The author of the work is red and black. E-book Red and Black

Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black is the pinnacle of French realism. There is amazing detail here, and the political, social and psychological realities of the time are described in detail. However, the hero of the novel, Julien Sorel, belongs to romantic heroes, therefore, his existence in circumstances typical of the era turns into a tragedy.

“Red and Black” is a book whose title has been making readers think and analyze what is behind it for many years. When reading the work, the answer to this question does not become obvious and assumes multiple options, which everyone resolves for themselves. Direct associations appear primarily with the internal state of Julien Sorel, which combined the desire to find oneself, accomplish a feat, become an educated person, but at the same time self-interest, vanity, and the goal of achieving success by any means. The title also indicates the general theme of the work. These two colors: red and black, in their combination symbolize a certain anxiety, a struggle that occurs within people and around them. Red is blood, love, desire, black is base motives, betrayal. In their mixture, these colors give rise to the drama that occurs in the lives of the heroes.

Red and black are the colors of roulette, a symbol of excitement that has become vitality Main character. He alternately bet on the red (on the help of his mistresses, on his charm, etc.) and on the black (on deceit, meanness, etc.). This idea is prompted by the fatal hobby of the author himself: he was a passionate gambler.

Another interpretation: red is a military uniform, black is a priest’s cassock. The hero rushed between dreams and reality, and this conflict between the desired and the actual destroyed him.

Also, the combination of these colors forms tragic ending an aspiring hero: blood on the ground, red and black. The unfortunate young man could do so much, but he could only stain the earth with the blood of his mistress.

In addition, many researchers suggest that the contrasting combination of colors means the main conflict of the novel - the choice between honor and death: either shed blood or allow oneself to be denigrated.

What is this book about?

Stendhal tells readers about life young boy Julien Sorel who gets a job as a tutor in the house of M. de Renal and his wife. Throughout the book, the reader observes the internal struggle of this purposeful person, his emotions, actions, mistakes, managing to be indignant and empathize at the same time. The most important line of the novel is the theme of love and jealousy, complex relationships and people's feelings different ages and different positions.

The young man’s career took him to the very top and promised many joys, among which he was looking for only one - respect. Ambition pushed him forward, but it also drove him into a dead end, because the opinion of society turned out to be more valuable to him than life.

The image of the main character

Julien Sorel is the son of a carpenter, fluent in Latin, a smart, purposeful and handsome young man. This is a young man who knows what he wants and who is ready to make any sacrifice to achieve his goals. The young man is ambitious and smart, he craves fame and success, dreaming first of a military career and then of a career as a priest. Many of Julien’s actions are dictated by base motives, a thirst for revenge, a thirst for recognition and worship, but he is not a negative character, but rather a contradictory and complex character, placed in difficult living conditions. The image of Sorel contains the character traits of a revolutionary, a gifted commoner who is not ready to put up with his position in society.

The plebeian complex makes the hero ashamed of his origin and look for a way to another social reality. It is this painful conceit that explains his assertiveness: he is sure that he deserves more. It is no coincidence that Napoleon, a native of the people who managed to subjugate dignitaries and nobles, becomes his idol. Sorel firmly believes in his star, and that’s all, and therefore loses faith in God, in love, in people. His unscrupulousness leads to tragedy: trampling on the foundations of society, he, like his idol, finds himself rejected and expelled by it.

Topics and problems

The novel raises many issues. This is a choice life path, and the formation of character, and the conflict of a person with society. To consider any of them, it is important to understand the historical context: the Great French Revolution, Napoleon, the mindset of a whole generation of youth, the Restoration. Stendhal thought in these categories; he was one of those people who personally saw the breakdown of society and were impressed by this spectacle. Besides global problems, which are social in nature and related to the events of the era, the work also describes the complexities of relationships between people, love, jealousy, betrayal - that is, what exists outside of time and is always perceived by readers close to the heart.

The main problem in the novel “Red and Black” is, of course, social injustice. A talented commoner cannot make his way into the ranks, even though he is smarter than the nobility and more capable. This person also does not find himself in his own environment: he is hated even in his family. Inequality is felt by everyone, so a gifted young man is envied and in every possible way prevented from realizing his skills. Such hopelessness pushes him to desperate steps, and the ostentatious virtue of priests and dignitaries only confirms the hero’s intention to go against the moral principles of society. This idea is confirmed by the history of the creation of the novel “Red and Black”: the author found a note in the newspaper about the execution young man. It was this brief account of someone else’s grief that inspired him to fill in the missing details and create a realistic novel dedicated to the problem of social inequality. He suggests that the conflict between personality and environment should not be assessed so unambiguously: people do not have the right to take Sorel’s life, because it was they who made him this way.

What is the meaning of the novel?

The story itself contained in the novel is not fiction, but real events, which greatly impressed Standhal. That is why the author chose Danton’s phrase “Truth. Bitter truth". It so happened that one day, while reading a newspaper, the writer read about the court case of Antoine Berthe, from whom the image of Sorel was copied. In this regard, the social problems of the work become even more obvious, which characterizes a difficult era and makes us think about it. Then a person was faced with a very acute question of choice: to preserve his spiritual purity in poverty or to go straight ahead and head over heels to success. Although Julien chooses the second, he is also deprived of the opportunity to achieve something, because immorality will never become the basis of happiness. A hypocritical society will willingly close its eyes to her, but only for a certain time, and when it opens, it will immediately isolate itself from the criminal taken by surprise. This means that Sorel’s tragedy is a verdict on unprincipledness and ambition. The real victory of the individual is self-respect, and not the endless search for this respect from the outside. Julien lost because he could not accept himself for who he is.

Psychologism of Stendhal

Psychologism is a characteristic feature of Standhal's work. It manifests itself in the fact that, along with the story about the actions and deeds of the character and the general picture of the events described, the author, at a higher level of analysis, describes the reasons and motives for the hero’s actions. Thus, the writer balances on the edge between boiling passions and the mind analyzing them, creating the feeling that at the same time when the hero commits an act, he is being continuously monitored. For example, this all-seeing eye shows the reader how Julien carefully hides his sentence from view: little Napoleon, whose veneration has already left its mark on the actions of the hero from the very beginning of his journey. This expressive detail points us to the soul of Sorel - a trembling moth striving for fire. He repeated the fate of Napoleon, winning the desired world, but failing to keep it.

Genre originality of the novel

The novel combines the features of romanticism and realism. This is evidenced by the vital basis of the story, filled with deep and varied feelings and ideas. This is a feature of realism. But the hero is romantic, endowed with specific features. He is in conflict with society, but at the same time he is outstanding, educated and handsome. His loneliness is a proud desire to rise above the crowd; he despises his environment. His intelligence and abilities tragically remain unneeded and unfulfilled. Nature follows in his footsteps, framing the feelings and events in his life with its colors.

The work is often characterized as psychological and social, and it is difficult to disagree with this, since it unusually mixes the events of reality and a detailed assessment of the internal motives of the characters. Throughout the entire novel, the reader can observe a constant correlation between the external world as a whole and the inner world of a person, and it remains unclear which of these worlds is the most complex and contradictory.

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Current page: 1 (book has 41 pages in total)

Frederic Stendhal
Red and black

Part one

The truth is the bitter truth.

Danton

I. Town

Put thousands together – less bad,

But the cage is less gay.

Hobbes1
Put thousands of better people together than these, in a cage it will become even worse. Hobbes (English).

The town of Verrieres is perhaps one of the most picturesque in all of Franche-Comté. White houses with peaked red-tiled roofs are spread along the hillside, where clumps of powerful chestnut trees rise from every hollow. The Doux runs a few hundred steps below the city fortifications; They were once built by the Spaniards, but now only ruins remain.

From the north, Verrieres is protected by a high mountain - this is one of the spurs of the Jura. The broken peaks of Werra are covered with snow from the very first frosts in October. A stream rushes down the mountain; before flowing into the Doubs, it runs through Verrieres and on its way sets in motion many sawmills. This simple industry brings a certain amount of prosperity to the majority of the inhabitants, who are more like peasants than city dwellers. However, it was not the sawmills that enriched this town; The production of printed fabrics, the so-called Mulhouse heels, was the source of general prosperity, which, after the fall of Napoleon, made it possible to renovate the facades of almost all houses in Verrieres.

As soon as you enter the city, you are deafened by the roar of some heavily humming and scary-looking car. Twenty heavy hammers fall with a roar that shakes the pavement; they are lifted by a wheel driven by a mountain stream. Each of these hammers produces, I won’t say how many thousands of nails every day. Blooming, pretty girls are engaged in exposing pieces of iron to the blows of these huge hammers, which immediately turn into nails. This production, so crude in appearance, is one of those things that most strikes the traveler who first finds himself in the mountains that separate France from Helvetia. If a traveler who finds himself in Verrieres is curious about whose wonderful nail factory it is, which deafens passers-by walking along Grand Street, he will be answered in a drawling voice: “Ah, the factory is Mr. Mayor’s.”

And if a traveler lingers even for a few minutes on the Grand Rue de Verrieres, which stretches from the banks of the Doubs to the very top of the hill, there is a hundred to one chance that he will certainly meet tall man with an important and concerned face.

As soon as he appears, all the hats hastily rise. His hair is gray and he is dressed all in gray. He is a holder of several orders, he has a high forehead, an aquiline nose, and in general his face is not devoid of a certain regularity of features, and at first glance it may even seem that, together with the dignity of a provincial mayor, he combines a certain pleasantness that is sometimes still inherent in people at forty-eight to fifty years old. However, very soon the traveling Parisian will be unpleasantly surprised by the expression of complacency and arrogance, in which some kind of limitation and poverty of imagination is evident. One feels that all the talents of this man come down to forcing everyone who owes him to pay himself with the greatest accuracy, while he himself delays paying his debts as long as possible.

This is the mayor of Verrieres, M. de Renal. Having crossed the street with an important step, he enters the city hall and disappears from the eyes of the traveler. But if the traveler continues his walk, then, after walking another hundred steps, he will notice quite beautiful house, and behind the cast-iron trellis surrounding the property is a magnificent garden. Behind it, outlining the horizon, are the Burgundian hills, and it seems as if all this was deliberately designed to please the eye. This view can make the traveler forget about that atmosphere plagued by petty profiteering, in which he is already beginning to suffocate.

They will explain to him that this house belongs to M. de Renal. It was with the proceeds from a large nail factory that the mayor of Verrieres built his beautiful mansion of cut stone, and now he is decorating it. They say that his ancestors are Spaniards, from an old family that allegedly settled in these parts long before their conquest by Louis XIV.

Since 1815, Mr. Mayor has been ashamed of being a manufacturer: 1815 made him mayor of the city of Verrieres. The massive ledges of the walls supporting the vast areas of the magnificent park, descending in terraces to the Doubs, are also a well-deserved reward given to M. de Renal for his deep knowledge of ironmongery.

In France there is no hope of seeing such picturesque gardens as those that surround the industrial cities of Germany - Leipzig, Frankfurt, Nuremberg and others. In Franche-Comté, the more walls you have, the more your property bristles with stones piled one on top of the other, the more rights you acquire to the respect of your neighbors. And M. de Renal’s gardens, where there is absolutely wall on wall, also evoke such admiration because some small areas The money that went to them was worth its weight in gold, Mr. Mayor. For example, that sawmill on the very banks of the Doubs, which so amazed you when entering Verrieres, and you also noticed the name “Sorel” written in giant letters on a board across the entire roof - six years ago it was located on the same the place where M. de Renal is now erecting the wall of the fourth terrace of his gardens.

