An analysis of the link between love and money in Balzac’s Le Pere Goriot.
This paper examines how Le Pere Goriot,set in Paris in 1819, is often lauded for its frank portrayal of the stark realities of contemporary French society. It looks at how it paints a dark portrait of a society preoccupied by wealth and social standing, with little care for love and selflessness. It discusses how Balzac appears highly cynical in his conception of love, suggesting that love is often offered at great financial expense, sometimes as a mere token of gratitude and that true love is an all too rare phenomenon. In particular, it examines how the different relationships within the novel symbolize the themes of love and money.
Aside from parental love, one must also consider love in terms of passion and desire, and it is Vautrin’s plot to enable Rastignac to profit from Victorine’s new found wealth that perhaps best shows the characters, love and desire for money, and how they are willing to use pretensions of love in order to gain wealth. Vautrin convinces Rastignac that should he marry Victorine and her brother be murdered, he would find himself the potential recipient of a huge dowry and inheritance: Une jeune femme ne refuse pas sa bourse celui qui lui prend le coeur (p.146). Yet, what is perhaps most interesting is to observe that it is not just a criminal such as Vautrin who expresses these sentiments.