Composition. Comparative characteristics Julien Sorel and Gobseck (based on Stendhal's novel "Red and Black" and Balzac's story "Gobseck")

Realistic direction in XIX literature centuries led French novelists Stendhal and Balzac. Largely based on the experience of the romantics, who were deeply interested in history, realist writers saw their task as depicting public relations modernity, life and customs of the 19th century. Stendhal in his novel “Red and Black” and Balzac in the story “Gobsek” describe the aspirations towards the intended goal using the example of two people - Julien Sorel and Gobsek.
Julien and Gobsek are united by origin and the same social status. Gobsek's mother assigned him as a cabin boy on a ship, and at the age of ten he sailed to the Dutch possessions of the East Indies, where he wandered for twenty years. Julien was the son of a carpenter, and the whole family was busy earning money for a living. However, the differences in the destinies of the heroes coincide in their determination. Gobsek, wanting to get rich, becomes a moneylender. He loved money very much, especially gold, believing that all the forces of humanity were concentrated in gold. Julien was mocked by his father and brothers because he was physically weak. And so he finds friends only in books, communicates with them and becomes much smarter and taller than those people who despise him. Meanwhile, he dreams of breaking out into a world where he will be understood. But he saw the only opportunity to advance in society in graduating from theological seminary and becoming a priest. Both heroes also choose different means to advance towards the intended goal: for Gobsek it is work as a cabin boy on a ship and usury, and for Julien it is, first of all, love affairs.
When communicating with different people characters use their character in different ways. Gobsek was very secretive. No one knew that he was a moneylender and, to be on the safe side, he always dressed poorly. Thanks to another character trait - neatness - Gobsek’s rooms were always neat, clean, tidy and everything was in its place. Walking around Paris on foot and hating his heirs testified to his greed and stinginess. When communicating with people, he was always even and did not raise his voice when talking. Gobsek never lied or betrayed secrets, but as soon as he realized that a person was not keeping his word, he calmly “destroyed” him and twisted everything in his favor. In Julien's soul, as Stendhal shows, there is a struggle between good and bad inclinations, careerism and revolutionary ideas, cold calculation and romantic sensitivity. Their views on the life of Julien and Gobsek also agree in contempt for high society. But Gobsek, expressing contempt, left dirt on the rich people’s carpet “as a souvenir,” and Julien kept this feeling in his soul.
In the end, both heroes die under different circumstances. If Gobsek dies rich, but spiritually poor, then Julien, shortly before his execution, already in prison, was able to fully understand his actions, soberly assess the society in which he lived and challenge it.

Literature:
Stendhal, "Red and Black". Chronicle of the 19th century. Moscow, " Fiction" 1979

The image of Julien Sorel in Stendhal's novel “The Red and the Black”

The main character of the novel “The Red and the Black” is a young, ambitious young man, Julien Sorel. He is a simple carpenter's son, living with his brothers and father. The main goal of a nineteen-year-old young man is the idea of ​​going up the church career ladder and find himself as far away as possible from the everyday life of the world in which he grew up. Julien does not find understanding from society. Stendhal notes that “everyone at home despised him, and he hated his brothers and father...” Stendhal Selected Works: In 3 volumes Vol.1: Red and Black: A Novel / Trans. from fr. N. Chuiko. - M.: Literature, World of Books, 2004. - P.20. The young man is endowed with a rare mind, able to quote scripture in Latin from memory. The young man does not see anything bad in his idea of ​​becoming a priest; for him it is the only way to escape from the gray, monotonous and gloomy everyday life of his existence.

The development of his character was greatly influenced by two people: a regimental doctor, a participant in Napoleonic campaigns, and the local abbot Chelan. The first taught Julien history and Latin, and with his death bequeathed to the young man respect for Napoleon, the cross of the Legion of Honor and books, as well as the concepts of honor and nobility. The second instilled in Sorel a love for Holy Scripture, to God, encouraged his aspirations for intellectual and spiritual growth.

It is these qualities that separate Julien from the deceitful ones, stingy people town of Verrieres. He is talented and generously endowed with intelligence, but was born at the wrong time. The hour of such things has passed. The young man admires Napoleon, and it is his era that is close to the young man.