No matter how proud Mr. Mayor was, he had to spend a long time courting and persuading old Sorel, a stubborn, tough guy; and he had to lay out a considerable amount of clear gold in order to convince him to move his sawmill to another place. As for the public stream that made the saw flow, M. de Renal, thanks to his connections in Paris, ensured that it was diverted into a different channel. He gained this sign of favor after the elections of 1821.

He gave Sorel four arpans for one, five hundred paces down the bank of the Doubs, and although this new location was much more profitable for the production of spruce boards, Father Sorel - that was what they called him since he became rich - managed to squeeze out of impatience and mania of the owner that seized his neighbor, a tidy sum of six thousand francs.

True, the local wise guys were slandering this deal. One Sunday, it was about four years ago, M. de Renal, in full mayoral garb, was returning from church and saw from afar the old man Sorel: he stood with his three sons and grinned at him. This grin shed a fatal light into the soul of Mr. Mayor - since then he has been haunted by the thought that he could have made the exchange much cheaper.

To earn public respect in Verrieres, it is very important to pile up as much as possible more walls, do not be seduced by any fiction of these Italian masons who make their way through the gorges of the Jura in the spring, heading to Paris.

Such an innovation would have earned the careless builder the reputation of an extravagant for all eternity, and he would have perished forever in the opinion of prudent and moderate people, who are in charge of the distribution of public respect in Franche-Comte.

In all honesty, these smart guys display a completely intolerable despotism, and it is this vile word that makes life in small towns unbearable for anyone who lived in the great republic called Paris. The tyranny of public opinion - and what an opinion! – is as stupid in the small towns of France as in the United States of America.

II. Mister Mayor

Prestige! What, sir, do you think this is nothing? Honor from fools, children staring in amazement, envy of the rich, contempt from the wise.

Barnav

Fortunately for M. de Renal and his reputation as the ruler of the city, the city boulevard, located on the hillside, hundreds of feet above the Doubs, had to be surrounded by a huge retaining wall. From here, thanks to its extremely favorable location, one of the most picturesque views of France opens up. But every spring the boulevard was washed away by rain, the paths turned into continuous potholes, and it became completely unsuitable for walking. This inconvenience, felt by everyone, placed M. de Renal in the happy necessity of perpetuating his reign by building a stone wall twenty feet high and thirty to forty toises long.

The parapet of this wall, for the sake of which M. de Renal had to travel three times to Paris, because the penultimate Minister of the Interior declared himself the mortal enemy of the Verrieres Boulevard, this parapet now rises about four feet above the ground. And, as if challenging all ministers, past and present, it is now decorated with granite slabs.

How many times, immersed in memories of the balls of recently abandoned Paris, leaning my chest on these huge stone slabs of a beautiful gray color, slightly tinged with blue, my gaze wandered over the Doubs valley. In the distance, on the left bank, five or six ravines meander, in the depths of which the eye can clearly discern flowing streams. They run down, are torn down by waterfalls here and there, and finally fall into the Doubs. The sun in our mountains is hot, and when it is directly overhead, the traveler, daydreaming on this terrace, is protected by the shade of magnificent plane trees. Thanks to the alluvial soil, they grow quickly, and their luxurious greenery has a blue tint, for Mr. Mayor ordered the earth to be piled along the entire length of his huge retaining wall; despite the opposition of the municipal council, he widened the boulevard by about six feet (for which I praise him, although he is an ultra-royalist and I am a liberal), and that is why this terrace, in his opinion, and also in the opinion of M. Valnod, is prosperous director of the Verrieres almshouse, is in no way inferior to the Saint-Germain terrace in Laie.

As for me, I can only complain about one drawback of the Alley of Fidelity - this official name can be read in fifteen or twenty places on the marble tablets, for which M. de Renal was awarded another cross - in my opinion, the lack of the Alley of Fidelity - These are barbarically mutilated mighty plane trees: on the orders of their superiors, they are cut off and punished mercilessly. Instead of being like the round, flattened crowns of the most inconspicuous garden vegetables, they could freely acquire those magnificent forms that one sees in their counterparts in England. But the will of Mr. Mayor is unbreakable, and twice a year all the trees belonging to the community are mercilessly amputated. Local liberals say - however, this is, of course, an exaggeration - that the hand of the city gardener has become much more severe since Monsieur Vicar Malon began the custom of appropriating the fruits of this haircut.

This young clergyman was sent from Besançon several years ago to observe the Abbe Cheland and several other priests in the surrounding area. An old regimental doctor, a participant in the Italian campaign, who retired to Verrieres and who during his lifetime was, according to the mayor, both a Jacobin and a Bonapartist, once dared to reproach the mayor for this systematic disfigurement of beautiful trees.

“I love the shade,” answered M. de Renal with that shade of arrogance in his voice, which is acceptable when talking with a regimental doctor, a holder of the Legion of Honor, “I love the shade and I order my trees to be trimmed so that they provide shade.” And I don't know what else trees are good for if they can't, like a healthy nut, generate income.

Here it is, the great word that decides everything in Verrieres: to generate income; to this, and only to this, the thoughts of more than three-quarters of the entire population invariably come down.

Generate income- this is the argument that governs everything in this town, which seemed so beautiful to you. A stranger who finds himself here, captivated by the beauty of the cool, deep valleys encircling the town, at first imagines that the local inhabitants are very receptive to beauty; they endlessly talk about the beauty of their region; it cannot be denied that they value it very much, because it attracts strangers, whose money enriches the innkeepers, and this, in turn, by virtue of the existing city tax laws, brings income to the city.

One fine autumn day, Mr. de Renal was walking along the Alley of Fidelity, arm in arm with his wife. Listening to the reasoning of her husband, who was pontificating with an air of importance, Madame de Renal watched her three boys with a restless gaze. The eldest, who could have been about eleven years old, kept running up to the parapet with the obvious intention of climbing onto it. A gentle voice then pronounced the name of Adolf, and the boy immediately abandoned his bold idea. Madame de Renal looked about thirty years old, but she was still very pretty.

“However he might regret it later, this upstart from Paris,” said M. de Renal in an offended tone, and his usually pale cheeks seemed even paler. - I will have friends at court...

But even though I am going to tell you about the province for two hundred pages, I am still not such a barbarian as to harass you with lengthy and with sophisticated innuendo provincial conversation.

This upstart from Paris, so hated by the mayor, was none other than M. Appert, who two days ago managed to get into not only the prison and the Verrieres almshouse, but also the hospital, which was under the gratuitous care of M. Mayor and the city's most prominent homeowners.

“But,” answered Madame de Renal timidly, “what can this gentleman from Paris do to you if you manage the property of the poor with such scrupulous conscientiousness?”

“He came here only to criticize us, and then he will go to press articles in liberal newspapers.”

- But you never read them, my friend.

“But we are constantly being told about these Jacobin articles; all this distracts us and prevents us from doing good. No, as for me, I will never forgive our priest for this.

III. Poor property

The virtuous curé, free from all intrigues, is truly a blessing from God for the village.

Fleury

It must be said that the curé of Verrieres, an eighty-year-old man who, thanks to the invigorating air of the local mountains, retained iron health and an iron character, enjoyed the right to visit the prison, hospital and even the charity house at any time. So M. Appert, who in Paris was provided with a letter of recommendation to the curate, had the prudence to arrive in this small inquisitive town exactly at six o'clock in the morning and immediately went to the clergyman's house.

Reading a letter written to him by the Marquis de La Mole, peer of France and the richest landowner in the entire area, Curé Chelan became thoughtful.

“I’m an old man, and they love me here,” he finally said in a low voice, talking to himself, “they won’t dare.” And then, turning to the visiting Parisian, he said, raising his eyes, in which, despite his advanced age, a sacred fire sparkled, indicating that it gave him joy to perform a noble, albeit somewhat risky, act:

“Come with me, sir, but I will ask you not to say anything in the presence of the prison guard, and especially in the presence of the guards of the charity home, about what we will see.”

Mr. Appert realized that he was dealing with a courageous man; he went with the venerable priest, visited with him a prison, a hospital, a nursing home, asked a lot of questions, but, despite the strange answers, did not allow himself to express the slightest condemnation.

This inspection lasted several hours. The priest invited Mr. Appert to dine with him, but he excused himself by saying that he had to write a lot of letters: he did not want to further compromise his generous companion. At about three o'clock they went to finish inspecting the charity house and then returned to the prison. At the door they were met by a watchman - a bandy-legged giant, tall; his already vile face became completely disgusting with fear.

“Ah, sir,” he said, as soon as he saw the curé, “this gentleman who came with you, isn’t it Mr. Appert?”

- Well, what then? - said the curé.

“And the fact is that yesterday I received a precise order about them—Mr. Prefect sent it with a gendarme, who had to ride all night—to under no circumstances allow M. Appert into prison.”

“I can tell you, Monsieur Noirou,” said the curé, “that this stranger who came with me is really Monsieur Appert.” You should know that I have the right to enter the prison at any hour of the day or night and can bring with me anyone I please.

“That’s how it is, Monsieur Curé,” answered the watchman, lowering his voice and lowering his head, like a bulldog being forced to obey by showing him a stick. “Only, Mr. Curé, I have a wife and children, and if there is a complaint against me and I lose my place, what will I do with my life then?” After all, only service feeds me.

“I, too, would be very sorry to lose my parish,” answered the honest curé, his voice breaking with emotion.

- They compared it! – the watchman responded quickly. “You, Monsieur Curé, everyone knows this, have eight hundred livres of rent and a piece of your own land.”

These are the incidents, exaggerated, altered in twenty ways, that have inflamed all sorts of evil passions in the small town of Verrieres for the last two days. They were now the subject of a small disagreement between M. de Renal and his wife. In the morning, M. de Renal, together with M. Valnot, the director of the charity house, came to the priest to express his lively displeasure. Mr. Shelan had no patrons; he felt what consequences this conversation threatened him with.

“Well, gentlemen, apparently, I will be the third priest who, at the age of eighty, will be refused a place in these parts.” I've been here fifty-six years; I baptized almost all the inhabitants of this city, which was just a village when I arrived here. Every day I marry young people, just as I once married their grandfathers. Verrieres is my family, but the fear of leaving him cannot force me either to enter into a deal with my conscience or to be guided in my actions by anything other than it. When I saw this visitor, I said to myself: “Perhaps this Parisian is really a liberal - there are many of them now - but what harm can he do to our poor people or prisoners?”

However, the reproaches of M. de Renal, and especially M. Valnot, the director of the charity home, became more and more offensive.

- Well, gentlemen, take my parish away from me! - exclaimed the old priest in a trembling voice. “I still won’t leave these places.” Everyone knows that forty-eight years ago I inherited a small plot of land that brings me eight hundred livres; This is what I will live on. After all, gentlemen, I don’t make any side savings in my service, and maybe that’s why I don’t get scared when they threaten me with being fired.

Monsieur de Renal lived very amicably with his wife, but did not know how to answer her question when she timidly repeated: “What harm can this Parisian do to our prisoners?” – he was ready to flare up when suddenly she screamed. Her second son jumped onto the parapet and ran along it, although this wall rose more than twenty feet above the vineyard that stretched on the other side of it. Fearing that the child would fall in fright, Madame de Renal did not dare to call him. Finally the boy, who was beaming with his daring, looked back at his mother and, seeing that she had turned pale, jumped off the parapet and ran up to her. He was properly reprimanded.

