Honore de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert's Writings on Capitalism

2476 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Culture of capitalism

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 exploitive nature it excites in people. Two authors, who were writing and observing these changes during this time in France, Honore de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert, exemplify the demoralization of a people caused by the onslaught of capitalism, especially concerning the influence of this exploitive system as it stains everyday life with its deceptive characteristics. Through evaluating Balzac’s Pere Goriot and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, it is evident that the exploitive aspects of capitalism permeate not only through the lives of a spectrum of characters, but also throughout the government as it exploits its country’s citizens.

Balzac comments on the exploitation of family member via the actions of Eugene Rastignac and Pere Goriot, the main characters in Balzac’s Pere Goriot. Pere Goriot’s role in the exploitation of family members is rather overt; however, Eugene’s role is easy to overlook. Eugene uses whatever means necessary to work his way into the high ranks of Parisian society. His desperation to join these wealthy individuals proves to be his demise, but it is not the entirety of his flaws. The influence of capitalistic ideals of Eugene’s time forces him to exploit his family for his own selfish ends by reques...

... middle of paper ...

...e scheme, no matter how many parties are involved. The government’s role during the rising of capitalism is seen as an oppressive force that cannot be overthrown. Balzac portrays the government as something that openly deceives public in order to benefit the most with no regard to the human condition. On the other hand, Flaubert portrays the government as quasi Machiavellian in that it covertly deceives its country’s people. Although the authors’ beliefs may not be clear on how they conceive the exploitive aspects due to the historical significance of capitalism, it is evident that they are aware of this social change and all of its influences on society.

Work Cited

Balzac, Honore de. Pere Goriot. Trans. A.J. Krailsheimer. New York: Oxford, 1991.

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Trans. Lowell Bair. Ed. Leo Bersani. New York: Bantam Classics, 1972.

Show More
Related

  • French Revolution Dbq

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beginning in mid-1789, and lasting until late-1799, the French Revolution vastly changed the nation of France throughout its ten years. From the storming of the Bastille, the ousting of the royal family, the Reign of Terror, and all the way to the Napoleonic period, France changed vastly during this time. But, for the better part of the last 200 years, the effects that the French Revolution had on the nation, have been vigorously debated by historian and other experts. Aspects of debate have focused around how much change the revolution really caused, and the type of change, as well as whether the changes that it brought about should be looked at as positive or negative. Furthermore, many debate whether the Revolutions excesses and shortcomings can be justified by the gains that the revolution brought throughout the country. Over time, historians’ views on these questions have changed continually, leading many to question the different interpretations and theories behind the Revolutions effectiveness at shaping France and the rest of the world.

    Read More

  • Work and Revolution in France

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    William H. Sewell, Jr.’s Work and Revolution in France: The Language of Labor from the Old Regime to 1848 (1980) is a qualitative analysis of the French labor movement, sweeping three radical revolutionary eras: 1790’s, 1830’s, and 1850’s. Sewell’s strategy encompasses “aggregating and analyzing” (1980: 5) events that would generally be considered the banal factional struggles and encounters of individual French workers. He amasses these facts into a macro-history of the workers’ plight to class-consciousness from the ancien regime to the repressive post-revolutionary era of 1850’s. Sewell frames his historical analysis within the context of the way the workers’ movement utilized the evolving rhetoric to advocate their pro-rights agenda. He performs a stringent investigation on the progression and determination of the use of specific terminology, focusing his lens on how concepts of culture (i.e., ideas, beliefs, and behaviors) aid in shifts of existing structures.

    Read More

  • Exploring Reasons the French Revolution Turned to Terror

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    The France practically changed from being an absolute monarchy to a republic overnight. Everything that the people of France had ever known was changed in a heart-beat. Their once beloved king had just been guillotined and it was now time to set up a new political system. The leaders of the revolution, the Jacobins, imagined a representative government that ruled on the principals of “liberte,” “egalite,” and “fraternity,” liberty, equality and broth...

    Read More

  • Edna’s Suicide in The Awakening

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    Arnavon, Cyrille. "An American Madam Bovary." Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1994. 184-188.

    Read More

  • The Communist Manifesto Essay

    1604 Words  | 4 Pages

    From the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century major historical events such as the Industrial revolution had occurred. During this period of time Europe was switching into an economy that is focused mostly on the industrial field. From this emerged two social-economic classes, the rich bourgeoisie and the poor proletariats. Furthermore, tension brewed between the two groups since the bourgeoisie source of wealth was from the exploitation of the proletariats. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ book

    Read More

  • Government And The French Revolution

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before the revolution, life in France was still observing feudal rights. The monarch, nobles, and the clergy lived a life on the back of the people. It was a very dark time for the peasants with no light in sight. The large mass of peasants grew poorer and living in famine. Crime was the way of life for the peasants because food resources began to become scarce. Leading up to the revolution, the beginning of a middle class began develop. This new class would be the leading force for the revolution in France. After the revolution the French Revolution failed to establish a representative government or a constitutional monarchy. Before the revolution, France began with an absolute monarchy. They completely abolished the monarchy by cutting off the king’s and queen’s head and ended up with Napoleon Bonaparte. The French revolution did give the people a taste of liberty, equality, and power, but that was short lived. The co...

    Read More

  • History as a Theatre

    3309 Words  | 7 Pages

    However, what Marx found in “the Eighteenth Brumaire” is that in a short period of time, societies as theatrical-spheres could function as the main stages of historical processes. The French peasant class’ support to Napoleon, in Marx’s view, was a result of the politician’s self-representation as the reincarnation of his uncle, the “true” representative of the class. For the part of the peasant class, they were easily deceived as they had a faith that someone named Napoleon would save them. As people must make decisions based on imperfect knowledge, “acting” - as in literally sense- constitutes an important aspect in the historical processes.

