The accuracy and breadth of the image of French reality are combined in Honore de Balzac with a depth of penetration into internal patterns. public life. He reveals the class conflicts of the era, exposes the bourgeois character community development France after the revolution of 1789. In the images of merchants, usurers, bankers and entrepreneurs, Balzac captured the appearance of the new master of life - the bourgeoisie. He showed people greedy and cruel, without honor and conscience, making their fortunes through overt and secret crimes.
The pernicious power of capital penetrates into all spheres human life. The bourgeoisie subjugates the state (“Dark Deed”, “Deputy from Arsi”), runs the countryside (“Peasants”), spreads its pernicious influence on the spiritual activity of people - on science and art ("Lost Illusions"). The destructive effect of the “financial principle” also affects privacy of people. Under the poisonous action of calculation, the human personality degrades, family ties and family break up, love and friendship collapse. Egoism, which develops on the basis of monetary relations, becomes the cause of human suffering.
The destructive effect of money on human personality and human relations with artistic expressiveness shown in the story "Gobsek".
In the center of the story is the rich usurer Gobsek. Despite the millionth fortune, he lives very modestly and closed. Gobsek rents a room resembling a monastic cell in a gloomy, damp house that was formerly a monastery hotel. On interior decoration his dwelling, his whole way of life bears the stamp of austerity and regularity.
Gobsek is alone. He has no family, no friends, he broke all ties with relatives, because he hated his heirs and "did not even think that anyone would take over his fortune even after his death." One single passion - the passion for accumulation - swallowed up in his soul all other feelings: he knows neither love, nor pity, nor compassion.
Balzac uses the details of the portrait to reveal the inner essence of his hero. In appearance Gobsek immobility, deadness, detachment from all earthly, human passions are combined with something predatory and sinister. Ash yellow tones and comparisons with precious metals make it clear to the reader that it was the passion for gold that destroyed the human element in him, made him dead even during his lifetime.
The story depicts the social environment in which Gobsek operates, accurately outlines the two opposite poles of his contemporary society. On the one hand, the poor, honest workers, doomed to a dull existence (the seamstress Fanny Malvaux, the solicitor Derville), on the other hand, a handful of rich people who spend their days in pursuit of luxury and pleasures (the young Comte de Tray, Comtesse de Resto), whose moral character presented in a sharply repulsive form.
With great practical experience and penetrating mind, Gobsek deeply comprehended the inner essence of contemporary society. He saw life in its naked nakedness, in its dramatic contrasts, and realized that in a society where there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, genuine driving force public life are money. Gobsek says: “What is life but a machine that is set in motion by money”, “of all earthly blessings, there is only one that is reliable enough to make it worth it for a person to chase after it. Is this gold". Hobsek's passion for hoarding is a natural product of the bourgeois system, a concentrated expression of its inner essence.
Using the example of Gobsek, Balzac shows that money not only kills the human personality, but also brings destruction to the life of the whole society. Gobsek, closed in his cell, is not at all as harmless as it might seem at first glance. His moral: “It’s better to push yourself than to let others push you.”
With tremendous power, the destructive nature of Gobsek's hoarding is revealed at the end of the story. By the end of his life, his greed turns into an insane mania. He becomes an insatiable "boa constrictor", completely absorbing various gifts brought by clients. When, after the death of Gobsek, his pantries were opened, it turned out that huge masses of goods lay and rotted in them without any use.
The writer masterfully shows the destructive processes that take place both in the spiritual and material spheres of bourgeois society.
(No Ratings Yet)
- Since the advent of money in human society, they have gained the power that is able to curb human thinking. As in the Middle Ages, today a person is not capable of anything for the sake of money ... Question ...
- THE IMAGE OF GOBSEC IN HONORE DE BALZAC'S STORY OF THE SAME NAME I own the world, and the world has no power over me. O. de Balzac Creativity French writer Honore de Balzac was a significant milestone...