Due to his incompatibility with time, the young man is forced to pretend. He pretends to achieve something in life, but it turns out to be not so easy. With its own rules, the era of the Restoration has arrived, in which honor, nobility, courage and intelligence are worth nothing. These qualities were important in the era of Napoleon, then an ordinary person could achieve something in the military sphere. During the Bourbon rule, in order to advance in the career ladder, a worthy origin was required. For the lower class, the path to the military is closed.

Realizing the political situation of the era, Sorel understands that the only way to achieve spiritual and class growth is to become a priest. Julien decides that even in a cassock he can achieve a good position in “high society.”

The young man behaves unnaturally for himself: he pretends to be a believer, although he himself does not believe in God in the classical sense; he serves those whom he considers inferior to himself; looks like a fool, but has a magnificent mind. Julien does this without forgetting who he really is and why he is achieving this or that thing.

“Julien occupies a central place among all the heroes; the author not only reveals the foundations of his personality, but also shows the evolution of the hero under the influence of circumstances. He has many faces” Reizov B.G. Stendhal: artistic creativity. - L.: Hood. literature. Leningrad department, 1978. .

The writer tenderly describes his hero: “He was a short young man of eighteen or nineteen years old, rather fragile in appearance, with irregular but delicate facial features and a chiseled, hooked nose. Large black eyes, which in moments of calm sparkled with thought and fire, now burned with the fiercest hatred. His dark brown hair grew so low that it almost covered his forehead, and this made his face look very angry when he was angry. Among the countless varieties human faces It is hardly possible to find another such face that would be distinguished by such striking originality. The young man’s slender and flexible figure spoke more of agility than strength. From the very early years his unusually thoughtful appearance and extreme pallor suggested to his father that his son would not live in this world, and if he survived, he would only be a burden for the family.” Stendhal Selected Works: In 3 vols. Vol. 1: Red and Black: A Novel / Translated . from fr. N. Chuiko. - M.: Literature, World of Books, 2004. - P.28..

Again, for the first time, Stendhal takes an analytical approach to describing the feelings and emotions of his hero. This makes obvious a new fact for that era: it is the low social status that allows Julien to develop colossal will, hard work and pride. Unlike Lucien, he is not prone to conformism and is not ready to sacrifice dignity in the name of achieving goals. However, Sorel’s concepts of honor and dignity are also unique. For example, Julien is not ready to accept additional remuneration from Madame de Renal, but easily seduces her in his own interests.

Gradually everyone in the house begins to respect this quiet, modest, intelligent young man with an excellent knowledge of Latin. Stendhal thus illustrates almost for the first time, using the example of Julien, the advantage of education over origin. Not practical, naturally, but intellectual. It is not surprising that Louise and Matilda see him as a revolutionary, a kind of new romantic Danton. Julien is really close in spirit to the revolutionary figure of the late 18th century.

Julien, the son of a carpenter, is able to say to his master the count: “No, sir, if you decide to drive me away, I will be forced to leave.

An obligation that binds only me and commits you to nothing is an unequal deal. I refuse". And the more intense the hero’s development, the more he comprehends, the more negative his attitude towards the world around him becomes. In many ways, young Sorel is the embodiment of the growing pride and contempt, the abyss of which sucks his brilliant mind and brilliant dreams. And now he already hates all the inhabitants of Verrieres for their stinginess, meanness and thirst for profit.

Stendhal illustrates in every possible way the duality of his hero’s nature. That's why, I suppose, in his love relationships with Louise there is not even a confrontation, but rather a complex of mercantile interests and sincere romantic feelings.

Contrast between real life and the voluminous fantasy world of Sorel confront him with the need to constantly wear a certain mask. He wears it with the priest, in the house of De Renal and in the mansion of De La Moley. What comes so easily to Balzac’s Lucien torments and oppresses Sorel. “The eternal pretense eventually brought him to the point where he could not feel free even with Fouquet. With his head in his hands, Julien sat in this small cave, reveling in his dreams and the feeling of freedom, and felt as happy as he had ever felt in his life. He did not notice how the last glow of the sunset burned out one by one. In the midst of the immense darkness that surrounded him, his soul, freezing, contemplated the pictures that arose in his imagination, pictures of his future life in Paris. First of all, he pictured a beautiful woman, so beautiful and sublime that he had never met in the provinces. He is passionately in love with her, and he is loved... If he separated from her for a few moments, it was only to cover himself with glory and become even more worthy of her love.

