195 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
195 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ
|
||
ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßÛßßßßßÛÛÜ ÜÜßßßßÜÜÜÜ ÜÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÛßß ßÛÛ
|
||
ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÛ ÜÛÛÛÜÛÛÜÜÜ ßÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÛÛÜÜÜÛÛÝ Ûß
|
||
ßßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÞÝ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßßÛÜÞÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßßÛÛÛÞß
|
||
Mo.iMP ÜÛÛÜ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÝ ßÛß
|
||
ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛ
|
||
ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ß ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÜÛ
|
||
ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß
|
||
ÜÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛßß
|
||
ÜÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÛÛÛÛÜÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛ ßÛÛÛÛÛ Ü ÛÝÛÛÛÛÛ Ü
|
||
ÜÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ßÛÜ ßÛÛÛÜÜ ÜÜÛÛÛß ÞÛ ÞÛÛÛÝ ÜÜÛÛ
|
||
ÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÜ ßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÜÜÜß ÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛß
|
||
ßÛÜ ÜÛÛÛß ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßßÜÜ ßßÜÛÛßß ßÛÛÜ ßßßÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßß
|
||
ßßßßß ßßÛÛß ßßßßß ßßßßßßßßßßßßß
|
||
ARRoGANT CoURiERS WiTH ESSaYS
|
||
|
||
Grade Level: Type of Work Subject/Topic is on:
|
||
[ ]6-8 [ ]Class Notes [Essay on understanding ]
|
||
[ ]9-10 [ ]Cliff Notes [of Balzac's Pessimistic ]
|
||
[ ]11-12 [x]Essay/Report [view of nineteenth ]
|
||
[x]College [ ]Misc [Century society ]
|
||
|
||
Dizzed: 10/94 # of Words:1768 School: ? State: ?
|
||
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>Chop Here>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
|
||
Le Colonel Chabert exhibits the relationship between strong and weak
|
||
characters. The degree of strength within a character reflects how well
|
||
the character survives in society. In society, weak characters often have
|
||
no identity, profession or rank. Stronger characters have power to succeed
|
||
from inner confidence, motivation and ambition. Any drastic changes
|
||
brought to the body or soul by the environment corrupts that person's
|
||
strength thereby affecting their ability to function properly in society.
|
||
This comparison of characters gives an understanding of Balzac's
|
||
pessimistic view of nineteenth century society.
|
||
|
||
A character's strength and energy in the novel determines their
|
||
survival in society. Colonel Chabert has been known to be a courageous
|
||
hero in the past, "... je commandais un r‚giment de cavalerie … Eylau.
|
||
J'ai ‚t‚ beaucoup dans le succŠes de la c‚lŠbre charge..." Once he returns
|
||
to Paris after his injury, he loses his identity and becomes the " weak
|
||
character " of society. This is a rapid decline down the "ladder of
|
||
success" and Chabert tries desperately to climb back up to the top, where
|
||
he had been before. At the beginning of the novel, there is a vision of a
|
||
slow non-energetic man walking progressively up the stairs to lawyer
|
||
Derville's study which contrasts the boisterous energy of the clerks.
|
||
Chabert reaches Derville's study and is determined to find the lawyer to
|
||
help him find justice for his infortunes, "... me suis-je d‚termin‚ …
|
||
venir vous trouver. Je vous parlerai de mes malhers plus tard." Chabert
|
||
demonstrates some energy left in him by his will to retrieve everything
|
||
that he lost. This energy to gain back his power changes to furious and
|
||
revengeful energy upon learning what his wife had done, "Les yeux de
|
||
l'homme ‚nergique brillaient rallum‚s aux feux du d‚sir et de la
|
||
vengeance." After a period of time, Chabert loses hope and bids farewell
|
||
forever. He gives up his identity to become an unknown person as he
|
||
realizes that his strength of character is not enough to keep him alive in
|
||
this society. He sees himself weakening when seeing his wife and her
|
||
children as he does not have the heart to break up her family. He tells
|
||
his wife, "Je ne r‚clamerai jamais le nom que j'ai peut-ˆtre illustr‚. Je
|
||
ne suis plus qu'un pauvre diable nomm‚ Hyancinthe..." Hence, Chabert
|
||
becomes a numbered person in an institution, "Je ne suis pas un homme, je
|
||
suis le num‚ro 164,..." Also, he becomes the weakest among everyone in the
|
||
institution, " En ce moment, le colonel Chabert s'assit au milieu de ses
|
||
hommes … faces ‚nergiques,... " In contrast, Madame Ferraud represents a
|
||
woman who has strong innovative traits, starts at the bottom but gradually
|
||
rises to the top after Chabert had gone. She becomes driven by her passion
|
||
to enter the upper class and become "Une femme comme il faut". She uses
|
||
her persuasive and aggressive qualities to satisfy her ambitions. Once at
|
||
the top, she has the power to survive better than Chabert. At one point,
|
||
Madame Ferraud is weakened when Derville confronts her for lying about the
|
||
letter from Chabert. This shows that the characters do not remain in a
|
||
consistent position and this determines whether or not a character is
|
||
capable of surviving well or not. The personality and appearance of
|
||
characters become transformed as a result of changes in the environment.
