And he regrets that he was born too late, already during the Restoration. Julien Sorel is gifted with intelligence, a thirst for knowledge, different abilities. In a small town, he suffers from the fact that he cannot realize himself. His father and brothers look at him as a slacker. The priest recommends Julien as a tutor to the local rich man de Renal, for whom it is important to prove his superiority over others.
The author rates Madame de Renal very highly. And at the same time she is very unhappy, deprived of life. She is beautiful and not stupid. She got married early, without knowing the life of the heart. She is a sincere believer and also caring mother. Julien's appearance turns out to be sharp turn in her life. She is present in class. For Julien, the meeting with Madame de Renal is a success, regarded by his pride as confirmation of his merits. He allows her to love him.
The maid informs the confessor about the connection between de Renal and Julien. Julien leaves the town and goes to the Bezons Seminary. This is the second stage. There they put him in his place. Julien masters the science of hypocrisy. His path to the top, which is going well, is progressing. A significant revolution was the end of the seminary. The head of the Seminary recommends him to the Marquis de Lamo (legitimist, i.e. for the king). The house is secular. The son serves in the regiment. Daughter Matilda is wayward, headstrong. Julien meets the Russian prince and receives notes from him. Julien becomes famous in a short time. Matilda decides to conquer Julien. Invites him on a date to her room. Julien becomes Mathilde's fiancé.
Rumors reach his city. Madame de Renal writes a letter about his past. Julien reads the letter and flies to the town. He shoots Madame de Renal in the church. He is immediately arrested. Julien becomes a victim public relations. The ending is very condensed. The execution is not described. Sincere de Renal and selfish Mathilde. Mathilde arrives at the prison to kidnap Julien. She fails to do this. Then, like Margot, she buys the head of her beloved and buries it with her own hands. The author reports that all the difficulties that arose in the fate of Matilda were resolved. She gave birth far away. De Renal also came to the prison. She asked Julien for forgiveness. Julien understands that she is the only one who is dear to him and worthy of his love. For her, everything ceases to exist. In love she finds inner freedom. Julien asks her to give up thoughts of suicide. She keeps her word.
Name. The name is interpreted in different ways:
1) red – revolution, transformation, black – political reaction.
2) red – life and love, black – death.
3) red and black are the colors of the roulette, and the roulette is the symbol of chance: win/loss.
The root of all evil is the Corsican Napoleon. He did not allow people to live in peace, invaded their thoughts and served as an example of success, embodying the aspirations of the orphaned and wretched, how one can become everything from nothing. Napoleon died long ago, now he is an object of worship. They look up to him. And if somewhere it is not possible to achieve the required results, an unbearable blues spreads there. If Josephine de Beauharnais herself, the conqueror of men’s hearts, fell in love with a man with a bad accent and unassuming appearance, and Napoleon himself, by the age of thirty, carried out a revolutionary coup in Paris and took the direct path to the title of Emperor of the French, then why can’t other ambitious people accomplish something similar? People? And they try. It's good if you don't compare yourself to Napoleon. It is given to the units that emerge from the zeros to repeat his life.
Main character Stendhal’s novel “Red and Black” is an absolute zero. There is nothing in him except ambition. He was lucky enough to have a pretty appearance and a phenomenal memory. Girls fall in love with him, he remembers the Bible by heart. He happily reciprocates the feelings of girls; he does not understand the meaning of the memorized texts. But he needs to become someone, to rise above his position, to get fat for the rank. The ideal for the main character is Napoleon, he knows everything about him. But the main character is not a repetition of Napoleon. The situation is now the same, although no one is stopping him from announcing himself to the world and carrying out a coup in Paris. The main character still remains a zero. He drowns in ambitious desires and commits petty actions. There is not enough scope for emotional impulses, so there is nothing in him that I would like to talk about.
How does Stendhal convey the plot of his work to the reader? He, relying on a newspaper article, builds his own idea of events. Shows the situation in France, describes the province, city, mayor. Dwelling on the details. And then the details take priority, pushing the narrative into the background. It was more important for Stendhal to show inner world characters, their tossing, worries, self-criticism, awareness of their own worthlessness. futility and fussiness. None of them wants to give in, each is afraid of public censure, wants to be above the ordinary. They imagine that they are firm in their actions, rough and inaccessible, while in reality they are softened natures, slippery and repulsive personalities. They are zeros who do not want to become ones.