This small incident forced the couple to move the conversation to another subject.

“I still decided to take this Sorel, the son of a sawmill, to me,” said M. de Renal. - He will look after the children, otherwise they have become too playful. This is a young theologian, almost a priest; he knows Latin excellently and will be able to force them to study; The priest says that he has a strong character. I will give him three hundred francs in salary and board. I had some doubts about his good character, - after all, he was the favorite of this old doctor, a holder of the Legion of Honor, who, using the pretext that he was some kind of relative of Sorel, came to them and remained to live on their bread. But it is very possible that this man was, in essence, a secret agent of the liberals; he claimed that our mountain air helped him with asthma, but who knows? He is with Buonaparte went through all the Italian campaigns, and they say that even when they voted for the Empire, he wrote “no.” This liberal taught Sorel's son and left him many books that he brought with him. Of course, it would never have occurred to me to take a carpenter’s son to the children, but just on the eve of this story, because of which I now quarreled with the priest forever, he told me that Sorel’s son had been studying theology for three years now and was planning to enroll. to the seminary, which means he is not a liberal, and, in addition, he is a Latinist. But there are some other considerations here,” continued M. de Renal, looking at his wife with the air of a diplomat. - Mr. Valno is so proud that he acquired a pair of beautiful Normandy girls for his trip. But his children do not have a tutor.

“He can still intercept it from us.”

“So you approve of my project,” Mr. de Renal picked up, thanking his wife with a smile for the wonderful idea that she had just expressed. - So, it’s decided.

“Oh, my God, dear friend, how quickly everything is resolved for you.”

“Because I am a man of character, and our priest will now be convinced of this.” There is no need to deceive yourself - we are surrounded on all sides by liberals here. All these manufacturers envy me, I'm sure of it; two or three of them have already made their way into the moneybags. Well, let them watch how the children of M. de Renal go for a walk under the supervision of their tutor. This will inspire them with something. My grandfather often told us that in his childhood he always had a tutor. It will cost me about a hundred crowns, but in our position this expense is necessary to maintain prestige.

This sudden decision made Madame de Renal think twice. Madame de Renal, a tall, stately woman, was once known, as they say, as the first beauty in the entire district. There was something simple-minded and youthful in her appearance and demeanor. This naive grace, full of innocence and liveliness, could perhaps captivate a Parisian with some kind of hidden ardor. But if Madame de Renal knew that she could make an impression of this kind, she would be burned with shame. Her heart was alien to any coquetry or pretense. It was rumored that M. Valno, a rich man, the director of a charity home, courted her, but without the slightest success, which gained great fame for her virtue, for M. Valno, a tall man in the prime of his years, powerfully built, with a ruddy face and magnificent with black sideburns, belonged precisely to that class of rude, impudent and noisy people who in the provinces are called “handsome men.” Madame de Renal, a very timid creature, apparently had an extremely uneven character, and she was extremely irritated by the constant fussiness and deafening peals of Monsieur Valno's voice. And since she shied away from everything that is called fun in Verrieres, they began to say about her that she was too proud of her origins. She had never even thought about it, but she was very pleased when the residents of the town began to visit her less often. Let's not hide the fact that in the eyes of local ladies she was considered a fool, because she did not know how to conduct any policy towards her husband and missed the most convenient opportunities to force him to buy an elegant hat for her in Paris or Besançon. If only no one bothered her to wander through her wonderful garden, she asked for nothing more.

She was a simple soul: she could never even have any pretensions to judge her husband or admit to herself that she was bored with him. She believed—though never, however, thinking about it—that there could be no other, more tender relationship between husband and wife. She loved M. de Renal most when he told her about his projects regarding children, of whom he intended one to become a military man, another to become an official, and the third to become a minister of the church. In general, she found M. de Renal much less boring than all the other men they had visited.

This was the wife's reasonable opinion. The mayor of Verrieres owed his reputation to witty person, and especially a man of good taste, half a dozen jokes that he inherited from his uncle. Old Captain de Renal, before the Revolution, served in the infantry regiment of His Grace the Duke of Orleans, and, when he was in Paris, enjoyed the privilege of visiting the Crown Prince at his house. There he happened to see Madame de Montesson, the famous Madame de Genlis, Mr. Ducret, the Palais Royal inventor. All these characters constantly appeared in Mr. de Renal's jokes. But little by little the art of putting such delicate and now forgotten details into a decent form became a difficult task for him, and for some time now he resorted to anecdotes from the life of the Duke of Orleans only on especially solemn occasions. Since, among other things, he was a very polite man, except, of course, when it came to money, he was rightly considered the greatest aristocrat in Verrieres.

The mayor of the small French town of Verrieres, Mr. de Renal, the owner of a factory where nails are made, informs his wife about the decision to take a tutor into the house. The main idea that the respected residents of this town live by is to make a profit. The mayor is a smug and vain man. He takes a tutor not only because the children are Lately They were a bit too naughty, but also “to spite” the local rich man, Mr. Valno. This vulgar loudmouth is always competing with the mayor, constantly showing off his new pair of Norman horses.

But the mayor's children will now have a tutor!

The mayor's wife, a tall, slender woman, was once known as the first beauty in the entire district. There is something naive and simple-minded in her manners. She avoids many entertainments and never argues with her husband.

Monsieur de Renal has already agreed with Father Sorel that his tutor will serve as his tutor. younger son. The old priest, Mr. Shelan, recommended the son of a sawmill carpenter as a talented young man who had been studying theology for three years and knew Latin very well. Julien Sorel is eighteen years old. He is a short, frail-looking young man. He has irregular but delicate facial features and dark brown hair. Appearance reflects the originality of character: a fiery soul glows in huge black eyes. The girls look at him with interest.

Possessing brilliant abilities, Julien never went to school. His father even beat him for his “laziness” - his excessive passion for books.

But the young man was drawn to science. He was taught Latin and history by the regimental doctor who lodged with the Sorels. The doctor was a participant in Napoleonic campaigns. Dying, Julien's teacher and friend bequeathed to him his love for Napoleon, the cross of the Legion of Honor and several dozen books. The main books for the young man were Rousseau's Confessions and two books about Napoleon. Since childhood, Julien dreamed of becoming a military man. During the time of Napoleon, this was the surest way to make a career, get into the public eye, and become famous. “Bonaparte, previously unknown to anyone, became emperor only thanks to his sword,” thought the romantically minded Julien.

But times have changed. Young Sorel understands that the only path open to him is to become a priest. So, you need to become a minister of cult.

He is ambitious and proud, but is ready to endure anything to make his way. He hides his impulses, tries not to talk in society about his idol - Napoleon.

Madame de Renal adores her three boys and is ready to raise them herself. The thought of a stranger standing between her and her children makes her despair. Worried about the children, the mother already conjures up in her mind the image of a disgusting, rude lout who will be allowed to yell at her children and perhaps even spank them.

And what? She sees in front of her a pale, frightened young man, almost a boy. He seems to her unusually handsome and very unhappy.

Julien quickly overcame his initial shyness. Less than a month has passed before everyone in the house, even the arrogant mayor himself, begins to treat him with respect. The children are simply delighted with their tutor. Julien did not become attached to the boys at all. However, he is always fair, balanced, and full of patience. No one knows what storms are raging in his soul! He despises moneybags who consider themselves the best people in the world and arrogantly talk about virtue. Among the “nobles” of the town, Julien behaves with great dignity. His knowledge of Latin is admirable - he can recite any page of the New Testament by heart.

The housewife's maid Eliza falls in love with the young tutor. In confession, she tells Abbot Shelan that she received an inheritance. Her dream is to marry Julien. The curé thinks that Eliza and Julien are a great couple. However, Julien resolutely refuses the enviable offer. He is unusually ambitious, dreams of great achievements, wealth and fame. In his heart he dreams of conquering Paris. However, for the time being, he skillfully hides it.

In the summer, the family moves to Vergis, the village where the de Renal estate is located. Here Madame de Renal spends whole days with the children and tutor. She is naive, poorly educated - she was raised, like most rich heiresses, in a monastery. Her natural, lively mind is not enriched with knowledge. All her love is directed to her children. Before, she thought that all men were like her husband or the obnoxious screamer Valno.

Her soul reached out to Julien, who seems to her smarter, kinder, more noble than all the men around her. Stendhal notes with irony that in Paris, the romance of a young woman and an ardent young man developed quickly and according to the rules that dictate theatrical vaudevilles and romance novels. And in the provinces, a naive, sincere woman immediately begins to understand that she loves Julien. She is confused, scared, hesitant: does he love her? After all, she is the mother of three children, she is ten years older than the tutor!

Julien notices Madame de Renal's feelings. In his opinion, she is beautiful, even charming. However, Julien is not in love at all. He watches her as if she were an enemy to be fought. To win Madame de Renal would be his first battle, his first test. He must assert himself! He is preparing to take revenge on this smug mayor, this gentleman who allows himself to talk condescendingly and down to him.

Frightened, worried, Julien begins to act. So, according to a pre-planned plan, he dared to take Madame de Renal’s hand - and she pulled hers back. Once, twice... and the woman’s icy hand finally remains in the young man’s hot palm.

Julien whispers in Madame de Renal's ear that he will come to her bedroom at night. She responds to him with the most sincere indignation. To him, her refusal seems full of contempt. Deciding to overcome resistance, Julien leaves his room at night... He freezes with fear, his legs give way... He even regrets that he has no reason not to go to his mistress’s bedroom.

Having entered the room, Julien falls at the feet of a charming woman, hugs her knees, she scolds him - and he suddenly bursts into tears!

Julien's tears and despair broke the resistance of de Renal, who had long loved him. He leaves her bedroom victorious, she considers herself dead.

The lovers are happy for a while. A woman loves for the first time, Julien is proud that he skillfully fulfills his role - the role of the conqueror of women! Suddenly Madame de Renal's youngest son fell seriously ill. It seems to the unfortunate mother that this is punishment for sin: with her love for Julien, she kills her son. Madame de Renal is tormented by remorse. She pushes her lover away from her. Fortunately, the child is recovering.

Mister de Renal does not suspect anything, but, as always, nothing can be hidden from the servants. The maid Eliza is glad that she can take revenge on Julien for his refusal to marry her: having met Monsieur Valnot on the street, she tells him that her mistress is having an affair with a young tutor. That same evening, de Renal, who had previously suspected nothing, receives an anonymous letter from which he learns that he is being “cuckolded” in his house. Madame de Renal manages to convince her husband of her innocence, but gossip about her love affairs spreads throughout the city.

Julien's mentor, Abbe Chelan, believes that the student should leave the City.

Leave for at least a year - for example, to visit your friend the timber merchant Fouquet or to the theological seminary in Besançon.

Julien agrees with the abbot and leaves Verrieres. However, the skull returns for three days to say goodbye to Madame de Renal. This means that feelings still live in him - not just ambition and calculation. He sneaks into his mistress’s bedroom, their date is filled with tragedy: they think they are parting forever.