- Balzac - real master creating colorful images. The heroes of his works are bright, unusual, and their actions make you think about the read work. This is exactly what the Image of Gobsek from the story of the same name is. Confirm that...
- In the center of the plot are two artist girls Sue and Jonesy. Young, ambitious, funny. Another artist, Berman, also lives in their house. An overweight, rough sixty-year-old man, whose body was at the same time a satire ...
- Crosscutting Themes Moral Strength Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War. (On the example of M. Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man” and V. Rasputin’s story “Live and Remember”) June 22, one thousand nine hundred ...
- From the very first pages of The Idiot, the reader finds himself in a world where millionaires, capitalists, businessmen, usurers and adventurers play the main role. TO strong of the world this is of course possible in the first place...
- What is money? Just papers or a bunch of possibilities? I guess it all depends on the people who use them. For some, money is something that can be exchanged for food, and someone ...
- Money is paper bill or great opportunity? It all depends on how people perceive this concept. Now, under money, a simple layman understands a certain amount of paper endowed with individual characteristics. But...
- Do you agree with the opinion of G. A. Byaloy that “Bazarov’s strength in the face of death reaches the proportions of heroism”? Arguing about the statement of G. A. Byaly, consider social, political, philosophical ...
- I believed these adults that today's youth can no longer be surprised by anything. Yes, and we do not strive for surprise, because we have enough of our outrageousness and steepness. One February frosty day walked...
- The plot of the story is extremely simple. The emperor, having read about the nightingale, wanted to see and hear him. And he was very surprised to see a nondescript little gray bird, because he imagined it completely different. And when...
- THE ATTRACTIVE FORCE OF A. BLOK'S POEMS The history of Russian literature knows many remarkable poets who were revered, valued, respected, proud and admired. But never, as the critic G. V. Adamovich stated, was there ...
- Friendship is a great power great strength- friendship. What is her strength, you ask? First, a true friend will never let you down, will help you in Hard time. If I forgot at home...
- To reveal to a person the depths of his soul - this is achieved to one degree or another by every writer. One of the main, perhaps the main goals of art is to reveal this secret. Especially this...
- THE POWER OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP (according to the fairy tale by H. K. Andersen “ The Snow Queen”) We get acquainted with the tales of an amazing Danish storyteller before we have learned to read. "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" and " ugly duck"," Thumbelina "...
- GREAT EARTH LOVE IS THE DRIVING FORCE OF AA AKHMATOVA'S LYRICS A. Akhmatova is one of the brightest and most original poets of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. main topic her early works- subject...
- "Russian man on rendez vous”(The hero of the story “Asya” by I. S. Turgenev in the assessment of N. G. Chernyshevsky) N. G. Chernyshevsky begins his article “Russian man on rendez vous” with a description of the impression ...
- In all ages, man has sought to know his "I". One of the main, perhaps the main goals of art is the disclosure of this secret. To open to a person the depths of his soul, to make him better, stronger...
- FOREIGN LITERATURE HONORE DE BALZAC (1799-1850) Born in ancient French city Toure. At the age of sixteen, Balzac comes to Paris to study law. The young man could not engage in jurisprudence for a long time: he understood his own ...
- Alexander Blok devoted his first cycle of poems to beautiful lady, the prototype of which was his future wife Lyubov Mendeleeva. Relations with her were very difficult, although the poet was familiar with his chosen one...
- THE POWER OF A FEMALE CHARACTER IN A.P. PLATONOV’S STORY “THE SANDY TEACHER” A. Platonov is one of the brightest and most original prose writers of the 20th century, his fate and the fate of his works was difficult...
- We learn about the distant history of Rus' not only from chronicles that dryly outline specific events, but also from heartfelt epics and fairy tales full of poetic fiction. Heroes of epics became both warriors-heroes, and ...
- The story “The Black Monk”, in my opinion, is one of the best works A. Chekhov. It reflected the deep philosophy of the author, and also conveyed those feelings of anxiety and anxiety, which, according to the memoirs of contemporaries,...
