"The theme of money in O. Balzac

I read Balzac's "Gobsec" story. In this story, the author tells about the life story of Gobsek. This man was engaged in usury in Paris. He did not see anything shameful in his profession, he devoted himself entirely to it. During his life, Gobsek met many people. He saw worthy people on the verge of poverty, rich people who deserved contempt. Gobsek sincerely admires honest people. He tries to make money on everything and everyone. Even his friend Derville, he agrees to lend money at interest.

Throughout his life, Gobseck's character remains less and less positive. The people around him evoke less and less sympathy. He does not want to give an inheritance to the young Count de Resto. But the thirst for money in this work suffered not only Gobsek, but also the Countess de Resto. In the heat of anger at her deceased husband, out of fear for the future of her children, she burns her husband's papers. Because of this, the entire inheritance passes into the power of Gobsek. The narrator tries to milk the return of de Resto's inheritance from Gobsec, but Gobsec refuses to do so.

At the end of his life, Gobsek turns out to be a lonely rich man. He is insanely rich, but he lives a beggarly lifestyle. After his death, the narrator discovered untold riches. It was gold gems, pates, sausages, coffee beans, sugar, spices and more. The worst part was that most of the food was spoiled. Gobsek, due to his irrepressible greed, could not agree on a price with the merchants in order to sell them these goods. As a result, they deteriorated and disappeared with no benefit.

This was precisely the ruinous power of money over Gobsek and over the Countess de Resto.

Option I

It's amazing how money changes and enslaves people! “If the king himself owed me, Countess, and didn’t pay on time, I would have sued him ...”, says the usurer Gobsec to Countess de Resto, who ruins her children for the sake of the villain Maxim de Tray. The usurer is entertained by the opportunity to look into the innermost depths human heart, into someone else's life without embellishment. An ingot of metal in the hands of an automaton is equivalent to a human heart: "I see only hunted deer in my room, chased by a whole pack of creditors." The secret price of bills falling into the hands of the usurer is despair, foolishness, recklessness, love or compassion. Gobsek compares his clients to actors giving theatrical performance for him, and himself to God reading in their hearts. He likes to stain carpets with dirty shoes in luxury homes- not out of petty pride, but to make you feel the clawed paw of Inevitability.

Gobsek believes that there is nothing vicious on earth, there are only conventions, only the feeling embedded by nature is unshakable -> - the instinct of self-preservation. Of all earthly blessings, he singles out only one, reliable enough to be worth chasing after him - gold. And his only joy is vanity. Gold in the bud contains human vices and whims, material opportunities. Gobsek's gold owns the world, this is his happiness and joy, he has fun, controlling the destinies of people and observing their passions. The moneylender claims that he is rich enough to buy the conscience of clients, to rule over all-powerful ministers. Gobsek is the ruler of the fate of the Parisians, quiet, unknown to anyone. For him, all life is a machine that is set in motion by money, gold is the spiritual essence of the whole society. But the usurer hates his heirs and does not admit the thought that someone will become the owner of his fortune.

None of his neighbors knows whether he is poor or rich, whether he has relatives or friends. Due to excessive secrecy and caution, Gob-sec refused his own gold coin, which fell out of his pocket and was kindly picked up by a neighbor. His wrinkles keep the secret of terrible trials, sudden terrible events, unexpected successes, wealth and ruin, deadly dangers. The usurer tried all the opportunities for enrichment, even tried to find gold buried in America.

Over the years, the wealthy Gobsek turned into a secret sealed with seven seals, into a golden idol, who does not know that there is a woman's love and happiness, feelings, there is God in the world. For Gobsek, the world existed only in order to travel around it and ransack, weigh, evaluate and plunder. But everything is, of course, relative. And Gobsek dies in all alone, and money and palaces, as you know, you can't take with you to the grave.

Option II

The pinnacle of the French critical realism- this is the work of Honore de Balzac, the greatest master of realistic romance.

One of the best works of Balzac is the story "Gob-sec", the hero of which is the personification of the power of gold over people. Gobseck, who was already 76 years old, rented two poorly furnished rooms in one of the gloomy, damp houses in Paris. He was an "automaton" man, anxious to collect high interest on the promissory notes of his victims who had borrowed money from him, or, since "things ended this way, to appropriate their property and jewelry."