A young man who grew up among the dull reality of Parisian society, even if he had Julien’s rich imagination, would involuntarily grinned when he caught himself in such nonsense; great exploits and hopes of becoming famous would instantly disappear from his imagination, crowded out by the well-known truth: “Whoever leaves his beauty, woe to him! - he is cheated on three times a day”...

Ultimately, Julien is not even able to explain to himself whether he is in love with, say, the young marquise, or whether possessing her pleases his painful vanity. Confused in his own feelings and thoughts, at the end of the novel he moves away from deeply personal experiences and deep social pathos is heard in his speech:

“...This is my crime, gentlemen, and it will be punished with all the greater severity because, in essence, I am not being judged by my equals. I don’t see a single rich peasant here in the jury benches, but only indignant bourgeois...” Stendhal Selected Works: In 3 volumes Vol. 1: Red and Black: A Novel / Trans. from fr. N. Chuiko. - M.: Literature, World of Books, 2004. - P.35..

Their last days he spends with Louise de Renal. Sorel understands that he loved only her and she is his happiness.

Thus, Julien Sorel is a young, educated, passionate man who entered into a struggle with the society of the Reformation era. The struggle between inner virtues and natural nobility with the inexorable demands of the surrounding reality is both the main personal conflict of the hero and the ideological confrontation of the novel as a whole. A young man who wants to find his place in life and know himself.

Sorel evaluates all his actions, thinks about what Napoleon would do in this situation. Julien does not forget that if he had been born in the era of the emperor, his career would have developed completely differently. The hero compares Napoleon's life to a hawk flying over him.

For Sorel, as for Stendhal, Napoleon became one of the most important mentors in their destinies.

This comparison is not accidental. Frederic Stendhal is recognized as the best researcher of the Napoleonic era. He was one of the first to become so interested famous person. A personality you can't help but focus on. Stendhal realistically and in detail described the mood of the era and the events taking place in it. His works such as “The Life of Napoleon” and “Memoirs of Napoleon” are called by historians of our time the best biographical and research materials dedicated to Bonaparte.

JULIEN SOREL (French: Julien Sorel) is the hero of F. Stendhal’s novel “Red and Black” (1830). The subtitle of the novel is “Chronicle of the 19th Century.” Real prototypes– Antoine Berthe and Adrien Lafargue. Berthe is the son of a rural blacksmith, a pupil of a priest, a teacher in the bourgeois family of Mishu in the town of Brang, near Grenoble. Madame Mishou, Berthe's mistress, upset his marriage to a young girl, after which he tried to shoot her and himself in a church during a service. Both remained alive, but Berthe was tried and sentenced to death and executed (1827). Lafargue - the cabinetmaker who killed