Stendhal chose a difficult period to reflect on. The temper of the French has subsided, the generation presented on the pages turned out to be lost. Their thoughts and desires do not differ in the degree of significance that their fathers had and that their children will get. The situation in the country has returned to normal: the past has returned and has no intention of losing ground again. At such a time, France was inhabited by amorphous people who lived in the tragedies of empty everyday life. They did not want to make changes; they thought of themselves in contemplation of peace and quiet. But what to do with the ambitions of the few who see their aspirations as reflecting the opinion of the majority? Petty passions they swell to enormous sizes and cause untimely death. Society at that moment was not going to accept their thoughts.
It’s difficult to see the reflection of reality in Stendhal’s work, but it works. The author writes according to the idea of romanticism, highlighting on the pages of “Red and Black” what is happening in shades in a number of moments different from what could actually happen. The main character is overly embellished, the rest suffer excessively characters. Stendhal tried to give the zeros something that could not affect the zeros - they continued to remain zeros. If there were units, they were in a negative value.
About Stendhal's novel "Red and Black" literary critics have been saying for many years. And opinions are often contradictory. Let's look at the summary of Stendhal's "Red and Black". It’s worth starting with the fact that the events take place in the city of Verrieres. The local mayor de Renal is a rich man. He constantly competes with another oligarch who recently acquired two beautiful horses. To compete with him further, he decides to hire a tutor. The son of carpenter Sorel, Julien, who was eighteen years old, was chosen for this post. All thanks to a good recommendation, knowledge of Latin and theology. He is thin in appearance, with delicate features and large black eyes. Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a military man; I am grateful for my knowledge to the regimental doctor who participated in Napoleon’s wars. Due to the fact that times have changed, Julien's only option is to become a priest, which the ambitious hero does not like.
Continuation of the plot
IN summary Stendhal’s “The Red and the Black” is worth noting that in the new home of the wealthy de Renal family, Julien quickly began to be respected. Knowledge of Latin and recitation of pages of the New Testament contributed to this, although at first the mayor’s wife did not like the idea of allowing someone unfamiliar to the children. The maid Eliza fell in love with the main character; she wanted to connect her life with him, because she had an impressive inheritance, but he refused. Julien wanted great fame for himself, although he skillfully hid his secret desires. In the summer, the family moved to the family castle near the village of Verzhi. Surrounded by children and tutor, Madame de Renal realizes that she has feelings for Julien. The main character likes her, but he decides to win her only for the sake of self-affirmation and revenge on the impudent mayor, who talks inappropriately to an educated guy. This was how it was at first, but already on the first night he simply dissolves into a beautiful woman.
New events
In Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black, the happiness of the lovers lasted until the illness of the mistress's son. She saw this as God’s punishment for betrayal and pushed the tutor away. Meanwhile, the servants are already spreading rumors about their affair, Eliza tells Valno about this, and the mayor receives an anonymous letter in the evening. Madame de Renal manages to calm her husband down and convince him of his innocence, but a wide variety of stories are already in the air in the city. To save Julien, Abbot Chelan, who is his mentor, insists on leaving. The guy agrees, but three days later he returns to say goodbye to his beloved. In the Bezason seminary, thanks to a three-hour exam and his knowledge, the main character receives a separate cell and a scholarship. Because of his talent, other students sincerely hate the guy; he chooses rector Pirard as his confessor. He becomes attached to the student, but his position at the post is too precarious.
Continuation of a story
In Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black, Pirard is removed from his post by the Jesuits, but a friend at court, the Marquis of La Mole, secures a transfer to Paris. For his past merits, he is guaranteed one of the largest parishes. Julien gives all his savings to the confessor, as he understands his need. Pirard remembered this event and soon responded kindly. This happened when La Mole received a friend in a mansion and asked who he should take to the post of person in charge of correspondence. The abbot immediately recommended Julien, describing him with the best side. Before going to Paris at the invitation of the Marquis, the main character drops by in Verrieres to see his beloved de Renal. He has to run away from there, because the mayor began to suspect something was wrong. In the capital of France, the central character of the story from the very beginning examines the sights that are associated with Napoleon, and then goes to Pirard. In the evening he was already invited to a joint table at the La Mole estate.