Gobsek, imbued with confidence in Derville, shared his thoughts with him. He had a consistent, but frightening by its frankness, its cynicism, system of views, in which we, the readers, can easily find the everyday philosophy of the curmudgeon.

“Of all earthly blessings,” said Gobsek, “there is only one reliable enough to make it worth a man to chase after him. It...

gold. Money is a commodity that can be sold, with a clear conscience, at high or low prices, depending on the circumstances.

Gobsek did not believe in the morality of people, in their decency. “Man is the same everywhere: everywhere there is a fight between the poor and the rich, everywhere it is inevitable. It’s better to push yourself than to allow others to push you. ” Gobsek - the usurer of the time when money becomes the most important force public life... People like Gobsec, owning them in unlimited quantities, hold in their hands merchants and businessmen, ministers and aristocrats of the Saint-Germain suburb, writers and artists. To dispose of the destinies, and perhaps the lives of these "people who consider themselves the" salt of the earth ", dictate their conditions to them, to witness their humiliation - this is what Gobsek is intoxicated with.

“My gaze is like the gaze of the Lord,” says Gobsek. - I read in hearts; nothing is hidden from me, in which there is no refusal to the one who tightens and unties the money bag. I am wealthy enough to buy the conscience of those who govern ministers, from clerical clerks to their mistresses. Isn't that power? I can, having the most beautiful women, enjoy their most gentle caresses. Isn't that pleasure? "

Gobsek embodies the most negative traits acquisitiveness. He is endowed with a remarkable mind, capable of broad generalizations. His outlook on life is based on the philosophy of an entire era: "In gold," says Gobseck, "all human forces are concentrated."

Derville believed in human nobility, from Gobsek he learned the truth about the fierce struggle, the more tragic the scenes related to the ruin of the Resto family, which he witnessed, seemed to Derville.

Derville understood the sinister reason for Gobseck's dominance over many people, and true reason their tragedies, which always had a common basis: one took money from another. "Yes, really, it all comes down to money!" He exclaims. Gobsek for Balsa is the living embodiment of that predatory force that is persistently making its way to power.

And what is being done now, have we gone one step forward or have we remained in place? Everyone claims that we are moving towards progress, but is this true? All relationships are built on money, nothing happens without it. Rarely are marriages based on true love... And I want to ask if there are gobseks now?

Yes! Our world, our time is simply filled with such stingy people and who work and only for the sake of money. How can culture and education develop if we stand still? The ruinous power of money prevailed over humanity. We can save ourselves only by capes.

III option

Above all benefits for them, coupon and rent ...

Balzac saw the "nerve of life" of his time, "the spiritual essence of the entire present-day society," both the Evil and the Divine of the bourgeois world in money relations that dominated everything. A new deity, a fetish, an idol — money, distorted human lives, took children from their parents, wives from their husbands ... All these problems are behind individual episodes of the "Gobsek" novel.

In the center of the narrative is the figure of the usurer Gobsek, in whom the essence of the monetary society is embodied. Gobsek - a dry, sharp-nosed old man, hiding yellow, like a ferret's, eyes without eyelashes under a large visor of a battered cap, with a pale, impassive face, "as if cast from silver" - the personification of avarice. He lives in a poor room with a liquid rug by the bed and a peephole on the front door, eats bread and coffee with milk, walks in a shabby dress, and in his pantry mountains of food rot, heaps of gold and silver are piled up, which he does not trust the bank ... His stinginess turned into a manic passion, senseless hoarding on the brink of death took on the character of insanity. The rich beggar dries up and languishes among the treasures. Debtors pay off Gobsek with money and kind; they bring him silverware and caskets of family jewels, baskets of fresh fish and pâtés. He could sell these supplies to some shopkeeper, but he fears that he will give a price less than the market price. And the supplies are rotting. The stench of decay, dead heaps of goodness under lock and key - and among them a dying old lady, shaking over his treasures. For Gobsek, accumulation turned into an end in itself. Greedy passion devoured him.

