Honoré de Balzac Essays

  • Honore de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert's Writings on Capitalism

    2476 Words  | 5 Pages

    Honore de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert's Writings on Capitalism The Revolution in France, during the 19th century, gave power to the people for the first time in France. French citizens now had faith that they could form a strong, independent country; but what they did not realize was that there must be some form of financial or monetary backbone present for a country to excel on its own in the modern world. This gave way to the rise of capitalism and all its follies, debaucheries, and mainly

  • The Effect of History on Literature

    620 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many social norms changed and thus, gave birth to the dawn of new stories. Stories from past battles or past conflicts seeped into the writings of authors all over the world. Having being set continents apart, Nadine Gordimer’s “Comrades,” and Honore de Balzac’s “The Conscript,” are an iridescent example of histories mark on stories. The two authors exemplify the dangers and struggles by using their own voice as they further the plot. The historical background of a text can influence the types

  • The Protagonists’ Course of Life in the Texts Metamorphosis and Eugenie Grandet

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    and Eugenie Grandet Comparing and contrasting the protagonists’ course of life that was influenced by their relationships with money-minded characters in the texts Metamorphosis and Eugenie Grandet. To: Mrs. Monty Eugenie Grandet by Honore De Balzac and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka are stories that reflect upon the relationships of simplistic protagonists, and their relations with money-minded people. Both protagonists (Gregor from Metamorphosis and Eugenie from Eugenie Grandet) are

  • The Profound Ideas of Honore de Balzac's Pere Goriot

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Profound Ideas of Honore de Balzac's Pere Goriot Honore de Balzac published Pere Goriot in 1834 (1), one of the outstanding novels in his panoramic study of Parisian life, the Human Comedy. Throughout Pere Goriot, Balzac's narrator oscillates between the roles of social historian and moralist. Although the presence of both observer and commentator may initially seem mutually exclusive, it also is a large part of what makes this novel interesting and entertaining. Balzac's readers, as flesh-and-blood

  • The Importance of Character in Le Colonel Chabert

    1754 Words  | 4 Pages

    pessimistic view of nineteenth century society. A character's strength and energy in the novel determines their survival in society. Colonel Chabert has been known to be a courageous hero in the past, "... je commandais un r‚giment de cavalerie … Eylau. J'ai ‚t‚ beaucoup dans le succŠes de la c‚lŠbre charge..." Once he returns to Paris after his injury, he loses his identity and becomes the " weak character " of society. This is a rapid decline down the "ladder of success" and Chabert tries desperately to climb

  • Reading a Passage in Balzac’s Père Goriot

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reading a Passage in Balzac’s Père Goriot This passage in Honorè de Balzac’s novel Père Goriot describes the ultimatum Rastignac gives to himself after experiencing a harsh transition of luxury to filth, as he sees it. Before Rastignac enters his meek lodgings he has a life altering discussion with Madame de Beausèant. They talked about the price he would have to pay to gain acceptance into Parisian high society. The contrast he experiences ultimately fuels his greed and reckless behavior.

  • A Comparison of "Old Goriot" and "King Lear"

    1480 Words  | 3 Pages

    Works Cited Shakespeare, William. "King Lear." W. Arden 8th edition. London, Methuen, 1972. Harrison, G.B. "Shakespearean Tragedies." London Routledge, 1957. Kanes, M. "Pere Goriot: Anatomy of a Troubled World." New York, Twayne, 1993. Balzac. "Old Goriot." Penguin, London, 1951. "Pere Goriot Notes." Edited by Coles Notes, Coles Publishing, London, 1967. Rehder, R.M. "William Shakespeare's King Lear." Longman York Press, Harlow, Essex, 1995.

  • Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Mademoiselle de Scudery

    4165 Words  | 9 Pages

    Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Mademoiselle de Scudery Professor’s comment: This student perceptively examines the role of the city as a setting and frame for detective fiction. Focusing on two early examples, Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and Hoffmann’s “Mademoiselle de Scudery,” both set in Paris, his sophisticated essay illuminates the “cityness” or framed constraint that renders the city a backdrop conducive to murder—such as the city’s crowded, constricted

  • The Meaninglessness of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    represents God and that the play is centered on religious symbolism. Others have taken the name as deriving from the French word for a boot, godillot. Still, others have suggested a connection between Godot and Godeau, a character who never appears in Honore de Balzac's Mercadet; Ou, le faiseur. Through all these efforts, there is still no definitive answer as to whom or what Godot represents, and the writer has denied that Godot represents a specific thing, despite a certain ambiguity in the name. Upon