- FICTION AND HISTORICAL TRUTH IN A. S. PUSHKIN'S STORY "THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER" creative fantasy and amazing intuition, which helped him to correctly guess events where not... Condemning the callousness and heartlessness of Bashmachkin's colleagues who mocked him, and the "significant person", who actually turned out to be an immoral, insignificant, cowardly type, the author uses the means of realism. This and internal logic...
- Master of the plot lyrical story on historical theme N. M. Karamzin showed himself in “Natalya, the Boyar’s Daughter”, which served as a transition from “Letters of a Russian Traveler” and “ Poor Lisa” to “History of the Russian State”. IN...
- IN last years Pushkin's life theme peasant uprising was one of the central in his work. In the 30s years XIX century, the number of peasant revolts and indignations increased, directed primarily against ...
- Inner world"Petersburg dreamer" in the story "White Nights" by F. Dostoevsky Plan I. Features of the genre, composition of the story "White Nights" by F. Dostoevsky. II. The character of the narrator in the story. 1. Heart, full of love. 2....
Each era has its own problems and priorities. In France in 1789, financial well-being was in the first place. But the writer showed what destructive power gold can have. After all, by providing people with greater opportunities for well-being and achieving their goals, at the same time, the precious metal puts on a pedestal material values. Society in the race for prosperity forgets about the spiritual. The French bourgeoisie of those times: merchants, bankers, usurers, entrepreneurs - that's new look the master of life, the embodiment of success. But Honore de Balzac focused the attention of readers precisely on the negative impact of wealth, which makes a person a greedy, cruel creature who does not know conscience and honor, ready to commit not only secret, but also obvious crimes for the sake of his fortune.
The pernicious power of capital creeps into all spheres of public and private life of people. Gold, like poison, changes a person's personality. As a result, he degrades, his needs are reduced to the level of an animal. In such an atmosphere, family ties are not valued, there is no respect for the family, friendship and love collapse. The rich have selfish natures and make those who do not fall under the destructive influence of money suffer.
The power of gold is very expressively shown by Balzac in the guise of Gobsek, a rich usurer. He managed to become a millionaire, but this in no way affected his lifestyle. He is still closed and modest, does not have his own housing, but rents a tiny room in a damp and gloomy house. He became a victim of his own unhealthy economy and regularity.
Wealth made Gobsek lonely. But it doesn't seem to bother him at all. He himself would not allow someone to inherit all his savings after his death. Therefore, he has no friends and family, and he cut off all family ties. He is alien to normal human feelings: pity, sympathy, love and friendship. He has only one passion - to accumulate.
Honore de Balzac specifically details the portrait of the protagonist in such a way as to demonstrate his true essence as much as possible. His external deadness, immobility and detachment from everything earthly is transformed into sinister and predatory features. It was gold that made him dead during his lifetime and killed the human element in him.
Gobsek is presented in the work against the background of a two-sided social environment. These are the rich who have devoted their lives to pleasure and luxury. Their moral character is shown repulsively. On the other hand, they are poor, but at the same time honest workers. They are doomed to a miserable and dull existence, and sometimes even survival. Gobsek, seeing such a contrast in society, quickly decided which side he wanted to be on. He realized that main force V modern life are money. The usurer emphasizes that only financial well-being can be life purpose. This is the reliable support that makes you confidently live the days allotted by fate.
Gobsek owes his passion for hoarding to the bourgeois system that divided society into rich and poor. And he had a choice: either they would crush him, or he himself would do it with others. Gobsek chose the latter, as no one wishes the worst for himself.
It cannot be said that absolutely any relationship is alien to the main character. But then again, the only ones that were in his life are of a business nature. It's about on the relationship between creditors and debtors. True, in this role, Gobsek is still devoid of any humanity. He is terrible in dealing with people. No one has been able to pity him yet. He profits from the needs, vices, grief and absolutely does not feel the pangs of conscience.
