristocracy, she chose Monsieur de Restaud. Because Delphine loved
money, she chose the Baron de Nucingen, a German banker. Goriot’s daughters and his new sons-in-law
were appalled when Goriot continued practicing his trade. By the time he finally retired and settled at
Madame Vauquer’s, his daughters were no longer seeing him.

Goriot’s foremost ambition is winning his daughters’ affection—no matter what it costs him personally.
And it’s very costly, because the girls cannot reconcile their newfound position in life—which their
father faithfully helped provide for them—with Goriot’s continued status as a tradesman. His daughters’
ambition (social status and wealth) comes at the cost of his (their love). In this society, family bonds are
often a casualty of social success.

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