Julien Sorel arrives in Besançon and visits the rector of the seminary, Abbot Pirard. Once again, at a new stage in his life, the young man experiences excitement and fear, and besides, the abbot’s face is unusually ugly. This repulses the young man, even causes horror in him. However, the hero again challenges his fear. The rector examines Julien for three hours. This is the moment of triumph for the young expert in theology and Latin. Pirard is so amazed that he accepts him into the seminary with a scholarship, albeit a small one. Showing honor to a promising student, Pirard gives orders to assign him a separate cell. This preference causes a natural reaction from mediocrities: the seminarians unanimously began to hate Julien. He is clearly talented, he also clearly despises the gray masses, he is an independent-minded person - most do not forgive this. Even the neatness of a newcomer, his well-groomed white hands drive rude seminarians into a rage!

Julien must choose a confessor for himself, and he chooses Abbot Pirard. He believes that he made the right and far-sighted choice, but does not suspect how decisive this act will be for his fate. The abbot is sincerely attached to the talented student, but Pirard’s own position in the seminary is very precarious. His opponents, the Jesuits, are doing everything to force the rector to resign. But the enemies do not take into account that the abbot has an influential friend and patron at court - the aristocrat (from the district of Franche-Comté) Marquis de La Mole. The abbot regularly carries out his various assignments, strengthening this friendship. Having learned about the persecution to which Pirard is subjected, the Marquis de La Mole makes him an offer: to move to the capital. The Marquis promises the rector of the Besançon Seminary one of the best parishes in the vicinity of Paris. Saying goodbye to Julien, the abbot foresees that without the support of the rector, difficult times await him. Julien, knowing that Pirard will need money at first, offers him all his savings. Pirard will not forget this generous spiritual impulse.

The Marquis de La Mole is a politician and nobleman. He enjoys great influence at court. Receiving Abbot Pirard in his Parisian mansion, the Marquis mentions that he has been looking for an intelligent person for several years. He needs a smart and competent secretary who could take care of his correspondence. The abbot immediately offers his favorite student for this place. Yes, this is a man of very low origin... But he is energetic, intelligent, well-educated and with a high, noble soul.

It's finished! A prospect opens up before Julien Sorel, which he both dreamed of and did not dare to dream about: he can become a Parisian! He will penetrate into high society!

Having received the invitation of the Marquis, the happy Julien goes to Verrieres, hoping to see Madame de Renal once again. He had heard rumors that recently the woman had fallen into a kind of frenzied piety and was spending time in constant prayer and repentance. After overcoming many obstacles, Julien enters his beloved's room. Never before has she been so charming and touching, so beautiful! However, Mister de Renal violates their privacy, and Julien has to flee.

Arriving in Paris, a romantic admirer of Bonaparte first of all examines the places associated with the name of Napoleon. Having paid tribute of admiration and worship, he goes to Abbot Pirard. The abbot introduces Julien to the marquise. In the evening, the newly minted secretary is already sitting at the common table. Opposite him is a young blonde, unusually slender, with a very beautiful eyes. However, the cold expression of these eyes confuses the secretary; he feels some kind of internal resistance in Mademoiselle Mathilde de La Mole. This is a worthy opponent!

The new secretary gets used to the unusual environment quickly: after three months, the Marquis considers Julien a man in his place. Sorel works diligently and persistently, is not talkative, and is extremely smart. Gradually, the son of a carpenter from a small town begins to manage all the most complex affairs of a Parisian nobleman. The provincial becomes a real dandy and fully masters the art of living in Paris.

However, the secretary’s self-esteem often suffers; he suspects those around him of an intention to humiliate him, even if it manifests itself in condescension.

The Marquis de La Mole finds an opportunity to present Julien with the order. This somewhat pacifies Julien’s painful pride; now he behaves more relaxed. But with Mademoiselle de La Mole he is distinctly cold.

This nineteen-year-old girl is unusually smart and observant. She is bored in the company of her aristocratic friends - Count Quelus, Viscount de Luz and the Marquis de Croizenois, who is vying for her hand. Once a year, Matilda mourns. Julien learns that she is doing this in honor of the family's ancestor Boniface de La Mole, the lover of Queen Margaret of Navarre. He was beheaded on April 30, 1574 at the Place de Grève in Paris. The legend, reflected, in particular, in the novel “Queen Margot” by Alexandre Dumas the Father, says that the queen demanded the head of her lover from the executioner and, enclosing it in a precious casket, buried it in the chapel with her own hands.

Julien understands that Matilda is extremely romantic at heart - she is so excited about this unusual love story from time immemorial.

Time passes, and gradually the proud man stops avoiding conversations with Matilda. Conversations with her are so interesting that he even forgets his role - again a role! - a plebeian who has worked his way into high society. “It would be funny,” the hero thinks, “if she fell in love with me.”

The romantic Mathilde actually fell in love with Julien. This love, partly inspired by literature, seems to her simply heroic. Still would! A noble girl loves the carpenter's son! From the moment she falls in love with Julien, boredom leaves her.

Julien himself rather amuses his vanity than is carried away by love. He receives a letter from Matilda with a declaration of love and cannot hide his triumph: he, beaten by his carpenter father, is loved by the daughter of the marquis, a hillbilly! She chose him over the aristocrat Marquis de Croisenois! Decisive Mathilde reports that she is waiting for Sorel at her place at one in the morning.

Julien thinks this is a conspiracy, a trap. He is almost sure that they want to kill him or make him a laughing stock. Armed with pistols and a dagger, he enters Mademoiselle de La Mole's room.

Matilda has shed her former coldness, she is surprisingly submissive and gentle. However, the next day she is horrified at the thought that she has become the mistress of a commoner. Talking to her father's secretary, she can barely contain her anger and irritation.

Julien's pride is hurt again. In a heated conversation, both decide that everything is over between them. And suddenly Julien feels that he has really fallen in love with this proud girl. Matilda constantly occupies his imagination.

Julien's acquaintance, the Russian Prince Korazov, gives him proven advice: to arouse the jealousy of his beloved and start courting some social beauty. Julien does just that. And in fact, the plan works flawlessly. Matilda is jealous, her pride is wounded, she feels in love again. Only pride prevents her from taking a step forward.

One day, Julien, defying danger, places a ladder against Matilda’s window and climbs into her bedroom. Seeing her beloved, she forgets her grievances and falls into his arms.

After some time, Mathilde tells Julien that she is pregnant. She decided to marry him.

Having learned about everything, the Marquis is indignant. However, Matilda insists, and the father eventually relents. But marrying a daughter to a carpenter’s son is a shame! But the Marquis has the power to create a brilliant position for Julien in society. De La Mole seeks a patent for a hussar lieutenant in the name of Julien Sorel de La Verne. De La Verne is a title! The treasured particle “de” is a symbol of the nobility... Julien goes to his regiment. He is happy! Military career! Elite! A son will be born - his son will be a marquis!

Unexpectedly, Sorel receives news from Paris: Matilda demands to return immediately. When they meet, she hands him an envelope with a letter. This is a message from Madame de Renal. It turns out that the cautious and prudent marquis turned to her with a request to provide some information about the former tutor of her children. Madame de Renal is offended: how quickly Julien forgot her! She overestimates the past and characterizes Sorel as a hypocrite and a careerist. She reports: “this upstart, plebeian, is capable of any meanness, just to get out among the people.”

It is clear that the Marquis de La Mole, after such news, will never agree to the marriage of the carpenter’s son with Matilda.

Without saying a word, overcome with anger, Julien leaves Mathilde, gets into the mail coach and rushes to Verrieres. All his hopes were dashed because of the feelings of an insulted woman!

He buys a pistol at a gun shop and enters the Verrieres Church. There is a Sunday service going on there. Sorel shoots Madame de Renal twice.

He is arrested. Already in prison, he learns that his former lover was not killed, but only wounded. He is full of remorse and is glad that he did not become a murderer. Sorel is likely to be executed, but he feels that he can die in peace.

Following Julien, Matilda also comes to Verrieres. Loving woman uses all his connections, gives out money and promises in the hope of softening the sentence of the father of his unborn child.

On the day of the trial, the entire district flocks to Besançon. Julien expects condemnation and contempt, but is surprised to discover that he inspires sincere pity in all these people. He wants to refuse the last word, but still gets up and speaks.

Julien does not ask the court for any mercy, he says that he deserves to die - after all, he raised his hand against a woman who deserves the deepest respect. The ladies in the hall are crying. Death - at twenty-three years old! Execution! But in Sorel’s speech there is also an accusation: his main crime is that he, a commoner, rebelled against his pitiful lot. The fate of the hero of the novel is decided - the court sentences Julien to death. Madame de Renal comes to Julien in prison. In her defense, she says that the letter that caused the tragedy was written by her confessor.

Julien, despite his impending death, is happy. He understands that Madame de Renal is the only woman he was capable of loving. In his prayers, he asks heaven to give him at least a few years of life together with the woman he loves... But this is impossible. On the day of the execution, Sorel behaves courageously and reservedly. Mathilde de La Mole, like her heroine, Queen Margaret, buries the head of her lover with her own hands. And three days after Julien’s death, Madame de Renal dies, hugging her children.

Chervone and black Stendhal (Marie-Henri Bayle)

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Title: Chervone and black
Author: Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle)
Year: 1827
Genre: Foreign classics, Foreign educational literature, Foreign languages, Literature of the 19th century

About the book “Chervone and Cherne” by Stendhal

“The Red and the Black” by the writer Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) is a novel about the life of Julien Sorel. He was born into a carpenter's family and always dreamed of becoming a respected and rich man. He is ready to go to great lengths to achieve his goal, even to give in through his feelings.

When Julien turns 18, he is taken as a tutor to the house of Mr. de Renal, the mayor of the French city of Verrieres. At first, everyone is prejudiced towards the new servant. But then they realize that Julien is very smart, talented and deserves respect.

Madame de Renal begins to have warm feelings for him. It seems to her that the tutor is much kinder and nobler than those men with whom she has to communicate every day. Without realizing it, the mistress falls in love with her servant. But she is afraid that her feelings will remain unrequited. Julien sees that Madame de Renal is in love with him, he is flattered by this, but he does not feel anything special for her. However, he decides to have an intimate relationship with her in order to assert himself and take revenge on her smug husband. But after a while he realizes that he is unconsciously in love with her.

Of course, rumors about the mayor's wife's affair spread very quickly. They even reach M. de Renal himself. However, his wife manages to convince him that this is just a slander and she had nothing to do with the tutor. In order for passions to calm down a little, Julien decides to leave the town for the seminary. But he doesn't stay there for long. One fine day the main character meets a charming girl from high society and wins her heart. They begin a real romance, things are heading towards a wedding, and Julien finally has a chance to become a respected and rich man. However, the unexpected happens, plans fall apart and tragedy occurs.

“The Red and the Black” by the writer Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) is a fascinating novel that has excited more than one generation of people, because what could be more interesting than watching the evolution of the protagonist’s personality. Stendhal described it in great detail inner world and tried to explain the character’s actions as clearly as possible. You involuntarily begin to sympathize with Julien, even when he doesn’t seem to deserve it

The novel “Red and Black” has a deep meaning, which boils down to the fact that no matter how a person tries to follow his mind, feelings will still take over, and nothing can be done about it. It is important not to worry about your situation, but to give yourself the opportunity to love and be loved, no matter what.

On our website about books you can download the site for free without registration or read online book“Chervone and Chorne” by Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. Buy full version you can from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers there is a separate section with useful tips and recommendations, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.

Quotes from the book “Chervone and Chorne” by Stendhal (Marie-Henri Bayle)

If lovers are far from each other and if the two of them look at the sky, it means that they are together.

Politeness is only the absence of irritation, which breaks out with bad manners.