At the end of the story, the destructive power of gold is revealed to its full potential. Gobsek's greed and insatiability in old age develops into madness and hoarding mania. After his death, a lot of damaged property was found in the pantries. And no one regretted the death of Gobsek ...
The destructive power of money is not the only thing Balzac wrote about:
- Summary of the novel by Honore de Balzac "Gobsek"
- "Gobsek", artistic analysis of the novel by Honore de Balzac
- Composition based on the story of Honore de Balzac "Gobsek"
I option
It's amazing how money changes and enslaves people! “If the king himself owed me, countess, and did not pay on time, I would sue him ...,” says the usurer Gobsek to Countess de Restaud, ruining her children for the sake of the scoundrel Maxime de Tray. The usurer is entertained by the opportunity to look into the innermost depths of the human heart, into someone else's life without embellishment. An ingot of metal in the hands of a human automaton is equivalent human heart: "I see only hunted deer in my house, followed by a whole pack of lenders." The secret price of bills that fall into the hands of a usurer is despair, stupidity, recklessness, love or compassion. Gobsek compares his clients with the actors who give a theatrical performance for him, and himself with God reading in their hearts. He loves to soil carpets with dirty shoes. luxury homes- not out of petty pride, but to make you feel the clawed paw of Inevitability.
Gobsek believes that there is nothing vicious on earth, there are only conventions, only the feeling invested by nature is unshakable, -\u003e the instinct of self-preservation. Of all earthly goods, he singles out only one reliable enough to make it worth chasing after him - gold. And his only joy is vanity. Gold in the bud contains human vices and whims, material possibilities. Gobsek's gold owns the world, this is his happiness and joy, he has fun, controlling the destinies of people and watching their passions. The usurer claims that he is rich enough to buy the conscience of clients, to rule over all-powerful ministers. Gobsek is the ruler of the destinies of the Parisians, quiet, unknown to anyone. For him, all life is a machine driven by money, gold is the spiritual essence of the whole society. But the usurer hates his heirs and does not allow the thought that someone will become the owner of his fortune.
None of his neighbors knows whether he is poor or rich, whether he has relatives or friends. Due to excessive secrecy and caution, Gob-sec refused his own gold coin, which fell out of his pocket and was kindly picked up by a neighbor. His wrinkles keep the secret of terrible trials, sudden terrible events, unexpected successes, wealth and ruin, mortal dangers. The moneylender tried every opportunity to get rich, even trying to find gold buried in America.
Over the years, the wealthy Gobsek turned into a mystery with seven seals, into a golden idol, not knowing that in the world there is a woman's love and happiness, feelings, there is God. For Gobseck, the world existed only to travel through it and ransack it, weigh it, evaluate it, and rob it. But, of course, everything is relative. And Gobsek dies all alone, and, as you know, you cannot take money and palaces with you to the grave.
II option
Top of the French critical realism- this is the work of Honore de Balzac, the greatest master of the realistic novel.
One of the best works of Balzac is the story "Gobsec", the hero of which is the personification of the power of gold over people. Gobsek, who was already 76 years old, rented two poorly furnished rooms in one of the gloomy, damp houses in Paris. He was an "automaton man" preoccupied with collecting high interest in time from the bills of his victims who borrowed money from him, or, since "things ended just like that, appropriate their property and jewelry."
Gobsek, imbued with confidence in Derville, shared his thoughts with him. He had a consistent, but frightening in its frankness, in its cynicism, system of views in which we, the readers, can easily detect the worldly philosophy of the miser.
“Of all earthly blessings,” said Gobsek, “there is only one that is reliable enough to make it worth a man to chase after him. This...
gold. Money is a commodity that can, with a clear conscience, be sold dearly or cheaply, as the case may be.