|
||
For instance, Chabert appreciates the help he is receiving from Derville.
|
||
He acknowledges Derville's kind words by saying humbly, "... Voil… le
|
||
premier mot de politesse que j'entends depuis..." Chabert is surprised that
|
||
the treatment from Derville surpasses the ten years of rejection by his
|
||
wife, justice and society. His sufferings have caused him be more kind
|
||
hearted and more considerate to others. He is willing to live without
|
||
pleasure, to remain poor and mediocre. This is a startling contrast to his
|
||
past where he had been an ambitious man. Chabert's strength is decreasing
|
||
as "Ses souffrances physiques et morales lui avaient d‚j… vici‚ le corps
|
||
dans quelques-uns des organes les plus importantes." On the other hand,
|
||
Madame Ferraud's rise to power results in a more persuasive, independent
|
||
and high spirited woman. This is shown by,
|
||
|
||
"Encore jeune et belle, Madame Ferraud joua le r“le d'une femme … la
|
||
mode, et v‚cut dans l'atmosphŠre de la cour. Riche par elle- mˆme,
|
||
riche par son mari,... elle en partageait la splendeur."
|
||
|
||
In addition, Madame Ferraud "‚tait enevelop‚e dans un ‚l‚gant peignoir,
|
||
les boucles de ses cheveaux... Elle ‚tait fraŒche et rieuse." Her gracious
|
||
actions and her manner of speech is characteristic of her new personality.
|
||
This is to her advantage as she uses these characteristics to calm Chabert
|
||
and convince him to stay at her home. She has a superficiel layer covering
|
||
her body to hide the false image in order to accomplish what she wants,
|
||
|
||
"...elle monta chez elle, s'assit … son secr‚taire, d‚posa le masque
|
||
de tranquillit‚ qu'elle conservait devant le comte Chabert, comme une
|
||
actrice qui, rentrant fatigu‚e dans sa loge aprŠs un cinquiŠme acte
|
||
p‚nible, tombe demi-morte et laisse dans la salle une image
|
||
d'elle-mˆme … laquelle elle ne ressemble plus."
|
||
|
||
Therefore, Madame Ferraud does not concern herself with people beneath
|
||
her but rather, her quest to remain on top. There is a marked difference
|
||
between characters in terms of the inner self and heartfelt sentiments.
|
||
Chabert is a man filled with sorrow and despair after his return to Paris.
|
||
He is extremely melancholy as his sufferings outweigh any happy
|
||
experiences in his life,
|
||
|
||
"Je compris que l… o— j'‚tais, l'air ne se renouvelait point, et que
|
||
j'allais mourir. Cette pens‚e m'“ta le sentiment de la douleur
|
||
inexprimable par laquelle j'avais ‚t‚ r‚veill‚ ...Quoique la m‚moire
|
||
de ces moments soit bien t‚n‚breuse,...les impressions de souffrances
|
||
encore plus profondes que je devais ‚prover..."
|
||
|
||
Chabert feels desperate when he says, "J'ai ‚t‚ ‚nterr‚ sous des mort,
|
||
mais maintenant je suis enterr‚ sous de vivants,..." He is extremely
|
||
injured to what he has experienced that "son extrˆme malheur avait sans
|
||
doute d‚truit ses croyances." Sadness prevails in Chabert's heart and
|
||
there is a bleak outlook to his future, "Des grosses larmes tombŠrent des
|
||
yeux fl‚tris du pauvre soldat et roulŠrent sur ses joues rid‚es. A
|
||
l'aspect de ces difficult‚s, il fut d‚courag‚." Chabert at "L'Hospice de la
|
||
vieillesse" has lost any traces of raging energy left in him as "Le vieux
|
||
soldat ‚tait calme, immobile, presque distrait...Son regard avait une
|
||
expression de sto‹cisme..." Madame Ferraud is heartless and has no
|
||
feelings towards anyone except for her desire for power. For example, the
|
||
marriage to Count Ferraud,
|
||
|
||
"... elle con‡ut d'attacher le comte … elle par le plus fort des
|
||
liens, par la chaŒne d'or, et voulut ˆtre si riche que sa fortune
|
||
rendŒt son second mariage indissoluble, si par hasard le comte Chabert
|
||
reparaissait encore."