If you commit crimes, then you must commit them with joy: and without this, what good is there in them; if they can be justified by anything, it is only by this.

At first, his heart does not comprehend the entire abyss of his misfortune: it is not so depressed as it is excited. But gradually, as reason returns, it learns the full depth of its grief. All the joys of life disappear for him, he now feels nothing except the stinging sting of despair piercing him. Yes, what to talk about physical pain! What pain, felt only by the body, can compare with this torment!

"Red and black" summary by chapter you can read to refresh your memory of all the important details of the novel.

Stendhal “Red and Black” summary by chapter

“Red and Black” is a short chapter-by-chapter summary you can read in 30-40 minutes.

Chronicle of the 19th century

“Red and Black” summary part 1

The town of Verrieres is perhaps one of the most picturesque in all of Franche-Comté. White houses with peaked red-tiled roofs stretch along the hillside, where powerful chestnut trees rise from every valley. There are many sawmills in the area, which contribute to the prosperity of the majority of the inhabitants, who are more like peasants than city dwellers. There is also a wonderful factory in the city, owned by the mayor.

The mayor of Verrieres, M. de Renal, a holder of several orders, looked very sedate: gray hair, an aquiline nose, dressed all in black. At the same time, there was a lot of self-satisfaction in the expression of his face; one could feel how limited he was. It seemed that all the talents of this man boiled down to forcing anyone who was guilty of him to pay on time, while delaying the payment of his own debts as long as possible. The mayor owned a large and beautiful house with a beautiful garden, surrounded by a cast-iron lattice, built with income from the farm.

On the hillside, hundreds of feet above the Doubs River, lay a beautiful city boulevard, overlooking one of the most picturesque corners of France. Local residents greatly appreciated the beauty of their region: it attracted foreigners, whose money enriched the hotel owners and brought profit to the entire city.

The Verrieres curé, Mr. Shelan, who at the age of eighty retained iron health and an iron character, had lived here for fifty-six years. He baptized almost all the inhabitants of this city, every day he married young people, as he had once married their grandfathers.

Now he was not going through his best days. The fact is that, despite the disagreement of the city mayor and the director of the charity house, the local rich man Mr. Valnot, the priest facilitated a visit to the prison, hospital and charity home by a visitor from Paris, Mr. Appert, whose liberal views greatly disturbed the wealthy owners of the city's houses. First of all, they worried M. de Renal, who was convinced that he was surrounded on all sides by liberals and envious people. In order to contrast himself with these manufacturers who had infiltrated the moneybags, he decided to take a tutor for his children, although he did not see any particular need for this. The mayor chose the youngest son of the sawmill Sorel. He was a young theologian, almost a priest, who knew Latin very well, and besides, he was recommended by the curate himself. Although Mr. de Renal still had some doubts about his integrity, because the young Julien Sorel was the favorite of the old doctor, a holder of the Legion of Honor, also, most likely, a secret agent of the liberals, since he was a participant in Napoleonic campaigns.

The mayor informed his wife about his decision. Madame de Renal, a tall, stately woman, was considered the first beauty. There was something simple-minded and youthful in her appearance and demeanor. Her naive grace, some kind of hidden passion could, perhaps, captivate the heart of a Parisian. But if Madame de Renal knew that she was capable of making an impression, she would burn with shame. The fruitless courtship of M. de Valno brought loud fame to her virtue. And since she avoided any entertainment in Verrieres, they began to say about her that she was too proud of her origins. Madame de Renal wanted only one thing - so that no one would interfere with her wandering magnificent garden. She was a simple soul: she never condemned her husband and could not admit to herself that she was bored with him, because she could not imagine that there could be another, more tender relationship between the spouses.

Father Sorel was extremely surprised, and even more delighted at M. de Renal's proposal regarding Julien. He could not understand why such a respectable person could come up with the idea of ​​taking his parasite son and also offering three hundred francs a year with table and clothes.

Approaching his workshop, Father Sorel did not find Julien at the saw, where he should have been. The son sat astride the rafters and read a book. There was nothing more hateful for old man Sorel. He could still forgive Julien for his nondescript building, which was of little use for physical work, but this passion for reading drove him crazy: he himself could not read. A powerful blow knocked the book out of Julien's hands, and a second blow fell on his head. Covered in blood, Julien jumped to the ground, his cheeks burning. He was a short young man of about eighteen, rather frail, with irregular but delicate features and brown hair. Large black eyes, which sparkled with intelligence and fire in a moment of calm, now burned with the fiercest hatred. The young man’s slender and flexible form showed more agility than strength. From his earliest years, his brooding appearance and excessive pallor led his father to the idea that his rash would not survive in this world, and if it survived, it would become a burden for the family. Everyone at home despised him, and he hated his brothers and father.

Julien did not study anywhere. A retired doctor, to whom he became attached with all his heart, taught him Latin and history. Dying, the old man bequeathed to the boy his cross of the Legion of Honor, the remains of a small pension and thirty to forty volumes of books.

The next day old man Sorel went to the mayor's house. Seeing that Mr. Mayor really wanted to take his son, the cunning old man ensured that Julien’s allowance was increased to four hundred francs a year.

Meanwhile, Julien, having learned that the position of teacher awaited him, left home at night, deciding to hide his books and the cross of the Legion of Honor in a safe place. He took all this to his friend Fouquet, a young timber merchant who lived high in the mountains.

It should be said that he made the decision to become a priest not so long ago. From childhood, Julien raved about military service. Then, as a teenager, he listened with bated breath to the stories of the old regimental doctor about the battles in which he participated. But when Julien was fourteen years old, he saw the role the church played in the world around him.

He stopped talking about Napoleon and said he was going to become a priest. He was constantly seen with the Bible in his hands, memorizing it. Before the good old curé, who instructed him in theology, Julien did not allow himself to express any other feelings than piety. Who would have thought that in this young man with a gentle girlish face lay an unshakable determination to endure everything in order to make his way, and this first of all meant breaking out of Verrieres; Julien hated his homeland.

He repeated to himself that Bonaparte, an unknown and poor lieutenant, became the ruler of the world with the help of his sword. In Napoleon's time, military prowess was essential, but now everything has changed. Now a priest at forty years old receives a salary three times greater than the most famous Napoleonic generals.

But one day he nevertheless betrayed himself with a sudden flash of that fire that tormented his soul. One day at a dinner, in a circle of priests, where he was presented as a real miracle of wisdom, Julien suddenly began to ardently praise Napoleon. To punish himself for his indiscretion, he tied him to his chest right hand, pretending to dislocate it, and walked like that for two whole months. After this self-invented punishment, he forgave himself.

Madame de Renal did not like her husband's idea. She imagined a rude slob who would yell at her beloved boys, and maybe even flog her. But she was pleasantly surprised to see a frightened peasant guy, just a boy, with a pale face. Julien, seeing that a beautiful and well-dressed lady calls him “Mister”, speaks kindly to him and asks him not to cut down her children if they do not know their lessons, simply melted.

When all her fear for the children had finally dissipated, Madame de Renal noticed with surprise that Julien was unusually handsome. her eldest son was eleven, and he and Julien could become comrades. The young man admitted that he was entering someone else’s house for the first time and therefore needed her protection. “Madam, I will never beat your children, I swear to you before God,” he said and dared to kiss her hand. She was very surprised by this gesture, and only then, on reflection, did she become indignant.

The mayor gave Julien thirty-six francs for the first month, taking his word that old Sorel would not receive a single sou from this money and that from now on the young man would not see his relatives, whose manners were not suitable for the children of de Renal.

Julien was given new black clothes and appeared before the children like respect personified. The tone with which he addressed the children struck Madame de Renal. Julien told them that he would teach them Latin and demonstrated his amazing ability to recite entire pages of Holy Scripture, and with such ease, as if he spoke his native language.

Soon the title “master” was assigned to Julien - from now on even the servants did not dare to deny his right to this. Less than a month after the new teacher appeared in the house, Mr. de Renal himself began to treat him with respect. The old curé, who knew about the capture of the young man by Napoleon, did not maintain any relations with the master to Renal, so no one could tell them Julien’s long-standing passion for Bonaparte; he himself spoke of it with nothing less than disgust.

The children adored Julien, but he did not feel any love for them. Cold, fair, dispassionate, but nevertheless loved because his appearance dispelled boredom in the house, he was a good teacher. He himself felt only hatred and disgust for this high society, where he was allowed to the very edge of the table.

The young tutor considered his mistress a beauty and at the same time hated her for her beauty, seeing this as an obstacle on his path to prosperity. Madame de Renal was one of those provincial women who at first may seem stupid. She had no life experience, did not try to shine in conversation. Endowed with a subtle and proud soul, in her unconscious desire for happiness, she often simply did not notice what these rude people with whom fate surrounded her were doing. She showed no interest in what HER person said or did. The only thing she really paid attention to was her children.

Madame de Renal, the wealthy heiress of a God-fearing aunt, raised in a Jesuit monastery and married at the age of sixteen to a middle-aged nobleman, in her entire life she had never felt or seen anything that even remotely resembled love. And what she learned about from several novels that accidentally fell into her hands seemed to her something completely exceptional. Thanks to this ignorance, Madame de Renal, completely captivated by Julien, was in complete bliss, and it did not even occur to her to reproach herself for it.

It so happened that Madame de Renal's maid, Eliza, fell in love with Julien. In confession, she confessed this to Abbe Chelan and said that she had received an inheritance and now would like to marry Julien. The priest was sincerely happy for Eliza, but, to his surprise, Julien resolutely refused this offer, explaining that he had decided to become a priest.

In the summer, the de Renal family moved to their estate in Vergis, and now Julien spent whole days with Madame de Renal, who was already beginning to understand that she loved him. But did Julien love her? Everything he did to get closer to this woman, whom he obviously liked, he did not do at all out of true love which, alas, he did not feel, but through a false idea that this is how he could win heroic battle with the class he hated so much.

To confirm his victory over the enemy, while M. de Renal scolded and cursed “these swindlers and Jacobins who filled their wallets,” Julien showered his wife’s hand with passionate kisses. Poor Madame de Renal asked herself: “Do I really love? After all, never in my life have I felt anything similar to this terrible mara for my husband! No pretense had yet tarnished the purity of this innocent soul, which was deceived by a passion it had never experienced.

Within a few days, Julien, consciously carrying out his plan, proposed to her. “I have another reason to succeed with this woman,” his petty vanity continued to whisper to him, “that when later it occurs to someone to reproach me with the pitiful title of tutor, I can hint that love pushed me to this.”

Julien achieved his goal, they became lovers. The night before the first date, when he told Madame de Renal that he would come to her, Julien was unconscious of fear. But, seeing Madame de Renal, so beautiful, he forgot all his vain calculations. At first he feared that he would be treated as a lover-servant, but then his fears dissipated, and he himself, with all the ardor of his youth, fell in love with unconsciousness.

Madame de Renal suffered because she was ten years older than Julien and had not met him earlier when she was younger. Of course, such thoughts never occurred to Julien. His love, to a large extent, was still rather vanity: Julien was glad that he, a poor, insignificant, pitiful creature, possessed such a beauty. The high position of his beloved involuntarily raised him in his own eyes. Madame de Renal, in turn, found spiritual pleasure in the fact that she had the opportunity to instruct this gifted young man in any detail, who, as everyone believed, would go far. However, remorse and fear of exposure hourly tormented the soul of the poor woman.