New acquaintance
In Stendhal's work "The Red and the Black", the acquaintance with Mademoiselle Mathilde de La Mole was at first extremely cold. Julien didn't like her, and for a long time he behaved with her as reservedly as possible. For his work for three months, the Marquis gives him a medal. He sees in him the right person, and the reward calms the hero down a little. Now the guy behaves more relaxed and does not consider himself constantly offended. Julien points out that once a year Matilda wears mourning clothes. The girl does this in honor of Boniface's ancestor, whom the queen herself loved. He was beheaded in Paris back in 1574. He begins to have conversations with the marquise, which bring him pleasure; the main character even wants her to fall in love with him. And so it happened soon; the girl’s feelings seemed heroic to her, because because of social status nothing can happen between them.
Love twists and turns
In Stendhal's masterpiece The Red and the Black, Julien continues to be in high spirits because of his fantasies. The real triumph happened at the moment when the young marquise confessed her love to him in a letter. His vanity was gratified by the thought that the lady preferred the son of a carpenter rather than the high-born de Croisenois. When invited into the bedroom, the guy suspected a trap and took a weapon with him, but only the marquise was there. The next day, the thought that they are lovers begins to frighten her and even anger her. At the very first conversation, Julien understood everything and, because of his wounded pride, decided to end everything. Only now he has already fallen in love with Matilda, and in order to win her heart again, he decides to follow the advice of the Russian Prince Korazov. The hero begins to court one of the society ladies, which, to his surprise, helped, with the help of jealousy, to return the love of the marquise. A turning point in the plot occurs at the moment when the Marquise becomes pregnant.
Denouement
To avoid shame, the Marquis of La Mole in the book “Red and Black” by Stendhal decides to create a worthy position in society for Julien. Convinced by his daughter, he agrees to the marriage and gets young son carpenter's patent for the lieutenant of the hussars in the name of Sorel. Main character overjoyed, because soon he will have a brilliant career and a son with his beloved girl. He goes to the regiment, but soon receives news from Matilda from Paris that he needs to return. Upon arrival, he learns that the Marquis of La Mole sent a letter to Madame de Renal in order to find out more about the future husband of his daughter. When Julien saw his description, then without unnecessary words rushed to Verrieres in a post coach. On the pages of the sheet, the main character was described as a careerist, ruthless and not an honest man. IN hometown he buys a gun, enters the church where ex-lover, and shoots her twice.
End
At the end of Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black, Julien was imprisoned, but his victim survived his wounds. This state of affairs made him happy, and now he believes that he can calmly die. In Verrieres, Matilda tries in every possible way to use connections and money in order to save her beloved son of a carpenter. The court's decision is impartial, and the commoner must be hanged. The main character does not ask for mercy, because his main guilt is that he rebelled against his social status. IN last days de Renal herself comes to him in prison and says that the letter was written by her confessor. Julien was incredibly happy to hear this and realized that he had always loved her alone. After the execution of the sentence, Julien's head is buried by Mathilde La Mole, and Madame de Renal lived exactly three more days from that moment.
Creative work
on literature
“Vanity in Stendhal’s novel “The Red and the Black”
students of grade 10-B,
gymnasium No. 5
Melitopol
"A novel is a mirror with which you walk along
big road. It reflects the azure
the sky, then dirty puddles and potholes.
A man walks, taking it upon himself
mirror..."
Stendhal "Red and Black".
stendhal novel conflict vanity
Paradoxically, one of the most outstanding writers 19th century, Stendhal (real name Henri Beyle), during his lifetime was never recognized either by critics or a wide circle of readers. He wrote a great many works of historical, critical, artistic character. Almost all of them went virtually unnoticed by the public. The only thing that Stendhal's works have received are rare and not the most favorable reviews.
However, if Stendhal did not inspire delight among ordinary people, such well-known personalities as Prosper Merimee, Honore de Balzac, Alexander Pushkin, Johann Wolfgang Goethe were loyal admirers of his talent.
Real fame came to Stendhal posthumously, thanks to his friend and executor Romain Colombe, who in the 1850s completely republished everything Stendhal had written: works of art, journal articles and correspondence. After this, Henri Beyle firmly entered the league of classics, and the school of French realists of the 50s called him their teacher. A few years later, his novels were translated into many languages.