A mistress out of jealousy, who repented and asked for himself death penalty(1829). The image of J.S. - a hero who commits a criminal crime based on love passion and at the same time a crime against religion (since the attempted murder took place in a church), repented and was executed - was used by Stendhal to analyze the paths social development.
The literary type of Zh.S. is characteristic of French literature XIX”Sw. - a young man from the bottom, making a career relying only on his personal qualities, the hero of an educational novel on the theme of “loss of illusions.” Typologically, J.S. is related to the images of romantic heroes - “superior personalities” who in pride despise the world . Common literary roots can be observed in the image of the individualist from “Confession” by J.-J. Rousseau (1770), who declared a person who is sensitive and capable of introspection (a noble soul) to be an “exceptional person.” In the image of J. S. Stendhal comprehended the experience of rationalistic philosophy of the 17th-18th centuries, showing that a place in society is gained at the cost of moral losses. On the one hand, J.S. is a direct heir to the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Great French Revolution, three key figures of the beginning of the “bourgeois century” - Tartuffe, Napoleon and Rousseau; on the other hand, an extrapolation of the moral wanderings of the romantics - his talent, individual energy, and intellect are aimed at achieving social position. At the center of the image of Zh.S. is the idea of ​​“alienation”, opposition “against everyone” with the final conclusion about his absolute incompatibility with any way of life. This is an unusual criminal, committing crimes every day to assert himself as an individual, defending the “natural right” to equality, education, love, deciding to kill in order to justify himself in the eyes of his beloved woman, who doubted his honesty and devotion, a careerist, guided by the idea of ​​his chosenness . The psychological drama of his soul and life is a constant oscillation between a noble, sensitive nature and the Machiavellianism of his sophisticated intellect, between devilish logic and a kind, humane nature. The phenomenon of the personality of J.S., emancipated not only from age-old social foundations and religious dogmas, but also from any principles, caste or class, reveals the process of the emergence of individualistic ethics with its egoism and egocentrism, with its neglect of means in achieving set goals. J.S. fails to kill his noble soul to the end, he tries to live, guided by internal duty and the laws of honor, at the end of his odyssey coming to the conclusion that the idea of ​​establishing “nobility of spirit” through a career in society is wrong, to the conclusion that Hell on earth is worse than death. He renounces the desire to stand “above everyone” in the name of an unbridled feeling of love as the only meaning of existence. The image of Zh.S. had a huge impact on further understanding of the problem of the “exceptional personality” in literature and philosophy. Immediately after the release of the novel, critics called J.S. a “monster,” guessing in him the type of future “plebeian with an education.” J.S. became the classic ancestor of all the failed lonely conquerors of the world: Martin Eden of J. London, Clyde Griffith of T. Dreiser. Nietzsche has remarkable references to the searches of the author J. C. “missing features” of a new type of philosopher, who declared the primacy of a “higher personality” of a certain “will to power”. However, J.S. also served as a prototype for heroes experiencing catharsis and repentance. In Russian literature, his heir is F. M. Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov. According to Nicolo Chiaromonte (“Paradoxes of History”, 1973), “Stendhal does not teach us the egocentrism that he proclaimed as his credo. He teaches us to give a merciless assessment of the errors of which our feelings are guilty, and all sorts of fables with which the world around us is full.” The famous performer of the role of J.S. in the French film adaptation of the novel was Gerard Philip (1954).

1. When creating his novel “Red and Black,” Stendhal set himself the task of depicting all spheres of life, covering all layers of society, conveying the main trends, problems, and conflicts that arise in society. Therefore, the stage for...
2. Louise de Renal is the mayor's wife, who has no influence on her husband, nor on the course of affairs in the city of Verrieres, entrusted to his care. According to local standards, she is almost a fool, missing out on “convenient...
3. The emergence of realism as artistic method occurred during a period when the leading role in literary process Romantics played. And one of the first writers to take the path of classical realism were such masters of words...
4. The novel “Red and Black” is rightly considered one of Stendhal’s masterpieces. This is a novel about modernity, about French society of the Restoration period, taken in a wide range. The life of the province and the capital unfolds before the reader...
5. The subtitle of the novel is “Chronicle of the 19th Century.” Real prototypes - Antoine Berthe and Adrien Lafargue. Berthe is the son of a village blacksmith, a pupil of a priest, a teacher in the bourgeois Michoux family in the town of Brang, near...
6. Stendhal's novel “Red and Black” is varied in theme, interesting and instructive. The fates of his heroes are also instructive. I would like to tell you what two heroines taught me - Madame de Renal and...
7. In literature, painting and music, “realism” in the broad sense of the word refers to the ability of art to truthfully reflect reality. The basis of realistic views on life is the idea that a person depends on...
8. In his understanding of art and the role of the artist, Stendhal followed the Enlightenment. He always strived for accuracy and truthfulness in the reflection of life in his works. Stendhal's first great novel, “The Red and the Black”...
9. Frederic Stendhal (pseudonym of Henri Marie Bayle) substantiated the main principles and program for the formation of realism and brilliantly embodied them in his works. Largely based on the experience of the romantics, who were deeply interested in history,...
10. In 1830, Stendhal’s novel “The Red and the Black” was published. The work has a documentary basis: Stendhal was struck by the fate of a young man sentenced to execution - Berthe, who shot the mother of the children, the tutor...
11. The main basis for such a definition of the genre specificity of a work is that the designated social processes and collisions are refracted through the prism of consciousness and reactions central character, his internal struggle and...
12. The philosophy of sensationalism was very close to Stendhal, but he also relied on a new philosophy. Stendhal's teacher wrote “Ideology”, according to which all human actions are determined by his desire for happiness, which in its...
13. In his novel “Red and Black,” Stendhal created an objective picture of the life of his contemporary society. “The truth, the bitter truth,” he says in the epigraph to the first part of the work. And this bitter truth...
14. Already in 1816, Stendhal fought hard for new literature, which had to meet the demands and needs of: a society that grew out of French Revolution. This literature, as Stendhal thought, was supposed to become...
15. Stendhal's work belongs to the first stage in the development of French critical realism. Stendhal brings into literature the fighting spirit and heroic traditions of the just finished revolution and Enlightenment. His connection with enlighteners...
16. Best books– these are the ones whose every page you read with great enthusiasm. Frederico Stendhal’s novel “The Red and the Black” is exactly such a book. His idea arose on an autumn night in 1829. Push...
17. Outstanding novel French writer Stendhal (pseudonym of Henri-Marie Bayle) (1830) can, without exaggeration, be called central both in the work of Stendhal himself and in the process of the formation of French literature of the last century in its...
18. The hero of the novel, Julien Sorel, is a young man from the people. He lives in France in the 20s of the 19th century. The mentally gifted son of a carpenter from the provinces, he would have made a military career under Napoleon. Now...
19. FABRIZIO del DONGO (French Fabrice del Dongo) is the hero of Stendhal’s novel “The Parma Abode” (1839). Historical prototype-Alessandro Farnese (1468-1549), cardinal, since 1534 Pope Paul III. Son of the Marquis del...