Suddenly Madame de Renal's youngest son fell ill, and it began to seem to her that this was God's punishment for sin. “Hell,” she said, “hell—after all, that would be a mercy for me: it means that I would be given a few more days on earth, with him... But hell in this life, the death of my children... And yet, perhaps, at this price my sin would be atoned for... O great God, do not give me forgiveness at such a terrible price! These unfortunate children, are they to blame for you! It's me, I'm the only one to blame! I have sinned, I love a man who is not my husband.” Fortunately, the boy recovered.

Their romance could not remain a secret for the servants for long, but M. de Renal himself knew nothing. The maid Eliza, having met Mr. Valno, shared the news with him: her mistress was having an affair with a young tutor. That same evening, Mr. de Renal received an anonymous letter informing him of his wife’s infidelity. The lovers guessed who the author of the letter was and developed their plan. Having cut out letters from the book, they composed their anonymous letter, using paper donated by Mr. Valnod: “Ladies. All your adventures are known, and those interested in putting an end to them are warned. Guided by my good feelings for you, which have not yet completely disappeared, I suggest you break up with this boy once and for all. If you are so prudent as to take this advice, your husband will believe that the message he has received is false, and he will be left in this delusion. Know that your secret is in my hands: tremble, unfortunate one! The time has come when you must bow to my will."

Madame de Renal herself handed over to her husband a letter, received as if from some suspicious person, and demanded the immediate release of Julien. The scene was played brilliantly—Mr. de Renal believed it. He quickly realized that by refusing Julienne, it would lead to scandals and gossip in the city, and everyone would decide that the tutor was actually his wife’s lover. Madame de Renal helped her husband to establish himself in the idea that everyone around them was simply jealous of them.

Interest in Julien, slightly fueled by conversations about his affair with Madame de Renal, intensified. The young theologian was invited to the homes of wealthy townspeople, and Pope Valno invited him to become a tutor to his children, increasing his allowance to eight hundred francs. The whole city was lively discussing a new love story. For the sake of their own safety and to avoid further suspicion, Julien and Madame de Renal decided to separate.

Meanwhile, Pope de Renal threatened to publicly expose the machinations of “that scoundrel Valno” and even challenge him to a duel. Madame de Renal understood what this could lead to, and in just 2 hours she managed to convince her husband that he should now be more friendly with Valno. Finally, Pope de Renal, with his own mind, came to an extremely difficult thought for him regarding money: it was too unprofitable for them that now, in the midst of city gossip, Julien should remain in the city and go into the service of Monsieur Valno. For de Renal to defeat his opponent, it is necessary for Julien to leave Verrieres and enter the seminary in Besançon, as the young man’s mentor, Abbe Chelan, advised. But in Besançon it was necessary to live on something, and Madame de Renal begged Julien to accept money from her husband. The young man consoled his arrogance with the hope that he would only borrow this amount and pay it off with interest within five years. However, at the last moment he flatly refused the money, to the great joy of M. de Renal.

On the eve of his departure, Julien managed to say goodbye to Madame de Renal: he secretly crept into her room. But their meeting was bitter: it seemed to both that they were parting forever.

Arriving in Besançon, he approached the gates of the seminary, saw a gilded iron cross and thought: “This is it, this is hell on earth, from which I can no longer escape! My legs were giving way.

The rector of the seminary, Mr. Pirard, received a letter from the Verrieres curate Chelan, in which he praised Julien’s intelligence, memory and remarkable abilities and asked for a scholarship for him if he completed the necessary exams. Abbot Pirard examined the young man for 3:00 and was so amazed by his knowledge of Latin and theology that he accepted him into the seminary, albeit on a small scholarship, and also showed great mercy by placing him in a separate cell.

The new seminarian had to choose a confessor for himself, and he settled on Abbot Pirard, but he soon learned that the rector had many enemies among the Jesuits, and he thought that he had acted rashly, not knowing what this choice would mean for him later.

All of Julien’s first steps, it was discovered that he was acting cautiously, turned out, like the choice of a confessor, to be too providential. Misled by that arrogance inherent in people with imagination, he perceived his intentions as facts that came true, and considered himself a consummate hypocrite. "Alas! This is my only weapon! “He reasoned. “If times were different now, I would earn my bread by doing things that would speak for themselves in the face of the enemy.”

About ten seminarians were surrounded by an aura of holiness: they saw visions. The poor young men almost never left the infirmary. Hundreds more seminarians combined strong faith with tireless diligence. They worked so hard that they could hardly drag their feet, but there was little use. The rest were simply dark ignoramuses who were unlikely to be able to explain what the Latin words meant, which they visualized from morning to night. It seemed to these simple peasant children that earning a living by learning a few words in Latin was much easier than digging in the ground. From the very first days, Julien decided that he would quickly achieve success. “In any job you need people with head,” he reflected. “With Napoleon I would become a sergeant, among these future priests I will be senior vicar.”

Julien did not know one thing: being first was considered a sin of pride in the seminary. Since the time of Voltaire, the French Church has realized that its real enemies are books. Great advances in the sciences, and even in the sacred sciences, seemed suspicious to her, and not without reason, because no one could stop an educated person from going over to the side of the enemy! Julien worked hard and quickly acquired knowledge that was very useful for a church minister, although, in his opinion, it was completely false and did not arouse any interest in him. He thought that everyone had forgotten about him, not suspecting that Monsieur Pirard had received and burned many letters from Madame de Renal.

To his detriment, after many months of training, Julien still retained the appearance of a thinking man, which gave the seminarians reason to unanimously hate him. All the happiness of his companions consisted mainly in a trivial dinner, they all felt reverence for people in clothes made of fine cloth, and education consisted of boundless and unconditional respect for money. At first, Julien almost suffocated from a feeling of contempt for them. But in the end, pity for these people stirred in him, convinced that spiritual sap would provide them with the opportunity to long and constantly enjoy this great happiness - to have a hearty dinner and to dress warmly. His eloquence, his white hands, his excessive cleanliness - everything aroused hatred towards him.

Abbot Pirard appointed him as a tutor of the New and Old Testaments. Julien was overjoyed: this was his first promotion. He could dine himself, and he had a key to the garden, where he walked when no one was there.

To his great surprise, Julien realized that they began to hate him less. His reluctance to talk, his reticence, was now regarded as self-esteem. His friend Fouquet, on behalf of Julien's relatives, sent a deer and a wild boar to the seminary. This gift, which meant that Julien's family belonged to a class of society that should be treated with respect, dealt a mortal blow to envious people. Julien received the right to superiority, sanctified by prosperity.

At this time, recruitment was taking place, but Julien, as a seminarian, was not subject to conscription. He was deeply shocked by this: “Now the moment has come for me, which twenty years ago would have allowed me to embark on the path of heroes!

On the first day of the test, the gentlemen examiners were very angry that they had to constantly put Julien Sorel, the favorite of Abbe Pirard, at the top of their list. But at the last exam, one clever examiner provoked Julien to read Horace, immediately accused him of this completely unholy activity, and the eternal enemy of Abbot Pirard, Abbot Friler, put the number 198 next to Julien’s name.

For ten whole years now, Frieler has been trying with all his might to remove his opponent from the post of rector of the seminary. Abbot Pirard did not engage in intrigue and zealously fulfilled his duties. But the Lord endowed him with a bilious temperament, and such natures deeply feel resentment. He would have resigned a hundred times already if he had not been convinced that he was really useful in his post.

Within a few weeks, Julien received a letter from a certain Paul Sorel, who called himself his relative, with a check for five hundred francs. The letter said that if Julien intended to continue to study the famous Latin authors with the same thoroughness, he would receive the same amount annually.

Julien's secret benefactor was the Marquis de La Mole, who had been in litigation with Abbot Friler on the same estate for many years. In this action he was assisted by Abbot Pirard, who took up the matter with all the passion of his nature. Monsieur de Friler was extremely offended by such impudence. Constantly corresponding with Abbot Pirard on one matter, the Marquis could not help but appreciate the abbot, and little by little their correspondence acquired a friendly character. Now Abbe Pirard told his deputy the story of Julien and how they wanted to force him, the abbot, to resign.

The Marquis was not stingy, but until now he had never been able to force the abbot to accept any amount from him. Then it occurred to him to send five hundred francs to the abbot’s favorite student. Soon Pirard received letters from the Marquis de La Mole: he invited him to the capital and promised one of the best parishes near Paris. The letter finally forced the abbot to make a decision. In a letter to the bishop, he outlined in detail the reasons that forced him to leave the diocese, and entrusted him with taking the letter to Julien. His Eminence received the young abbot very kindly and even presented him with eight volumes of Tacitus. This very fact, to Julien’s great surprise, caused an unusual reaction from those around him: they began to prevent him from doing so.

Soon a message came from Paris that Abbot Pirard had been appointed to a wonderful parish four leagues from the capital. The Marquis de La Mole received Abbot Pirard in his Parisian mansion and mentioned in a conversation that he was looking for a smart young man who would take up his correspondence. The abbot invited him to take Julien Sorel, praising his energy, intelligence and high soul. So, Julien’s dream of getting to Paris was becoming a reality.

Before heading to the capital, Julien decided to secretly see Madame de Renal. They haven't seen each other for fourteen months. It was a date full of references to past happy days of love and stories of hard seminary life.

Despite the fact that Madame de Renal spent a whole year in piety and fear of God's punishment for sin, she could not resist Julien's love. He spent not only a night, but a day in her room and went only the next night.

“Red and Black” summary part 2

The Marquis de La Mole, a small, thin man with sharp eyes, received his new secretary, ordered him to order a new wardrobe, including two dozen shirts, offered to take dancing lessons and gave him a salary for the first quarter of the year. Having visited all the masters, Julien noticed that they all treated him very respectfully, and the shoemaker, writing his name in the book, wrote: “Mr. Julien de Sorel.” “You will probably turn into a veil,” Abbot Pirard said sternly.

In the evening, an elegant society gathered in the marquis’s living room. There were also the young Count Norbert de La Mole and his sister Matilda, a young, slender blonde with very beautiful eyes. Julien involuntarily compared her with Madame de Renal, and he did not like the girl. However, Count Norbert seemed to him charming in every way.

Julien began to fulfill his duties - he corresponded with the Marquis, learned to ride a horse, and attended lectures on theology. Despite the outward courtesy and goodwill of those around him, he felt completely alone in this family.

Abbot Pirard left for his parish. “If Julien is only a shaky reed, then let him die, but if he is a courageous man, let him fight his way through himself,” he reasoned.

The new secretary of the Marquis - this pale young man in a black suit - made a strange impression, and Madame de La Mole even suggested to her husband that they send him somewhere when they had a gathering of especially important people. “I want to prove the experiment to completion,” replied the Marquis. “Abbé Pirard believes that we are doing wrong by oppressing the pride of the people whom we bring closer to us. You can only rely on what causes resistance.” The owners of the house, as Julien noted, were too accustomed to humiliating people just for fun, so they did not have to count on true friends.

In the conversations that took place in the marquis's living room, no jokes were allowed regarding the Lord God, regarding the clergy, people of a certain status, artists patronized by the court - that is, regarding something that was considered established once and for all; it was in no way encouraged to speak approvingly of Béranger, Voltaire and Rousseau - in short, of anything that smacked even a little of freethinking. The most important thing was that it was forbidden to talk about politics, which could be discussed completely freely. Despite the good tone, unlike politeness, despite the desire to be pleasant, melancholy was visible on all faces. In this atmosphere of splendor and boredom, Julien was attracted only by Monsieur de La Mole, who had great influence at court.