In Russia, Stendhal's talent was noticed and appreciated much earlier than in his homeland. Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky have repeatedly mentioned their pleasant impressions from reading Stendhal’s works. Lev Nikolayevich was especially struck by the war scenes from the novel “ Parma monastery" Pushkin liked the novel “Red and Black” most of all.
"Red and Black" is a novel from life in literally words. It was based on a case published in a newspaper from a court chronicle about a young man, a representative of the lowest class, the son of a carpenter - yesterday's peasant.
A young guy, wanting to make a career and become a wealthy man, went to work as a tutor in the house of a local rich man, but soon lost his job, as it became known about his love affair with the employer's wife. Future life The young man's life was full of failures, misfortunes and losses, which led to suicide.
This story was the beginning storyline works, and thanks to the genius of Stendhal it was deepened, expanded and improved, which allowed the birth of Julien Sorel - a controversial and extraordinary personality. These were the chronicles of that time, in fact, as written in the subtitle of the book - “Chronicles of the 19th century”. Stendhal created an “encyclopedia of vanity”, the whole tragedy of which lies in the very tragedy of the society of that time.
The novel raises difficult and deep themes. To this day they are relevant and discussed. It contains the eternal, the same at all times: vanity and love.
The main character of the novel, Julien Sorel, is very ambitious (unlike his dull brothers). Despite his simple origin, he “greedily seeks worldly or vain glory, strives for honor, for praise, demands recognition of his imaginary merits, does good not for the sake of good, but for the sake of praise, honor and external signs, honors.”
Julien is smart, he admires Napoleon and reads his memoirs, dreams of his greatness, fortitude, and military successes. He is upset that society has no place for people from the common people, who under Napoleon could achieve success thanks to their personal qualities. He lives in the era of the Restoration, when aristocrats run everything. These are times of hypocrisy, lies and flattery.
Sorel admires Napoleon and strongly hates the cunning and uneducated carpenter, his father, his lout brothers, the family sawmill and everything that surrounds him and makes him so different from Napoleon.
Fate gives the young man a chance to realize his ambitions: the mayor of the city (a local rich man), Mr. de Renal, takes him to the position of tutor for his children. According to Julien, this is his chance to get into high society, a chance to achieve Napoleonic glory.
Serious passions are seething in Julien’s soul, he is obsessed with a special kind of vanity - this is the “Napoleonic complex”, the essence of which is a person’s desire to realize any of his ideas or desires.
Julien's ambitions overwhelmed him so much that their implementation became a matter of life and death for him; for him there is no compromise. This is his cross! The young man shows monstrous willpower to be worthy of his idol. Julien is terrified of missing out on even the slightest chance on the path to self-improvement and achieving his goals. This desire is the basis on which the plot of the novel is built.
From the very first lines, Stendhal describes in detail the emotional experiences of the protagonist, the struggle between Good and Evil in his heart. The writer shows with what amazing ornateness intertwined in the hero’s soul opposite qualities. On the one hand, the young man strives for high things, tries to live up to his idol Napoleon, his nobility, honor, courage, and dignity.
On the other hand, the methods that the ambitious man resorts to are unlikely to be approved by Napoleon: Julien makes his way through hypocrisy and cunning. He is two-faced, deceiving narrow-minded provincials, priests and aristocrats. Good and bad, “red and black,” struggle in his soul. He is characterized by noble goals, generated by good impulses of the heart - but also by the blackest hatred, a vain desire to rule and enslave the crowd of bourgeois, who undeservedly turned out to be richer and more noble than him, Julien Sorel.
It is precisely this nineteen-year-old boy, in whose soul serious passions are seething, that Julien comes to work in the mayor’s house. Madame de Renal's affectionate and kind reception awakens in the young man sympathy for a human being for the first time in his life. He is captivated by the beauty of this woman. Julien is amazed: a lady of such a high position communicates with him politely and with respect.
The nobility and simplicity of this woman awaken the highest feelings in Sorel’s soul. However, the awakening of these feelings pushes him even more to achieve his goals through hypocrisy and hatred, to measure people by the low standard that he has chosen.
It’s like an evil demon is pushing him to take decisive action. “And suddenly a daring thought occurred to him - to kiss her hand. He was immediately frightened by this thought, but the next moment he said to himself: “It would be cowardice on my part if I did not do something that could benefit me and knock down a little of the contemptuous arrogance with which this woman must be treated.” beautiful lady to the poor craftsman who had just left his saw."
