Père Goriot: Chapter 3 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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.