The novel "Red and Black" is a true story about the society of the Restoration era in France. This is a socio-psychological novel based on the conflict between the individual and society. The path of the main character Julien Sorel leads to the idea that in the era of Napoleon he could become a hero, and in the era of the Restoration he is forced to either adapt or die.

Julien Sorel is a representative of the generation of the early 20s of the 19th century. He has the features romantic hero: independence, self-esteem, desire to change fate, desire to fight and achieve goals. He bright personality, everything about him is above the norm: strength of mind, will, dreaminess, determination.

Our hero is the son of a carpenter. He lives in the small provincial town of Verrieres with his brothers and father and dreams of escaping from here to Big world. No one in Verrieres understands him. “Everyone at home despised him, and he hated his brothers and father...” A young man with early childhood delirious military service, his idol was Napoleon. After much thought, he decides: the only way to achieve something in life and escape from Verrieres is to become a priest. “To break through for Julien first of all meant breaking out of Verrieres; he hated his homeland. Everything he saw here chilled his imagination.”

And here is the first victory, the first “public appearance”. Julien is invited to his house by the mayor of Verrieres, Mr. de Renal, as a children's teacher. A month later, the children adored the young teacher, the father of the family began to respect him, and Madame de Renal felt something more than simple respect for him. However, Julien felt like a stranger here: “he felt only hatred and disgust for this high society, where he was allowed only to the edge of the table...”

Life in the house of Mr. de Renal was filled with hypocrisy, the desire for profit, the struggle for power, intrigue and gossip. “Julien’s conscience began to whisper to him: “This is dirty wealth, which you too can achieve and enjoy, but only in this company.” O Napoleon! How wonderful your time was!..” Julien felt alone in this world. Thanks to the patronage of priest Shelan, Sorel entered the Besançon Theological Seminary. “If Julien is only a wavering reed, let him perish, and if he is a courageous man, let him fight his way through himself,” Abbot Pirard said about him. And Julien began to make his way.

He studied diligently, but kept aloof from seminarians. Very soon I saw that “knowledge is not worth a penny here,” because “success in the sciences seems suspicious.” Julien understood what was encouraged: hypocrisy, “ascetic piety.” No matter how hard the young man tried to pretend to be a fool and a nonentity, he could not please either the seminarians or the leadership of the seminary - he was too different from the others.

