Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Père Goriot, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The False Allure of Wealth
Ambition and Corruption
Manipulation, Delusion, and Betrayal
Family Relationships
Emotions, Sincerity, and Calculation
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.
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.
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.
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.
Themes
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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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
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.
Themes