Julien believes that the only advantage and weapon he possesses is his extraordinary mind and extraordinary memory. Poverty and simple origin sharpen his pride and sharpen his scrupulousness regarding his human dignity.
Time passes. Madame de Renal becomes more and more captivated by the pompous nature of Julien Sorel. Stendhal shows the reader a certain kind of love: “vanity-love,” when Madame de Renal, experiencing extraordinary elation and happiness, forced her maid Eliza to talk again and again about how Julien refused to marry her. Moreover, Madame de Renal, under the pretext of convincing the tutor to marry the maid, goes to Julien to personally hear the young man’s refusal, and to further amuse her vanity.
The woman begins to wear new dresses, more revealing than usual. “She was very well put together, and these outfits suited her perfectly.”
At the same time, Julien, having reread Napoleon once again and focusing his attention on his judgment about women, decides “that he must ensure that in future this pen does not withdraw when he touches it.”
Julien is so absorbed in his own desire for fame that he mistakes it for willpower and continues to cherish it, which in his understanding is “tempering the spirit.” He is ready to kill himself, just not to leave the intended “heroic duty” that he invented for himself. “As soon as the clock strikes ten, I will do what I promised myself, otherwise I’ll go home and get a bullet in the forehead.”
Finally he wins, which does not bring him any pleasure. He falls asleep" dead asleep, completely exhausted by the struggle that shyness and pride waged in his heart throughout the whole day.”
The young man becomes convinced that the mayor's wife is in love with him. It is not love that awakens in his soul at first: “... if I do not want to lose self-respect, I must become her lover... For this reason I must achieve success with this woman,” his petty vanity continued to whisper to Julien, “ that if later someone decides to reproach me with the pitiful title of tutor, I can hint that love pushed me to do this.”
Sorel goes to the intended goal in accordance with his own ideas about the relationship between a man and a woman, built on the Napoleonic jerk march and cavalry attack. Almost in an orderly tone, he informs Madame de Renal that he is waiting for her in his room at two in the morning.
At the same time, waiting for the appointed hour makes the young man completely unhappy - he does not want this meeting and this affair, but when the appointed time comes, he pulls himself together and decides: “... I can be an ignoramus and a rude person, as he is, of course, and relies peasant son, but at least I will prove that I am not a nonentity."
Only over time, having enslaved Madame de Renal, Julien begins to truly fall in love with a woman, but “his love was still largely fueled by vanity: he was glad that he, a beggar, an insignificant despicable creature, possessed such beautiful woman". Her reciprocal passion "sweetly flattered his vanity."
Throughout the novel, Stendhal reveals more and more more types vanity. He shows “vanity-conceit”, of which there are a great many varieties, because each person has his own pride.
Fate presents the young man with a new test: he accidentally witnesses how the Bishop of Agde (a priest not much older than Julien in age) rehearses his meeting with the believers in front of the mirror. During the service, this young bishop manages to seem like a noble and wise old man.
Julien concludes that “everything can be achieved with skill and cunning,” and it is not at all necessary to serve honestly and righteously in the church for many years. Thus, the author discovers a new vanity - the ability to create the image of a wise and holy elder, a true servant of God.
The next stage on the way to high society to politicians, ministers, nobility and bishops is the seminary. At the seminary, Julien wages a struggle between his vanity and the vanity of three hundred seminarians who seek to destroy him, hate him and are trying to overthrow him. Julien considers seminarians to be low people who dream only of eating plenty and robbing their flock with the help of false instructions and sermons. Such petty goals and unworthy vanity are contrary to Sorel’s “high” ideals.
Stendhal reveals the foundations of society of that time - this is a world of vile and low people. Against their background, he shows Julien Sorel, who with his pride and self-esteem challenges this entire world. What helps Julien survive is solely his intelligence and belief in his own importance.
The new vanity that the reader discovers is the vanity with which Julien’s patron, the Marquis de La Mole, is obsessed. His vanity lies in refined politeness and utmost courtesy. He dreams of becoming a minister (this dream of his is still being realized), and also of marrying the daughter of the Duke de Retz. Direct evidence of the vanity that gripped him is the blue ribbon over his shoulder. The Marquis hates the low classes, his vanity feeds on this hatred and pushes him to participate in a royalist conspiracy, the essence of which is to establish the power of the king, return all the privileges and advantages of the family aristocracy, and remove the bourgeoisie from power. Julien also takes part in this conspiracy.