    Read More

  • Capitalism In The Communist Manifesto

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Communist Manifesto was published in 1848, a period of political turmoil in Europe. Its meaning in today’s capitalistic world is a very controversial issue. Some people, such as the American government, consider socialism taboo and thus disregard the manifesto. They believe that capitalism, and the world itself, has changed greatly from the one Marx was describing in the Manifesto and, therefore, that Marx’s ideas cannot be used to comprehend today’s economy. Others find that the Manifesto highlights issues that are still problematic today. Marx’s predicative notions in the Communist Manifesto are the key to understanding modern day capitalism.

    Read More

  • A Brief Summary of the Nicaraguan Revolution

    1926 Words  | 4 Pages

    Each social class in France has its own reasons for wanting a change in government. The aristocracy was upset by the king’s power, while the Bourgeoisie was upset by the privileges of the aristocracy. The peasants and urban workers were upset by their burdensome existence. The rigid, unjust social structure meant that citizens were looking for change because “all social classes.had become uncomfortable and unhappy with the status quo.” (Nardo, 13)

    Read More

  • Does Capitalism Have A Future Summary

    2006 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Does Capitalism Have A Future?” is a scholarly book written by five scholars in an attempt to explore the possibility of a future collapse of global capitalism and proposes a hypothesis for the possibility of post-capitalism. Wallerstein, who is one of the scholars who wrote the book, argues that certain social movements of our contemporaneous days will create a transition to a post-capitalist world. He adds that the world’s contemporary struggle is an indication of the forthcoming new mode of production in the human history, which will most likely be a non-capitalist mode of production. “Does Capitalism Have A Future?” clearly states that there will be a struggle to determine the structure of a post-capitalist system and it also states that this change will happen soon, specifically in the next 3 or 4 decades. “What we need to analyze are the probable organizational strategies on each side in this struggle that started more or less in the 1970s and will continue in all probability to circa 2040 or 2050” .

    Read More

  • The French Revolution: 1789 - 1799

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    The bad living conditions of France and its depressed economy was one of the primary drivers for the French Revolution. The people of France were so poor that they had no shoes to wear and no food to eat. The poverty of France breaks its economy at its root. The economy got so bad that “By December 1788, there was a nationwide revolt against food shortages and rising prices, which continued to spread till the summer of 1789, when there was another bad harvest”(Todd 528). One ...

    Read More

  • Reading a Passage in Balzac’s Père Goriot

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    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. This drives him further on to his mission of making his fortune. In a close reading of this passage the narrator takes turns of telling Rastignac’s point of view and his own. The adjectives used to describe Rastignac’s actions and thoughts add to the sense of urgency he feels. The sharp contrast between the elegant and the common is made more prevalent in Rastignac’s eyes.

    Read More

  • Reality vs. Imagination in Emma Bovary's Predicament

    3641 Words  | 8 Pages

    Madame Bovary, a novel by Gustave Flaubert, describes life in the provinces. While depicting the provincial manners, customs, codes and norms, the novel puts great emphasis on its protagonist, Emma Bovary who is a representative of a provincial woman. Concerning the fundamental typicality in Emma Bovary’s story, Flaubert points out: “My poor Bovary is no doubt suffering and weeping at this very moment in twenty French villages at once.” (Heath, 54). Yet, Emma Bovary’s story emerges as a result of her difference from the rest of the society she lives in. She is in conflict with her mediocre and tedious surroundings in respect of the responses she makes to the world she lives in. Among the three basic responses made by human beings, Emma’s response is “dreaming of an impossible absolute” while others around her “unquestionably accept things as they are” or “coldly and practically profiteer from whatever circumstances they meet.” (Fairlie, 33). However, Emma’s pursuit of ideals which leads to the imagining of passion, luxury and ecstasy prevents her from seeing the world in a realistic perspective or causes her to confuse reality and imagination with each other.

    Read More

  • The Industrial Revolution And The Development Of Sociology

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the start of the revolution, in 1789, France’s class system changed dramatically (Giddens, 2014). Aristocrats lost wealth and status, while those who were at the bottom of the social ladder, rose in positions. The rise of sociology involved the unorthodox views regarding society and man which were once relevant during the Enlightenment (Nisbet, 2014). Medievalism in France during the eighteenth century was still prevalent in its “legal structures, powerful guilds, in its communes, in the Church, in universities, and in the patriarchal family” (Nisbet, 2014). Philosophers of that time’s had an objective to attempt to eliminate the natural law theory of society (Nisbet, 2014). The preferred outcome was a coherent order in which the mobility of individuals would be unrestricted by the autonomous state (French Revolution). According to Karl Marx, economic status is extremely important for social change. The peasants felt the excess decadence of the ancient regime was at the expense of their basic standards of living, thus fuelling Marx’s idea of class based revolutions and the transition of society (Katz, 2014). This can be observed, for example, in novels such as Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a novel that had a role for mobilizing the attitudes of the

    Read More

  • Lacanian Desire: Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary

    2244 Words  | 5 Pages

    Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert’s first novel and is considered his masterpiece. It has been studied from various angles by the critics. Some study it as a realistic novel of the nineteenth century rooted in its social milieu. There are other critics who have studied it as a satire of romantic sensibility. It is simply assumed that Emma Bovary, the protagonist, embodied naive dreams and empty cliché that author wishes to ridicule, as excesses and mannerisms of romanticism. She is seen as a romantic idealist trapped in a mundane mercantile world. Innumerable theorists have discovered and analysed extensively a variety of questions raised by its style, themes, and aesthetic innovations. In this research paper an attempt has been made to analyse life of Emma Bovary as a paradigm of Lacanian desire.

    Read More

More about Honore de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert's Writings on Capitalism

Open Document