And finally - the first promotion: he was appointed tutor in New and Old Testament. Julien felt the support of Abbot Pirard and was grateful to him for this. And suddenly - an unexpected meeting with the bishop, which decided his fate. Julien moves to Paris, to the house of the Marquis de La Mole and becomes his personal secretary. Another victory. Life begins in the marquis's mansion. What does he see? “In this mansion no flattering comments were allowed about Beranger, about opposition newspapers, about Voltaire, about Rousseau, or about anything that even slightly smacked of freethinking and politics. The slightest living thought seemed rude.” Material from the site

opened up before him New World. But this new light was the same as the light in Verrieres and Besançon. Everything was based on hypocrisy and profit. Julien accepts all the rules of the game and tries to make a career. A brilliant victory awaited him. But an affair with the marquis’s daughter Matilda upset all of Julien’s plans. Mathilde, this jaded social beauty, was attracted to Julien by his intelligence, originality and boundless ambition. But this love was not at all similar to the bright and bright feeling that connected Julien with Madame de Renal. The love of Matilda and Julien was more like a duel between two ambitious people. But it could well have ended in marriage if not for Madame de Renal’s letter, written under the influence of the Jesuit brothers. “So many magnificent plans - and then in an instant... it all crumbles into dust,” thinks Sorel.

Madame de Renal's letter destroyed all of Julien's plans and put an end to his career. Seeking revenge, he commits a reckless act - he shoots Madame de Renal in the Verieres church.

So, everything that Julien had been striving for so long and purposefully, to prove that he was a Personality, was destroyed. After this there will be prison, trial, sentence. Thinking for a long time before the trial, Julien understands that he has nothing to repent of: it was the very society where he was so eager to get into that wanted to break him, in his person it decided to punish those young people of low class who dared to penetrate into “good society.” Julien finds the courage to face death with dignity. This is how an intelligent and extraordinary person dies, who decided to make a career without disdaining any means.

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution

higher professional education

"Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University

them. ON THE. Dobrolyubova"

Department of Foreign Literature and Theory of Intercultural Communication

ABSTRACT

by discipline " Foreign literature »

THE IMAGE OF JULIEN SOREL IN STENDHAL'S NOVEL THE RED AND THE BLACK

Nizhny Novgorod

2011

Introduction………………………………………………………………3

Main part……………………………………………………..………………… …..5

Conclusion…………………………………………………………….15

List of references………….…………………………….16

Introduction.

Henri Bayle (1783-1842) came to literary creativity through the desire to know himself: in his youth he became interested in the philosophy of the so-called “ideologists” - French philosophers who sought to clarify the concepts and laws of human thinking.

The basis of Stendhal’s artistic anthropology is the opposition of two human types – “French” and “Italian”. The French type, burdened with the vices of bourgeois civilization, is distinguished by insincerity and hypocrisy (often forced); The Italian type attracts with its “barbaric” impulsiveness, frankness of desires, and romantic lawlessness. Stendhal's main works of art depict the conflict of the protagonist of the “Italian” type with the “French” way of society that constrains him; criticizing this society from the point of view romantic ideals, the writer at the same time insightfully shows the spiritual contradictions of his heroes, their compromises with the external environment; Subsequently, this feature of Stendhal’s work forced him to be recognized as a classic of 19th century realism.

In 1828, Stendhal came across a purely modern plot. The source was not literary, but real, which corresponded to the interests of Stendhal not only in its social meaning, but also in the extreme drama of the events. Here was what he had been looking for for a long time: energy and passion. Historical novel was no longer needed. Now we need something else: a truthful depiction of modernity, and not so much political and social events, but psychology and mental state modern people who, regardless of their own desires, prepare and create the future.

“Young people like Antoine Berthe (one of the prototypes of the protagonist of the novel “The Red and the Black”),” Stendhal wrote, “if they manage to get a good upbringing, they are forced to work and struggle with real need, which is why they retain the ability to have strong feelings and terrifying energy. At the same time, their pride is easily vulnerable.” And since ambition is often born from a combination of energy and pride. Once upon a time, Napoleon combined the same characteristics: a good upbringing, a passionate imagination and extreme poverty.

Main part.