  • Medieval Code Of Chivalry Essay

    531 Words  | 2 Pages

    the Knights of the Round Table. “The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.” - Honoré de Balzac. This quote is quite self-explanatory. Serve all, but love only one. There is also proof that the code is based on Christian beliefs, which sounds very likely. Knights are servants to their liege, and to God, that the quote by Honoré de Balzac says just that. Most knights were, in fact, Christian, which is why many of Christian morals are still around today. If

  • Comparing The Novel Demeuble And The Professor's House

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    the essay “The Novel Demeuble” Willa Cather introduces the artistry of a novel. Cather begins to explain authors who she agrees with and others who she does not. She believes that certain authors including David Herbert Richards Lawrence and Honoré de Balzac do not leave anything unnamed, therefore, taking away many emotions from in a story. Willa Cather states in her essay, “A novel crowed with physical sensations is no less a catalogue than one crowded with furniture” (Essay). By adding pointless

  • How does Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress convay the power of books

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Novel: Balzac and little Chinese seamstress written by Dai Siejie. Takes place during the period of Mao's Cultural Revolution in China during early 1979s. It lasted for a period of ten years when hundreds of thousands of intellectuals were sent into the country side for reeducation. Chairman Mao disliked the Soviet Union's style of Communism, and feared the existence of intellectuals, would get China to be at the same spot. Therefore Mao punished every intellectual that stud on his way. They

  • Catherine de Medici and Obsession Over Power

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    Catherine de Medici and Obsession Over Power "An execrable woman whose memory will remain in bloody crepe until the end of time[1]". For nearly 400 years this assessment of Catherine de Medici held true. In the popular imagination she is a Machiavellian schemer using poison on those who hindered her in her quest to gain and maintain power at court, a view of Catherine reinforced in recent years by the film La Reine Margot, based on the book by Dumas. Most traditionalist historians take

  • Examples Of Deceit In Tartuffe

    1616 Words  | 4 Pages

    views it as a danger to French society. In the journal article titled “Tartuffe, Religion, and Courtly Culture,” the Emanuel S. Chill explains how the character Tartuffe is based on a group of religious people in France called the Cabale des Devots” (156). The Cabale des Devots was a fundamental Catholic group that persecuted the Huguenots, the protestants, in France by depriving them of their rights, leading to the mass emigration. Furthermore, the historical event is mirrored in Tartuffe when Orgon

  • Analysis Of The Girl With The Golden Eyes

    1371 Words  | 3 Pages

    as separate from the societal group. The Story of the Marquise-Marquis de Banneville, by Charles Perrault, François-Timoléon de Choisy, and Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier follows two main characters, one of which does not fully conform to binary gender presentation. The Girl with the Golden Eyes, authored by Honoré de Balzac, portrays an “oriental” woman as an object to be purchased and used. In Le Roman de Parthenay Ou Le Roman de Melusine, written by Coudrette, the heroine is a half human, half fairy

  • French Culture Essay

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    French Culture and Its Impact on English and French Culture and Language Since the beginning of human interaction, culture was a driving force with respect to language. Culture completely shapes the how and what people say to each other. Additionally, culture’s influence on language has been so powerful, that the more dominant a culture becomes the more the language of that culture will permeate other cultures that it has interaction with and subsequently comes to dominate the language of neighboring

  • The Hudson RIver School Of Artist

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Hudson River School The Hudson River school represents the first native genre of distinctly American art. The school began to produce art works in the early 1820s; comprised of a group of loosely organized painters who took as their subject the unique naturalness of the undeveloped American continent, starting with the Hudson River region in New York, but eventually extending through space and time all the way to California and the 1870s. During the period, that the school’s

  • Capitalism vs. Art

    1671 Words  | 4 Pages

    the United States has not faced economic crisis in two decades, the postmodern movement has suffered greatly. Two of the first realist writers were Honore de Balzac and George Eliot. Balzac's Le Comedie Humaine (1830) "contains none of the baser instincts of man that are glorified in romanticism," (Alter 201). In this 20-year compilation work, Balzac covered many topics, but according to Robert Alter, president of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics (1997), the most important one is

  • The Realism Era

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    The realism era is one of the most over looked time frames for literature during the last 5 centuries. In the mid 1800s through the mid 1900s some of the most famous authors and novels arose. During the realist era, literature took a turn, around 1820 the romantic era changed, and the progress of this new era began. Realism was different from the romantic era because realism narrates the literary works through an objective, unbiased perspective (Realism 654). In fact the narrator is not a character

  • A Brief Biography Of Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on June 24, 1842 in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents, Marcus Aurelius Bierce and Laura Sherwood Bierce, had thirteen children, and Ambrose was the tenth of the thirteen. Ambrose’s idiosyncratic father decided to start the names of all thirteen of his children with the letter A. His family was poor, so his parents decided to move to Ohio, like many other families, in hopes that the westward expansion might help them financially. When they realized the riches they