Gobsek did not believe in the morality of people, in their decency. “Man is the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, everywhere it is inevitable. So it’s better to push yourself than to let others push you.” Gobsek is the usurer of the time when money becomes the most important force in public life. People like Gobseck, who own them in unlimited quantities, hold in their hands merchants and businessmen, ministers and aristocrats of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, writers and artists. To control the destinies, and perhaps even the lives of these "people who consider themselves" the salt of the earth "and to dictate their conditions to them, to be a witness to their humiliation - that's what Gobsek is intoxicated with.
“My gaze is like that of the Lord,” says Gobsek. — I read in the hearts; nothing is hidden from me, nothing is denied to the one who tightens and unties money bag. I am rich enough to buy the conscience of those who govern ministers, from clerks to their mistresses. Isn't that power? I can, having the most beautiful women enjoy their most gentle caresses. Isn't that a pleasure?"
Gobsek embodies the most negative traits acquisitiveness. He is endowed with a remarkable mind, capable of broad generalizations. Philosophy is at the heart of his outlook on life. whole era: “In gold,” says Gobsek, “all human powers are concentrated.”
Derville believed in human nobility, from Gobsek he learned the truth about the fierce struggle, the more tragic the scenes associated with the ruin of the Resto family, which he witnessed, seemed to Derville.
Derville understood the ominous reason for Gobseck's dominance over many people, and also true reason their tragedies, which always had common ground: one took money from another. “No, really, it all comes down to money!” he exclaims. Gobsek for Balzac is the living embodiment of that predatory force that is persistently making its way to power.
And what is being done now, have we gone a step forward or have we remained in place? Everyone claims that we are making progress, but is it true? All relationships are built on money, nothing happens without them. Rarely are marriages based on true love. And I want to ask if gobseks exist now?
Yes! Our world, our time is simply filled with such stingy people who work and only for the sake of money. How can culture and education develop if we stand still? The destructive power of money has taken over humanity. We can save ourselves only by capes.
III option
Above all blessings for them coupon and rent ...
Balzac saw the "nerve of life" of his time, "the spiritual essence of the entire current society", at the same time the Evil and the Deity of the bourgeois world in monetary relations that dominated everything. A new deity, a fetish, an idol - money, distorted human lives, took away children from their parents, wives from their husbands ... All these problems are behind the individual episodes of the Gobsek novel.
In the center of the story is the figure of the usurer Gobsek, who embodies the essence of the monetary society. Gobsek is a wizened, pointed-nosed old man, hiding yellow, like a ferret, eyes without eyelashes under a large visor of a shabby cap, with a pale impassive face, “as if poured out of silver,” the personification of avarice. He lives in a poor room with a liquid rug by the bed and a peephole front door, eats bread and coffee with milk, walks in a shabby dress, and in his pantry mountains of food rot, heaps of gold and silver are piled up, which he does not trust the bank. His avarice turned into a manic passion, senseless hoarding on the threshold of death acquired the character of madness. The rich beggar dries and languishes among the treasures. Debtors pay Gobseck both in money and in kind; they bring him silverware and caskets of family jewels, baskets of fresh fish and pâtés. He could sell these supplies to some shop owner, but he fears that he will give a price below the market price. And supplies rot. The stench of decay, dead heaps of goods under lock and key, and among them a dying old gruel, shaking over his treasures. Hobsek's accumulation became an end in itself. Greedy passion devoured him.
The result of the life of a usurer is worthy of him - he dies alone, despised by everyone, in a dirty room. One of the bloodsuckers passes away - leaves, leaving millions acquired on tears and blood.
There are many features of romantic aesthetics in the novel. The romantic exaggeration of the mystery and power of Gobsek gives him the character of almost supernatural being. Balzac was opposed to romantic effects, but here, apparently, he wanted to show the destructive power of money. But Gobsek's life could have turned out differently! Since his mother assigned him as a cabin boy on a ship, he lived a long life full of vicissitudes and dangers: he starved, endured violence and cruelty, was a pirate, spy, gold digger, but always and everywhere he was possessed by an irrepressible thirst for wealth. By the time the novel is set, Gobsek is a silent, outwardly inconspicuous old man who is in fact one of the rulers of Paris. Gobsek secretly managed the banks, the affairs of the stock exchange, trade, and loans. This unofficial association of financiers turns out to be the only real power in France.