One day the young man even asked Abbot Pirard whether it was obligatory for him to dine every day at the Marquis’s table. “This is a rare honor!” - The abbot exclaimed indignantly, a modest bourgeois by birth, who extremely valued dining at the same table with a nobleman. Julien admitted to him that this is the most difficult of his duties, he is even afraid to fall asleep from boredom. A slight noise made them turn around. Juliet saw Mademoiselle de La Mole, who stood and listened to their conversation. The conversation took place in the library, and Matilda came here to get a book. “This one was not born to crawl on his knees,” she thought with respect about her father’s secretary.

Several months have passed. During this time, the new secretary became so comfortable that the Marquis entrusted him with the most difficult tasks: monitoring the management of his lands in Brittany and Normandy, as well as conducting correspondence regarding the notorious lawsuit with the Abbot de Frilers. The Marquis considered Julien quite a suitable person for himself, because Sorel worked hard, was silent and intelligent.

Once in a cafe, where Julien was driven by a downpour, the young man came across a tall new moon in a thick cloth frock coat, looked at him gloomily and intently. Julien demanded an explanation. In response, the man in the frock coat burst into obscenities. Julien challenged him to a duel. The man tossed him half a dozen business cards and walked away, shaking his fist.

Together with his second, a fellow foil practitioner, Julien went to the address indicated on the business cards to find M. Charles de Beauvoisy. they were greeted by a tall young man dressed like a doll. But, unfortunately, it was not yesterday's offenders. Leaving the house of the gentleman de Beauvoisy in a very bad mood, Julien saw yesterday’s impudent man - it was a coachman who apparently stole the owner’s business cards. Julien showered him with blows of the whip, and shot several times at the lackeys who rushed to help his comrade.

The Chevalier de Beauvoisy, who appeared in response to the noise, having found out what was the matter, declared with playful composure that now he too had grounds for a duel. The duel ended in one minute: Julien received a bullet in the arm. He was bandaged and taken home. "My God! So this is a duel? That's all? “- Thought the young man.

As soon as they parted, the Chevalier de Beauvoisy recognized Julien in order to decide whether it would be decent to pay him a visit. To his regret, he learned that he had fought with a simple secretary of Monsieur de La Mole, and even through the coachman. There is no doubt that this will make an impression in society!

That same evening, the gentleman and his friend hastened to tell everyone that Monsieur Sorel, “by the way, a very kind young man,” is the natural son of a close friend of the Marquis de La Mole. Everyone believed this story. The Marquis, in turn, did not refute the legend that she was born.

... The Marquis de La Mole has not left the house for a month and a half - his gout has worsened. Now he most spent time with his secretary. He forced him to read newspapers aloud and translate ancient authors from Latin. Julien talked to the Marquis about everything, keeping silent only on two things: his fanatical adoration of Napoleon, whose name the Marquis hated, and his complete disbelief, because this did not really suit the image of the future curé.

Monsieur de La Mole was interested in this peculiar character. He saw that Julien was different from the other provincials who filled Paris, and treated him like a vulture, even becoming attached to him.

On behalf of his patron, Julien went to London for two months. There he became close to young Russian and English dignitaries and dined once a week with His Majesty's ambassador.

After London, the Marquis presented Julien with an order, which finally calmed the young man’s pride, he became more talkative, did not feel offended so often and did not take various words personally, if you look at them, they are really not entirely polite, but in a lively conversation they can break out in anyone!

Thanks to this order, Julien received the honor of a very unusual visit: the popes came to him with a visit from Baron de Valno, who came to Paris to thank the minister for his title. Now Valenod set his sights on the post of mayor of the city of Verrieres instead of de Renal and asked Julien to introduce him to Monsieur de La Mole. Julien told the Marquis about Valno and all his tricks and tricks. “You will not only introduce this new baron to me tomorrow,” de La Mole told him, “but also invite him to dinner. This will be one of our new prefects.” “In that case,” said Julien coldly, “I ask you for the position of director of the nursing home for my father.” “Wonderful,” replied the Marquis, suddenly cheerful, “I agree.” I see that you are getting better."

One day, entering the dining room, Julien saw Mathilde de La Mole in deep mourning, although none of the family was wearing black. This is what Julienne was told about the “mania de la Mole.”

On April 30, 1574, a handsome young man of that time, Boniface de La Mole, beloved of Queen Margaret of Navarre, was beheaded on the Place de Greve in Paris. Legend has it that Margaret of Navarre secretly took the head of her executed lover, went to the foot of Montmartre Hill at midnight and buried it in the chapel with her own hands.

Mademoiselle de La Mole, whose name, by the way, was Mathilde-Margarita, wore mourning every year on April 30 in honor of her family's ancestor. Julien was amazed and touched by this romantic story. Accustomed to the complete naturalness of Madame de Renal, he did not find anything in Parisian women except affectation, and did not know what to talk about with them. Mademoiselle de La Mole turned out to be an exception.

Now he talked to her for a long time, walking through the garden on clear spring days. And Matilda herself was the boss of everyone in the house and treated conversations with him condescendingly, almost in a friendly tone. He found out that she was very well read; the thoughts that Matilda uttered while walking were very different from what she said in the living room. Sometimes she lit up so much and spoke with such sincerity that she did not at all resemble the former arrogant and cold Matilda.

A month has passed. Julien began to think that this beautiful proud woman liked him. “It would be funny if she fell in love with me! The cooler and more respectful I am with her, the more she seeks my friendship. Her eyes immediately light up as soon as I appear. My God, how beautiful she is! - He thought.

In his dreams, he tried to take possession of her and then leave. And woe to anyone who tried to detain him!

Mathilde de La Mole was the most tempting bride in the entire Faubourg Saint-Germain. She had everything: wealth, nobility, high birth, intelligence, beauty. A girl her age, beautiful, smart - where else could he find strong feelings if not in love? But her noble gentlemen were too boring! Walking with Julien brought her pleasure; she was carried away by his pride and subtle mind. And suddenly Matilda thought that she had the good fortune to fall in love with this commoner.

Love appears to her only as a heroic feeling, something that was encountered in France during the time of Henry III. Such love is not capable of cowardly retreating in the face of obstacles; it pushes one to great deeds. To dare to love a person who is so far from her in social status - there is already greatness and zeal in this. Let's see if her chosen one will be worthy of her!

The terrible suspicion that Mademoiselle de La Mole was only pretending to be not indifferent to him, in order to make him a laughing stock in front of her gentlemen, sharply changed Julien’s attitude towards Matilda. Now he responded to her glances with a gloomy, icy gaze, rejecting assurances of Friendship with caustic irony, and firmly decided that in any case he would not allow himself to be deceived by any signs of attention that Matilda made him.

She sent him a letter - an explanation. Julien felt moments of triumph - he, a plebeian, received recognition from the daughter of a nobleman! The carpenter's son has won!

Mademoiselle de La Mole sent him two more letters, writing that she was waiting for him in her room at one o'clock in the morning. Suspecting that it might be a trap, Julien hesitated. But then, in order not to look like a coward, I made up my mind. Placing the ladder against Matilda's window, he quietly rose, holding a pistol in his hand and surprised that he had not yet been captured. Julien did not know how to behave and tried to hug the girl, but she pushed him away and ordered him to first take the stairs down. “And this is a woman in love! - Thought Julien - And she still dares to say that she loves! Such composure, such prudence!

Matilda was seized by a painful feeling of shame, she was horrified by what she had started. “You have a courageous heart,” she told him. “I confess to you: I wanted to test your courage.” Julien felt proud, but it did not at all resemble the spiritual bliss that he experienced from meeting Madame de Renal. There was nothing tender in his feelings now - only the stormy delight of ambition, and Juliey was, above all, ambitious.

That night Matilda became his mistress. Her love impulses were somewhat deliberate. Passionate love was for her more of a kind of model that needed to be imitated, and not something that arises by itself. Mademoiselle de La Mole believed that she was fulfilling a duty towards herself and her lover, and therefore no dignity awoke in her soul. “The poor man has shown absolutely impeccable courage,” she said to herself, “he must be happy, otherwise it will be cowardice on my part.”

In the morning, getting out of Matilda’s room, Julien went on horseback to the Meudon forest. He felt more amazed than happy. Everything that had stood high above him the day before was now nearby or even significantly lower. For Matilda, there was nothing unexpected in the events of that night, except for the grief and shame that gripped them, instead of the heady bliss described in the novels. “Did I make a mistake? Do I love him? “- She said to herself.

In the following days, Julien was very surprised by Mathilde's unusual coldness. An attempt to talk to her ended in crazy accusations that he seemed to imagine that he had received some special rights to her. Now the lovers flared up with furious hatred for each other and declared that everything was over between them. Julien assured Mathilde that everything would forever remain an unshakable secret.

A day after their confession and breakup, Julien was forced to admit to himself that he loved Mademoiselle de La Mole. A week has passed. He tried again to talk to her about love. She insulted him, saying that she could not get over herself from horror, and gave herself to the first person she met. “To the first person you meet?” - Julien exclaimed and rushed to the ancient sword kept in the library. He felt like he could kill her right there on the spot. Then, looking thoughtfully at the blade of the old sword, Julien sheathed it again and hung it in its original place with calm calm. Meanwhile, Le de La Mole now recalled with enthusiasm that amazing moment when she was almost not killed, thinking at the same time: “He is worthy of being my master... How many would it take to fuse together these wonderful young men from high society to achieve such an explosion of passion !

After dinner, Mathilde herself spoke to Julien and made him understand that she had nothing against a walk in the garden. she was drawn to him again. She told him with friendly frankness about her heartfelt experiences, described short-term hobbies with other men. Julien was subjected to terrible jealousy.

This ruthless frankness continued for a whole week. The topic of conversation that she constantly returned to with such cruel passion was the very same - the description of the feelings that Matilda felt for others. Her lover's suffering brought her pleasure. After one of these walks, mad with love and grief, Julien could not stand it. “You don’t love me at all? And I’m ready to pray for you! - He exclaimed. These sincere and so careless words instantly changed everything. Matilda, making sure that she was loved, immediately felt complete contempt for him.

And yet Le de La Mole mentally assessed the prospects of her relationship with Julien. She saw that before her was a man with an exalted soul, that his opinion did not follow the beaten path that mediocrity had paved. “If I become the friend of a man like Julien, who lacks only a fortune - and I have it - I will constantly attract everyone's attention. “My life will not pass unnoticed,” she thought. “Not only will I not experience constant fear of the revolution, like my cousins, who are so in awe of the mob that they do not dare to shout at the coachman, I will certainly play such a big role, because the man I chose is a man with an iron character and boundless ambition. What is he missing? Friends, money? I'll give him both."

Julien was too unhappy and too shocked to unravel such complex love maneuvers. He decided that he needed to take a risk and once again enter his beloved’s room: “I will kiss her for the last time and shoot myself!” Julien took off in one gulp ladder, and Matilda fell into his arms. She was happy, scolded herself for her terrible pride and called him her master. At breakfast the girl behaved very imprudently. One might think that she wanted to tell the whole world about her feelings. But after a few hours she was already tired of loving and doing crazy things, and she became herself again. Such was this peculiar nature.