The daughter of the Marquis de La Mole, Matilda, was also overcome by vanity; she was obsessed with “ancestral vanity.” Its essence was this: she was named Matilda-Margarita in honor of Queen Margot, who had a lover Boniface de La Mole - the ancestor of the marquis's family. Boniface was convicted of conspiracies and beheaded on the Place de Greve on April 30, 1574. Boniface's head was bought by his beloved, Queen Margot, and personally buried. Having learned the history of the family, Matilda began to mourn annually for Boniface de La Mole.
Matilda's love for Sorel is also dictated by vanity - it makes her unusual. Julien is a representative of the mob, but at the same time he is unusually proud and intelligent, and is completely different from the faceless crowd of aristocrats who surround her. She often thinks about the likely consequences bourgeois revolution and what will happen to her aristocratic entourage: “...what role will Croisenois and my brother have to play then? It is already predetermined: majestic submission to fate. These will be heroic sheep who will allow themselves to be cut without the slightest resistance. And my little Julien “If he has any hope of escape, he will put a bullet in the forehead of the first Jacobin who comes to arrest him.” This pleases her vanity, and she strives to win Julien’s heart.
And now - a new vanity, which lies in Matilda’s love for Julien Sorel, it is based on his dislike for her. This relationship becomes a struggle between the vanities of Mathilde and Julien. Matilda then glows with love for young man, then - guided by the thoughts that almost royal origin, and this “first commoner he meets” is not worthy of her - he pushes him away with cold contempt. Julien is driven into this relationship by the fear of being branded “in her eyes as the most despicable coward,” which his pride and pride cannot allow.
Interwoven into these relationships is the vanity of the Russian Prince Korazov, who is very concerned about the conformity of each representative of his sex to the concept of a “real man.” They advise Sorel to court the widow Marshal de Fervac in front of Matilda. And this is a new level of struggle - this is a battle of male and female pride and vanity. Victory goes to Julien, who is incredibly proud of himself, since Matilda herself offers to marry her. This forces her father to become concerned about a worthy position in society for his daughter’s fiancé, and he sends Julien to serve in an elite regiment. Sorel's vanity rejoices - his aspirations are fulfilled.
And then fate intervenes: the Marquis de La Mole receives an incriminating letter from Sorel’s former lover Madame de Renal. This letter ruins all of Julien's plans. He goes to his town to deal with Madame de Renal. An eternal struggle unfolds in the human soul, the struggle of “red and black.” "Red" - feelings, real, true - wins: it kills ex-lover. This time the “black” - vanity - gave in, allowing Julien to act like a living and feeling person, and not a cold and calculating machine for achieving power. Almost for the first time in his life, Sorel committed a rash act - he gave vent to his feelings, he did not think through or calculate his action and personally broke the ladder he had built with his own hands on the path to success.
Even this crucial moment, when her fiancé Julien is in prison and awaiting execution of his sentence (he is to be beheaded), Mathilde finds a way to amuse her vanity. She draws a parallel between her family history about the love of Queen Margot and Boniface de La Mole and his own, and decides to save Sorel. She dreams of this, dreams of how everyone will admire her deed, the power of her love and the incredible sacrifices she will make for this, how people will retell her story for decades, and she herself will become a legend for her descendants.
The day of execution arrives, the executioner carries out the sentence and Matilda, feeling like Queen Margot, takes Julien’s head, kisses it and buries it in a cave. Then, going out into the crowd of people, she scatters thousands of coins as a sign of her love. Matilda's vanity rejoices - she still found a way to remain in people's memory for a long time.
At the end of the novel, the truth is finally revealed to Julien Sorel. In the face of death, he sees everything differently, his vanity recedes - there is no longer any point in fighting and there is nothing to fight for. Sorel understands that all this time he loved Madame de Renal, and that everything that vanity pushed him to was a mistake. He clearly realizes that with much greater pleasure he would devote his life to love for Madame de Renal. Julien realized that there is nothing good in vanity and it took away the only valuable thing in his life - love for a woman and moments of happiness with her.