Gobsek's life, or rather its finale, could not have been otherwise. In the whole tragic situation, Gobsek sees only his entertainment - he does not sympathize with any of the people, he does not try to save anyone from suicide or execution. The thirst for gold has etched even kindred feelings in his soul: his only heiress commits suicide in unbearable need.
From Derville, he takes extortionate interest, and leaves the Comte de Restaud's family without funds, taking advantage of a fictitious will and the countess's confusion. Gobsek has a wolfish rule not to spare anyone, not to help anyone, but to use what one can take free of charge.
Gobsek despises people for their inability to use wealth, for their inability to save gold, because only it, in his opinion, gives true strength and power. Aristocrats grovel before him, secular ladies are ready to crawl on their knees, because he has their vile secrets in his hands, and bills in his pocket. His reasoning is frank and cynical: “I am rich enough to buy a human conscience, to manage all-powerful ministers through their favorites, starting with clerical servants and ending with mistresses. Isn't this power?.. But aren't power and pleasure the essence of your new bourgeois system?
Balzac draws the final conclusion that the old man knew how to weigh everything, take into account, never compromised his advantage, but he “did not take into account” only one thing, that hoarding cannot be the goal of a reasonable human life.
IV option
The central image of the small Balzac story "Gobsec" is the image of a great generalizing power. It embodied one of the main themes of world literature - the theme of stinginess. Molière's harpagon, Gogol's Plushkin, Miserly Pushkin- people who have felt the power that money gives to its owner, and who have submitted to this power. Gobsek is another prominent figure in this gallery of types.
Gobsek's profession is a usurer. This profession makes it possible to get rich without doing anything, giving money on bail. Gobsek learned well main principle relations in society: “It’s better to push yourself than to allow yourself to be pushed.” He went through a harsh school of life: "At the age of ten ... sailed to the Dutch possessions of the East Indies, where he wandered for twenty years." He served as a cabin boy, was a gold digger, a pirate, a spy. Years of wandering, the lack of love, warmth, participation in the life of the hero gave rise to the philosophy of a spider with a stranglehold.
Behind the colorless, inconspicuous appearance of the hero lies a predator waiting in the wings. His wealth is also hidden from human eyes behind a beggarly situation. Here, firebrands barely smolder in the fireplace, the desk is covered with shabby cloth. The reader involuntarily asks himself the question: why does this "man save money, if even he himself does not bring any joy. Wealth in itself, money for the sake of money - this is the goal of Gobsek's life, who knows neither sympathy nor compassion , "man-bill".
Having taken possession of the wealth of the Resto family, Gobsek does not want to part with him, even anticipating death. Already seriously ill, he is involved in a major scam, does not disdain bribes, offerings: “Every morning he received gifts and looked at them greedily, like some kind of minister or nabob, considering whether it is worth signing a pardon for such a price. The dying Gobsek, already losing his last strength, rises from his bed: it seems to him that gold is rolling around the room.
Instructing the young attorney Derville, Gobsek argues that there is nothing lasting in the world, that the concept of morality is conditional, and the laws of morality are verbiage, and “out of all earthly goods, there is only one sufficiently reliable ... This is ... gold.” He claims that the basis of relations between people is selfishness. He reveals to Derville the secret springs of the organization of society, the state, where "to protect their wealth, the rich chose tribunals, judges, the guillotine."