The Marquis de La Mole sent Julien on an extremely secret mission to Strasbourg, and there he met his friend from London, the Russian Prince Korazov. The prince was delighted with Juliet. Not knowing how to express his sudden favor to him, he offered the young man the hand of one of his cousins, a wealthy Moscow heiress. Julien refused such a brilliant prospect, but decided to take another advice from the prince: to arouse jealousy in his beloved and, returning to Paris, begin to court the social beauty Madame de Fervaque.

At dinner at the house of the de La Molls, he sat next to the Marshal of Fervaque, and then spoke to her for a long time and at too length. Matilda, even before Julien’s arrival, made it clear to her acquaintances that the marriage contract with the main contender for her hand, the Marquis de Croisenois, could be considered a done deal. But all her intentions instantly changed as soon as she saw Julien. She was waiting for ex-lover speaks to her, but he doesn’t make a single attempt.

All subsequent days, Julien strictly followed the advice of Prince Korazov. His Russian friend gave him fifty-three love letters. The time has come to send the first lady de Fervac. The letter contained all sorts of pompous words about virtue - while rewriting it, Julien fell asleep on the second page.

Matilda, having found out that Julien not only writes himself, but also receives letters from Madame de Fervaque, created a stormy scene for him. Julien made every effort not to give up. He remembered Prince Korazov’s advice that a woman should be kept in fear, and although he saw that Matilda was deeply unhappy, he constantly repeated to himself: “Keep her in fear. Only then will she not treat me with contempt.” And he continued to rewrite and send letters to Madame de Fervaque.

... One English traveler talked about how he was friends with a tiger: he raised him, caressed him, but always kept a loaded pistol on his table. Julien surrendered to his boundless happiness only in those moments when Matilda could not read the expression of happiness in his eyes. He invariably adhered to the rule prescribed to himself and spoke to her dryly and coldly. Meek and almost humble with him, she now became even more arrogant with her family. In the evening, in the living room, she called Julien over to her and, not paying attention to the other guests, talked to him for a long time.

Soon, Matilda happily told Julien that she was pregnant and now felt like his wife forever. This news shocked Julien; it was necessary to report what had happened to the Marquis de La Mole. What a blow awaited the man who wanted to see his daughter as a duchess! .

When Matilda asked if he was afraid of the Marquis’s revenge, Julien replied: “I can feel sorry for the man who did so many good deeds for me, feel sad for the fact that he caused her disaster, but I am not afraid, and no one will ever frighten me.”

An almost insane conversation took place with Matilda's father. Julien suggested to the Marquis that he kill him, and even left a suicide note. The enraged de La Mole expelled them.

Meanwhile, Matilda was going crazy with despair. Her father showed her Julien’s note, and from that moment she was haunted by a terrible thought: did Julien decide to commit suicide? “If he dies, I will die too,” she said. “And you will be to blame for his death.” I swear that I will immediately put on mourning and inform everyone that I am the widow of Sorel... Keep this in mind... I will neither be afraid nor hide.” Her love reached madness. Now the Marquis himself was confused and decided to look at what happened more soberly.

The Marquis pondered for several weeks. All this time, Julien lived with Abbot Pirard. Finally, after much deliberation, the Marquis decided, in order not to disgrace himself, to give the future spouses land in Languedoc and create Julienne a certain position in society. He obtained for him a patent as a hussar lieutenant in the name of Julien Sorel de La Verne, after which he must go to his regiment.

Julien's joy was boundless. “So,” he said to himself, “my affair is finally over, and I only have myself to thank. I managed to make this monstrous proud woman fall in love with me... her father cannot live without her, and she cannot live without me.”

The Marquis did not want to see Julien, but through the Abbe Pirard he gave him twenty thousand francs, adding: Pope de La Verne should consider that he received this money from his father, whom there is no need to name. Monsieur de La Vernay may consider it appropriate to make a gift to Monsieur Sorel, the carpenter at Verrieres, who looked after him as a child.

Within a few days, the Cavalier de La Verne was riding a superb Alsatian stallion, which cost him six thousand francs. He was enlisted in the regiment with the rank of lieutenant, although he had never been a second lieutenant. His impassive appearance, stern and almost evil gaze, pallor and constant composure - all this made people talk about him from the very first day. Very quickly, his impeccable and very restrained politeness, resourcefulness in shooting and fencing, discouraged wits from making loud jokes from him. Julien sent his teacher, the former curé of Verrieres, M. Chelan, five hundred francs and asked to distribute them to the poor.

And then, in the midst of his ambitious dreams, a thunderstorm broke out. A messenger arrived to Julien with a letter from Matilda: she demanded his immediate return to Paris. When they met, Matilda showed him a letter from her father: he accused Julien of selfishness and said that he would never agree to this marriage. It turned out that the Marquis turned to Madame de Renal with a request to write any information about the former teacher of her children. The response letter was terrible. Madame de Renal wrote in great detail, referring to her moral duty, that poverty and greed prompted this young man, capable of extreme hypocrisy, to marry a weak and unhappy woman, and thus create a position for himself and go out into the world. Julien does not recognize any laws of religion, but one of the ways to achieve success for him is to seduce a woman.

“I don’t dare condemn M. de La Mole,” said Julien, having read to the end. “He acted correctly and wisely. What father would agree to give his beloved daughter to such a man? Farewell! Getting into the mail carriage, Julien rushed to Verriera. There, at a gunsmith's shop, he bought a pistol and entered the church.

the bell rang out. All the high windows of the temple were covered with dark red curtains. Julien stopped behind Madame de Renal's shop. Looking at this woman who loved him so much, Julien’s hand trembled and he missed. Then he shot again - she fell. Julien was grabbed, handcuffed and imprisoned. Everything happened so quickly that he did not feel anything and within a few seconds he was fast asleep.

Madame de Renal was not mortally wounded. One bullet pierced her hat, the second hit her shoulder and - strange thing! — It bounced off the humerus, hitting the wall. Madame de Renal had long wanted to die with all her heart. The letter to Monsieur de La Mole, whom her confessor forced her to write, was the last despair of HER soul. She considered it bliss to die at the hands of Julien. As soon as she came to her senses, she sent the maid Eliza to Julien's jailer with several louis and a request for God's sake not to treat him cruelly. .

An investigator came to the prison. “I committed murder with premeditated intentions,” said Julien. “I deserve death and am waiting for it.”

Then he wrote to Le de La Mole: “I have avenged myself... Unfortunately, my name will end up in the newspapers, and I will not be able to disappear from this world unnoticed. Please excuse me for this. In two months I will die... Never talk about me, even to my son: silence is the only way to honor my memory. You will forget me. Show worthy firmness in these circumstances. Let what must happen happen in secret, without making you famous... A year after my death, marry M. de Croisenois, I order you, as your husband. My last words are addressed to you, as are my last ardent feelings.”

He began to think about repentance: “What, exactly, should I repent of? I was insulted in the most cruel way, I killed, I deserve to die, but that's all. I'm dying after settling my scores with humanity. There is nothing more for me to do on earth.” After some time, he learned that Madame de Renal remained alive. And only now did Julien feel remorse for the crime he had committed: “That means she will live! - He repeated. “She will live, and forgive, and will love me...”

Mathilde de La Mole arrived at Verriera, with a passport in the name of Madame Michelet, dressed as a commoner. She quite seriously suggested that Julien commit a double suicide. It seemed to her that she saw in Julien a resurrected Boniface de La Mole, but only even more heroic.

Matilda ran to lawyers, and finally, after weeks of petitions, she managed to get an appointment with Monsieur de Friler. It took him only a few seconds to force Matilda to admit that she was the daughter of his powerful enemy, the Marquis de La Mole. Having considered the benefit that could be obtained from this story, the abbot decided that he had Matilda in his hands. He let her know (he was lying, of course) that he had the ability to influence the prosecutor and jury to reduce the sentence.

Julien felt unworthy of Matilda's selfless affection. And, to tell the truth, he was uncomfortable with all her heroism: he recognized in her a secret need to amaze the world with her extraordinary love. “How strange,” Julien said to himself, “that such passionate love leaves me so indifferent.” Ambition died in his heart, and from the dust a new feeling emerged: he called it repentance. He was again dead in love with Madame de Renal and never mentioned his successes in Paris.

He even asked Mathilde to give their unborn child to some nurse in Verrieres so that Madame de Renal could look after her. “Fifteen years will pass, and this love that you now feel for me will seem extravagant to you,” he told her and thought that in fifteen years Madame de Renal would adore his son, and Matilda would forget him.

Madame de Renal, as soon as she arrived in Besançon, immediately wrote a letter in her own hand to each of the thirty-six jurors, begging them to acquit Julien. She wrote that she would not be able to live if an innocent person was condemned to death. After all, everyone in Verrieres knew that some kind of eclipse was still falling on this unfortunate young man. She noted Julien's piety, excellent knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and begged the jury not to shed innocent blood.

On the day of the trial, the population of the entire province came to Besançon. After just a few days, there was not a single free corner left in the hotels. At first, Julien did not want to speak in court, but then he gave in to Matilda’s persuasion. Seeing Julien, the hall began to rustle sympathetically. He couldn't have been even twenty years old today; he was dressed very simply, but with great grace. Everyone decided that he was much more handsome than in the portrait.

In his last speech, Julien said that he did not ask for any leniency from the court; his crime is terrible and he deserves death. He also understands that his main crime is that he, a man of low birth, who was lucky enough to receive an education, dared to enter the so-called selective society.

Within a few hours he was sentenced to death.

Sitting in the casemate for those condemned to death, Julien recalled the story of how Danton, on the eve of his death, said that the verb “guillotine” cannot be declined in all tenses. You can say: I will be guillotined, but you can’t: I was guillotined. Julien refused to sign the appeal, now feeling courageous enough to die with dignity.

An hour later, when he was fast asleep, he was awakened by someone's tears dripping onto his hand - it was Madame de Renal who came. He threw himself at her feet, begging her to forgive her for everything. They clung to each other and cried for a long time. Madame de Renal admitted to him that her confessor wrote that fatal letter, and she only rewrote it, but Julien had long since forgiven her.

After some time, someone informed M. de Renal about his wife's visit to prison, and he demanded that she return home immediately. Matilda came, but her presence only irritated Julien.

Julien felt his loneliness more and more acutely and came to the conclusion that this was caused by the fact that Madame de Renal was not next to him: “That’s where my loneliness comes from, and not at all from the fact that there is no God in the world who is fair, kind, omnipotent, and free from evil.” and flattery! Oh, if only he existed! I would fall at his feet. “I deserve death,” I told him, “but, great God, good merciful God, give me the one I love!

Madame de Renal, as if hearing his plea, ran away from home and obtained permission to see Julien twice a day. He took an oath from her that she would live and take Matilda’s son under her care.

On the day of Julien Sorel’s execution the sun was shining, flooding everything with its blessed light. Julien felt cheerful and calm.

Matilda accompanied her lover to the grave he had chosen for himself. The coffin was accompanied by a large procession of priests. Matilda, secretly from everyone, in a tightly curtained carriage, was carrying, placing on her lap, the head of the man she loved so much. Late at night the procession reached the top, and here, in a small cave, brightly lit by many candles, a requiem mass was celebrated. Matilda buried her lover's head with her own hands. Thanks to her care, the cave was decorated with marble statues, ordered at great expense from Italy. But Madame de Renal did not break her promise. She did not commit suicide, but three days after Julien's execution she died hugging her children.