The psychology of Julien Sorel (the main character of the novel "The Red and the Black") and his behavior are explained by the class to which he belongs. This is the psychology created by the French Revolution. He works, reads, develops his mental abilities, carries a gun to defend his honor. Julien Sorel shows daring courage at every step, not expecting danger, but preventing it.

So, in France, where reaction dominates, there is no scope for talented people from the people. They suffocate and die, as if in prison. Those who are deprived of privilege and wealth must, for self-defense and, especially, to achieve success, adapt. Julien Sorel's behavior is determined by the political situation. It links into a single and inextricable whole the picture of morals, the drama of experience, and the fate of the hero of the novel.

Julien Sorel is one of the most complex characters of Stendhal, who pondered him for a long time. The son of a provincial carpenter became the key to understanding the driving forces of modern society and the prospects for its further development.

Julien Sorel is a young man of the people. In fact, the son of a peasant who owns a sawmill must work at it, just like his father and brothers. By his social status, Julien is a worker (but not hired); he is a stranger in the world of the rich, well-mannered, educated. But even in his family, this talented plebeian with a “strikingly unique face” is like an ugly duckling: his father and brothers hate the “frail”, useless, dreamy, impetuous, incomprehensible young man. At nineteen he looks like a scared boy. And enormous energy lurks and bubbles within him - the power of a clear mind, proud character, unbending will, “fierce sensitivity.” His soul and imagination are fiery, and there is flame in his eyes. In Julien Sorel, imagination is subordinated to frantic ambition. Ambition in itself is not a negative quality. The French word "ambition" means both "ambition" and "thirst for glory", "thirst for honor" and "aspiration", "aspiration"; Ambition, as La Rochefoucauld said, does not exist with mental lethargy; in it there is “liveliness and ardor of the soul.” Ambition forces a person to develop his abilities and overcome difficulties. Julien Sorel is like a ship equipped for a long voyage, and the fire of ambition in other social conditions, providing scope for the creative energy of the masses, would help him overcome the most difficult voyage. But now the conditions are not favorable for Julien, and ambition forces him to adapt to other people's rules of the game: he sees that to achieve success, rigid selfish behavior, pretense and hypocrisy, bellicose distrust of people and gaining superiority over them are necessary.

But natural honesty, generosity, sensitivity, which elevate Julien above his environment, conflict with what ambition dictates to him under existing conditions. Julien's image is "truthful and modern." The author of the novel boldly, unusually clearly and vividly expressed the historical meaning of the topic, making his hero not a negative character, not a sneaky careerist, but a gifted and rebellious plebeian, whom the social system deprived of all rights and thus forced to fight for them, regardless of anything .

But many were confused by the fact that Stendhal consciously and consistently contrasted Julien’s outstanding talents and natural nobility with his “ill-fated” ambition. It is clear what objective circumstances determined the crystallization of the militant individualism of the talented plebeian. We are also convinced of how destructive the path turned out to be for Julien’s personality, to which he was driven by ambition.

The hero of Pushkin’s “Queen of Spades,” Herman, a young ambitious “with the profile of Napoleon and the soul of Mephistopheles,” he, like Julien, “had strong passions and a fiery imagination.” But internal struggle is alien to him. He is calculating, cruel and with all his being is directed towards his goal - the conquest of wealth. He really does not take anything into account and is like a naked blade.

Perhaps Julien would have become the same if he himself had not constantly appeared as an obstacle in front of him - his noble, ardent, proud character, his honesty, the need to surrender to immediate feeling, passion, forgetting about the need to be calculating and hypocritical. Julien's life is the story of his unsuccessful attempts to fully adapt to social conditions in which base interests triumph. The “spring” of drama in Stendhal’s works, whose heroes are young ambitious people, lies entirely in the fact that these heroes “are forced to rape their rich nature in order to play the vile role that they have imposed on themselves.” These words accurately characterize the drama of the internal action of “The Red and the Black,” which is based on the spiritual struggle of Julien Sorel. The pathos of the novel lies in the vicissitudes of Julien’s tragic combat with himself, in the contradiction between the sublime (Julien’s nature) and the base (his tactics dictated by social relations).