The description of the life of Julien Sorel is the most a real encyclopedia vanity. This is why Stendhal’s novel will always be relevant, because the era has changed, but people have not changed, the forms of vanity have changed - but it remains.
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"Red and Black", analysis and content
Life and historical background novel.
Life basis- a court case, the son of the blacksmith Antoine Berthe, who was executed for shooting his former mistress.
Historical background – social life France during the Restoration period
Conflict of the novel- This is a clash between the individual and society.
Main character- the son of a blacksmith, Julien Sorel, wants to get to the top of society and is faced with a choice: to remain a romantic, honest, but poor man and live his whole life without fame, or to adapt, to flatter himself, to use others to make a career at the cost of a ruined soul. Throughout the novel, we seem to be watching the line of his life.
Julien Sorel was of a very fragile build, even somewhat effeminate. The main character traits were: silence, romance, pride, ambition. Relations in the family were bad, he was treated like a degenerate, because he was significantly different from his entire family, not only in appearance, but also in character. The main goal Sorel’s life was to get to the cream of society under any circumstances, and it was for this that he began to study. He was engaged in teaching in the house of D'Renal, he taught Latin and the Gospel.
Julien had a hard time at D'Renal's house. He treated the owner of the house with contempt because he considered him a rich, stupid, self-righteous aristocrat. That is why Julien constantly tries, at the slightest opportunity, to hurt his owner’s pride and show his superiority over him. The young man is annoyed that Monsieur D'Renal treats him like a servant and Julien tries to achieve the love of the mistress of the house, not so much for the sake of love itself, but for the sake of revenge and ambition. But he does not immediately realize that he himself has fallen in love with Madame D’Renal. Julien leaves D'Renal's house due to a conflict caused by his love for his mistress. The young man leaves for Besançon to enter the seminary there.
Julien Sorel was smart and diligent, but he did not immediately understand that reasoning and common sense. He only needed to show blind faith and passion for money, but not knowledge. It was precisely because he was a thinking and logical person that Sorel was different from other seminarians, and it was for this that his comrades did not like him.
Abbot Pirard, despite his life principles, became very attached to Julien, but tried not to show it, because it would only bring problems for Sorel.
The priest's career did not correspond in any way to Julien's dreams or calling. He dreamed of becoming a military man and performing heroic deeds, but at that time only aristocrats could join the army, and in order to reach high society, Julien was forced to become a priest, although his being resisted this.
The fact that Julien was an honest man and an interesting conversationalist, kind to everyone, but not allowing himself to be humiliated, greatly helped him to settle well in the house of Mr. de'La Mole. At first, de'La Mole's daughter Matilda treated Julien as a toy with which she wanted to relieve boredom. She was a very proud and narcissistic person; at first she simply mocked Julien. In the end, Sorel got tired of this and began to answer her in kind. This pride and self-esteem did not leave Matilda indifferent - she fell in love without memory.
The Marquis de'La Mole did not really like that his daughter had a relationship with a commoner, he was ashamed of his daughter's honor, it was a shock to him.
Soon Matilda wanted to marry Julien, and this was not at all part of the Marquis’s plans, but the girl was very persistent, and de’La Mole had to help Sorel get the rank and title. When it became clear that Matilda had finally decided to marry Sorel, the Marquis de'La Mole decided to make inquiries about him from his aristocratic acquaintances, because Julien was from ordinary people and little was known about him.
Madame De'Renal loved Julien very much, and naturally she was angry that he left her and decided to marry someone else, she understood that this was a marriage of convenience, only in order to become an aristocracy. Madame De'Renal realized that, like Matilda, she was just a tool for Sorel on his way to the top of society. She gave him very bad recommendations. She wrote to the marquis that Julien was using women, and thereby put an end to Sorel’s life and his future.
Julien Sorel tried hard to achieve his goal, but the woman who swore to him eternal love, betrayed him, with one line crossed out all his efforts and intrigues. He was furious; he was simply destroyed. This was the main reason for the shot.
In prison, Sorel began to repent; he realized that he had wasted his life and abilities in vain. That the only woman he loved was Madame De'Renal and that he never cheated on her. In his last word Sorel once again challenged the aristocrats and the society they created. He stood his ground until the end and did not allow himself to be broken.