Indeed, next to the usurer Gobseck, Balzac shows secular society in which money dominates people. Drawing the image of the Countess de Resto, the author tears off the mask of decency, refinement, piety from the aristocracy. The countess rummages through the documents of her husband who has just died, in fear of poverty, in the struggle for an inheritance. Exposed due to insignificant person, she is not tormented by remorse, her conscience is money. A large inheritance received by the young de Resto reconciles the family of Camille Granlier with the scandalous reputation of his mother. Money is the law of life not only for the bourgeois, but also for the aristocracy.
In the story "Gobsek" Balzac shows that money can completely subjugate a person, deprive him of everything human. This story is a formidable warning to the reader: empty hoarding leads to spiritual death.
The work of Honore de Balzac became the pinnacle of the development of Western European realism XIX century. Creative manner the writer absorbed all the best from such masters artistic word like Rabelais, Shakespeare, Scott and many others. At the same time, Balzac brought a lot of new things to literature. One of the most significant monuments of this outstanding writer became the story "Gobsek".
The story in a concentrated form reflects Balzac's understanding of the laws of the bourgeois world, which came to him during his work in a notary's office. The writer saw from the inside and therefore could dazzling portray the whole "oiled mechanism of any wealth." And in his story, he reveals the whole essence of bourgeois society, where robbery, betrayal, dirty machinations are in the law. With all the power of drama, the author demonstrates countless tragedies generated by the dominance of sales relations in society, typical conflicts based on "omnipotence, omniscience, all the goodness of money." Struggle for
The state no longer becomes an addition or detail, but the basis of the plot, the central idea of the entire narrative.
The protagonist of the story is a millionaire usurer - one of the rulers of the new France. His image is very complex and contradictory. "Two creatures live in it: a miser and a philosopher, a vile creature and a sublime one," lawyer Derville says about him. The past of the hero is rather uncertain: perhaps he was a corsair and plowed all the seas and oceans, traded in people and state secrets. Full of mysteries too real life. The origins of his immense wealth are unknown. But one thing is beyond doubt - this is an exceptional, strong personality, endowed with a deep philosophical mindset. Gobsek is able to notice small parts and with unique insight to judge the world, life and man. These qualities of the hero are in some sense even sympathetic to the author. However, unfortunately, Gobsek directs his mind and insight into the wrong direction. Exploring the laws of the world, he comes to the conclusion that "all the forces of mankind are concentrated in gold ... what is life, if not a machine driven by money? Gold is the spiritual essence of the whole society." It's around finance the whole social life revolves, all the thoughts of people are directed only towards gold. And having come to such an understanding of the laws of life, Gobsek makes such an ideology a guide to his own actions. Money completely enslaved his mind and thoughts. "This old man," says Derville, "suddenly grew up in my eyes, became a fantastic figure, the personification of gold." Yes, Gobseck's cult of gold is consecrated by philosophically meaningful power finance and causes some social activity of the hero. However, gold has already become for him task and the content of his whole life, gradually ousting from his soul all the positive beginnings, which, perhaps, could manifest themselves under other circumstances. Giving finance V debt at incredibly high interest rates, the usurer openly robbed people, shamelessly taking advantage of their plight, extreme need and complete dependence on him. Callous, soulless, he has become not even just cruel man, but "man-machine", "man-promissory note".
The destructive principle contained in the hoarding passion, the passion for money, caused Balzac's irreconcilable critical attitude towards the bourgeoisie, who sought to assert their dominance in society with the help of gold. The image of Gobsek became for its creator a living embodiment of that powerful predatory force that irresistibly made its way to power, stopping at nothing, using any, even the most low and vile means to achieve his goal, and not for a moment doubting himself. The author tried to understand the essence of this force, its origins, in order to dazzling and truthfully reveal all its foundations, expose, show the world in all its meanness and meanness, awaken in people human consciousness, morality, morality. The writer strongly criticizes the material interests on which the policy was based, government, laws. And he does it so convincingly and truthfully that from his books, according to F. Engels, we learn more "than from the books of all specialists - historians, economists, statisticians of this period, taken together."