Julien was poorly oriented in his new society. Everything there was unexpected and incomprehensible, and therefore, considering himself an impeccable hypocrite, he constantly made mistakes. “You are extremely careless and reckless, although this is not immediately noticeable,” Abbot Pirard told him. “And yet, to this day, your heart is kind and even generous, and your mind is great.”

“All the first steps of our hero,” writes Stendhal on his own behalf, “who was quite confident that he was acting as carefully as possible, turned out, like the choice of a confessor, to be extremely reckless. Misled by that arrogance that characterizes imaginative people, he mistook his intentions for accomplished facts and considered himself a consummate hypocrite. "Alas! This is my only weapon! - he thought. “If this were a different time, I would earn my bread by doing things that would speak for themselves in the face of the enemy.”

Education was difficult for him because it required constant self-abasement. This was the case in Renal’s house, in the seminary, and in Parisian social circles. This affected his attitude towards the women he loved. His contacts and breaks with Madame de Renal and Mathilde de La Mole indicate that he almost always acted as the impulse of the moment told him, the need to show his personality and rebel against any real or perceived insult. And he understood every personal insult as a social injustice.

Julien's behavior is determined by the idea of ​​nature, which he wanted to imitate, but in the restored monarchy, even with the Charter, this is impossible, so he has to “howl with the wolves” and act as others act. His “war” with society takes place hidden, and to make a career, from his point of view, means to undermine this artificial society for the sake of another, future and natural one.

Julien Sorel is a synthesis of two, seemingly directly opposite, directions - philosophical and political of the 19th century. On the one hand, rationalism combined with sensationalism and utilitarianism is a necessary unity, without which neither one nor the other could exist according to the laws of logic. On the other hand, there is the cult of feeling and naturalism of Rousseau.

He lives as if in two worlds - in the world of pure morality and in the world of rational practicality. These two worlds - nature and civilization - do not interfere with each other, because both together solve one problem, to build a new reality and find the right ways for this.

Julien Sorel strove for happiness. His goal was the respect and recognition of secular society, which he penetrated through his zeal and talents. Climbing the ladder of ambition and vanity, he seemed to be approaching cherished dream, but he experienced happiness only in those hours when, loving Madame de Renal, he was himself.

It was a happy meeting, full of mutual sympathy and sympathy, without rationalistic and class obstacles and partitions, a meeting of two people of nature - the kind that should exist in a society created according to the laws of nature.

Julien's double worldview manifested itself in relation to the mistress of the Renal house. Madame de Renal remains for him a representative of the rich class and therefore an enemy, and all his behavior with her was caused by class enmity and a complete misunderstanding of her nature: Madame de Renal completely surrendered to her feelings, but the home teacher acted differently - he was always thinking about your social position.

“Now for Julien’s proud heart to fall in love with Madame de Renal has become something completely unthinkable.” At night in the garden, it occurs to him to seize her hand - only to laugh at her husband in the dark. He dared to put his hand next to hers. And then he was overcome with trepidation; not realizing what he was doing, he showered passionate kisses hand extended to him.

Julien himself now did not understand what he felt, and apparently forgot about the reason that forced him to risk these kisses. The social meaning of his relationship with the woman in love disappears, and love that began long ago comes into its own.

What is civilization? This is what interferes with the natural life of the soul. Julien’s thoughts about how he should act, how others treat him, what they think about him are all far-fetched, caused by the class structure of society, something that contradicts human nature and the natural perception of reality. The activity of the mind here is a complete mistake, because the mind works in emptiness, without a solid foundation, without relying on anything. The basis of rational knowledge is a direct feeling, not prepared by any traditions, coming from the depths of the soul. The mind must examine sensations in their entirety, draw correct conclusions from them, and draw conclusions in general terms.

The story of the relationship between the plebeian conqueror and the aristocrat Matilda, who despises the spineless secular youth, is unparalleled in the originality, accuracy and subtlety of the drawing, in the naturalness with which the feelings and actions of the heroes are depicted in the most unusual situations.

Julien was madly in love with Matilda, but never for a minute forgot that she was in the hated camp of his class enemies. Matilda is aware of her superiority over the environment and is ready to do “madness” to rise above it.