|
||
|
||
Even though she is a cold, unfeeling woman, there is one sign of
|
||
emotion left caused by a momentary vision of her past life, "Deux grosses
|
||
larmes roulŠrent toutes chaudes sur les mains de sa femme..." The personal
|
||
feelings of weak and strong characters brings a different perspective and
|
||
thus distinguishes them from one another.
|
||
|
||
Balzac often uses visionary poetic images such as the infant, animal,
|
||
light and dark, to illustrate the contrast between the characters. The
|
||
infant image is a romantic element where the character refuses reality and
|
||
remains a weak, na‹ve child. For example, Chabert is a child; "O— en
|
||
‚tais-je? dit le colonel avec la na‹vet‚ d'un enfant d'un soldat, car il y
|
||
a souvent de l'enfant dans le vrai soldat,..." In addition, Chabert loses
|
||
his temper and Derville controls him by saying, "Laissez-moi r‚parer vos
|
||
sottises, grand enfant!" Finally, Chabert refuses his identity and looks
|
||
at Derville with "une anxi‚t‚ peureuse, avec une crainte de viellard et
|
||
d'enfant." Derville states Chabert's destiny, "Sorti de l'hospice des
|
||
Enfants trouv‚s, il revient mourir … l'hospice de la Vieillessse,..." The
|
||
animal image is used to show how animals are considered to be beneath the
|
||
human race. Often, Chabert is treated as a dog, "Enfin, le jour mˆme o—
|
||
l'on me jeta sur le pav‚ comme un chien,..." Chabert's self pride becomes
|
||
shattered as all of the clercs ignore him ; "Il se mit … regarder
|
||
modestement autour de lui, comme un chien qui, en se glissant dans une
|
||
cuisine ‚trangŠre,... The change of light and darkness presents a
|
||
contrast between happiness and sadness as well as the energy of each
|
||
character. The sun is a form of bright light that does not shine whenever
|
||
there is some dismal feeling and lack of energy in the atmosphere, "notre
|
||
soleil s'est couch‚, nous avons tous froid maintenant. " Balzac uses the
|
||
sun to indicate the never ending darkness for Chabert as "Je ne suis plus
|
||
q'un pauvre diable nomm‚ Hyacinthe, qui ne demande que sa place au soleil.
|
||
Adieu..." His facial expressions are marked with darkness, "Les bords du
|
||
chapeau qui couvrait le front du viellard projetaient un sillon noir sur le
|
||
haut de visage." Balzac has a pessimistic view of society in Paris.
|
||
Paris has become a large modernized society and its traditional charm has
|
||
disappeared. Hence, the characters change according to the rise of this
|
||
new society. For example, Chabert returns to a transformed place,
|
||
"...amener pour la France une Šre de prosp‚rit‚ nouvelle, alors la soci‚t‚
|
||
parisienne changea de face." In this society, he becomes non existant,
|
||
ridiculed and weakened to the lowest denominator. He is shocked of what he
|
||
sees, "Oh! monsieur, revoir Paris! C'‚tait un d‚lire que je..." The writer
|
||
expresses his disgust of society through Derville's condemnation of
|
||
society, "Vous allez connaŒtre ces jollies choses-l…, vous; moi, je vais
|
||
vivre … la campagne avec ma femme, Paris me fait horreur." Balzac uses the
|
||
contrast between each characters' strength to justify the degration of
|
||
the weak characters.
|
||
|
||
The society is corrupted with sin, injustice and disease. There are
|
||
always successses and failures in the society but the survival of certain
|
||
individuals depends on the interaction between the relative strength of the
|
||
character and society. Weak characters do not survive well from lack of
|
||
fierce energy present in the strong characters. These deficiencies cause
|
||
the powerful characters to dominate in society and the weak ones quickly
|
||
forgotten, set apart from the rest of the world. Balzac does not approve
|
||
of this inequality between individuals so he presents a pessimistic and
|
||
satirical view of society and the individuals in it.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bibliograpy
|
||
1. Balzac, Honor‚ de. Le Colonel Chabert. France: <20>ditions Gallimard, 1974, pp.21-121.
|
||
|
||
2. Dargan, John. Balzac and the Drama of Perspective. New York: French Forum Publishers, 1985, p.45.
|