The accuracy and breadth of the depiction of French reality are combined in Honore de Balzac with a depth of penetration into the internal patterns of social life. He reveals the class conflicts of the era, reveals the bourgeois nature of the social development of France after the revolution of 1789. In the images of merchants, usurers, bankers and entrepreneurs, he captured the appearance of the new master of life - the bourgeoisie. He showed people greedy and cruel, without honor and conscience, making their fortunes through overt and secret crimes.
The pernicious power of capital penetrates into all spheres of human life. The bourgeoisie subjugates the state (“Dark Deed”, “Deputy from Arsi”), manages the village (“Peasants”), spreads its pernicious influence on the spiritual activity of people - on science and art (“Lost Illusions”). The destructive effect of the "financial principle" affects the private life of people. Under the poisonous action of calculation, the human personality degrades, family ties and family break up, love and friendship collapse. Egoism, which develops on the basis of monetary relations, becomes the cause of human suffering.
The destructive effect of money on the human personality and human relations is shown with great artistic expressiveness in the story.
In the center of the story is the rich usurer Gobsek. Despite the millionth fortune, he lives very modestly and closed. Gobsek rents a room resembling a monastic cell in a gloomy, damp house that was formerly a monastery hotel. On the interior of his dwelling, on his whole way of life, there is a seal of austerity and regularity.
Gobsek is alone. He has no family, no friends, he broke all ties with relatives, because he hated his heirs and "did not even think that anyone would take over his fortune even after his death." One single passion - the passion for accumulation - swallowed up in his soul all other feelings: he knows neither love, nor pity, nor compassion.
Balzac uses the details of the portrait to reveal the inner essence of his hero. In the outward appearance of Gobsek, immobility, deadness, detachment from all earthly, human passions are combined with something predatory and sinister. Ash-yellow tones and comparisons with precious metals make it clear to the reader that it was the passion for gold that destroyed the human element in him, made him dead even during his lifetime.
The story depicts the social environment in which Gobsek operates, accurately outlines the two opposite poles of his contemporary society. On the one hand, the poor, honest workers, doomed to a dull existence (the seamstress Fanny Malvaux, the solicitor Derville), on the other hand, a handful of rich people who spend their days in pursuit of luxury and pleasures (the young Comte de Tray, Comtesse de Resto), whose moral character presented in a sharply repulsive form.
Possessing great practical experience and a penetrating mind, Gobsek deeply comprehended the inner essence of contemporary society. He saw life in its undisguised nakedness, in its dramatic contrasts, and realized that in a society where there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, the real driving force of social life is money. Gobsek says: “What is life but a machine that is set in motion by money”, “of all earthly goods, there is only one that is reliable enough to make it worth it for a person to chase after it. Is this gold". Hobsek's passion for hoarding is a natural product of the bourgeois system, a concentrated expression of its inner essence.
Using the example of Gobsek, Balzac shows that money not only kills the human personality, but also brings destruction to the life of the whole society. Gobsek, closed in his cell, is not at all as harmless as it might seem at first glance. His moral: "It's better to push yourself than to let others push you."
Of all the possible forms of communication with people, he retained only one - the relationship of the creditor with the debtors. And in this role, he is terrible. People come to Gobsek's cold room with a plea, but no one has yet been able to touch the moneylender's heart. The source of Gobsek's enrichment is human misfortunes, vices, need. The rapaciousness and parasitism of Gobseck cause especially deep indignation when they manifest themselves in relation to honest people such as Fanny Malvo and Derville.
With tremendous power, the destructive nature of Gobsek's hoarding is revealed at the end of the story. By the end of his life, his greed turns into an insane mania. He becomes an insatiable "boa constrictor", completely absorbing the various gifts brought by clients. When, after the death of Gobsek, his pantries were opened, it turned out that huge masses of goods lay and rotted in them without any use.
The writer masterfully shows the destructive processes that take place both in the spiritual and material spheres of bourgeois society.