The result of the life of the usurer is worthy of him - he dies alone, despised by all, in a dirty room. One of the bloodsuckers dies - he leaves, leaving millions, gained on tears and blood.

The novel has many features of romantic aesthetics. The romantic exaggeration of the mystery and power of Gobseck gives him the character of an almost supernatural being. Balzac was opposed to romantic effects, but here, apparently, he wanted to show the destructive power of money. But Gobsek's life could have turned out differently! Since his mother put him on a ship as a cabin boy, he lived a long life full of vicissitudes and dangers: he starved, endured violence and cruelty, was a pirate, a spy, a gold digger, but always and everywhere he was possessed by an irrepressible thirst for wealth. At the time of the action of the novel, Gobsek is a silent, outwardly inconspicuous old man who is in fact one of the rulers of Paris. Gobsek secretly managed banks, stock exchange affairs, trade, and loans. This unspoken association of financiers turns out to be the only real power in France.

Gobsek's life, or rather its ending, could not have been different. In the whole tragic situation, Gobsek sees only his entertainment - he does not sympathize with any of the people, he does not try to save anyone from suicide or execution. The thirst for gold has corroded even family feelings in his soul: his only heiress ends up in unbearable need.

He takes extortionate interest from Derville, and leaves the family of Count de Resto without funds, taking advantage of a fictitious will and confusion of the Countess. Gobsek has a wolfish rule not to pity anyone, not to help anyone, but to use what you can take for free.

Gobsek despises people for their inability to use wealth, for their inability to save gold, because only it, in his opinion, gives true strength and power. Aristocrats crawl in front of him, society ladies are ready to crawl on their knees, because he has their vile secrets in his hands, and bills in his pocket. His reasoning is frank and cynical: “I am rich enough to buy a human conscience, to rule the all-powerful ministers through their favorites, starting with clerical servants and ending with mistresses. Is this not power? .. But are not power and pleasure the essence of your new bourgeois system? "

Balzac makes the final conclusion that the old man knew how to weigh everything, take into account, he never compromised his profit, but he "did not take into account" only one thing, that hoarding cannot be a reasonable goal human life.

IV option

The central image of the small Balzac story "Gob-sec" is the image of a great generalizing force. It embodied one of major themes world literature - the theme of stinginess. Harpagon Moliere, Plyushkin Gogol, Avaricious of Pushkin- people who have felt the power that money gives to its owner, and have submitted to this power. Gobsek is another prominent figure in this type gallery.

Gobsek's profession is a usurer. This profession provides an opportunity for enrichment without doing anything, giving money on bail. Gobseck learned well main principle relations in society: “It’s better to push yourself than to allow you to be crushed”. He went through the harsh school of life: "At the age of ten ... sailed to the Dutch possessions of the East Indies, where he wandered for twenty years." He served as a cabin boy, was a gold digger, pirate, spy. Years of wandering, the absence of love, warmth, and participation in the hero's life gave rise to the philosophy of a spider with a stranglehold.

Behind the colorless, inconspicuous appearance of the hero hides a predator waiting in the wings. His wealth is also hidden from human eyes behind a beggarly situation. There are barely smoldering brands in the fireplace, the desk is covered with worn cloth. The reader involuntarily asks himself the question: why is this "man saving up money, if even he himself they do not bring any joy. Wealth in itself, money for the sake of money - this is the goal of the life of Gobsek, who knows neither sympathy nor compassion , "Man-bill".

Having taken possession of the wealth of the Resto family, Gobsek does not want to part with it, even in anticipation of death. Already seriously ill, he participates in a major scam, does not disdain bribes and offerings: “Every morning he received gifts and looked at them greedily, like a minister or a nabob, pondering whether it was worth signing a pardon for such a price. The dying Gobsek, already losing his last strength, rises out of bed: it seems to him that gold is rolling around the room.

Teaching the young solicitor Derville, Gobsek asserts that there is nothing lasting in the world, that the concept of morality is conditional, and the laws of morality are verbiage, and "of all earthly goods there is only one sufficiently reliable ... This is ... gold." He claims that the basis of relations between people is selfishness. He reveals to Derville the secret springs of the structure of society, the state, where "to protect their wealth, the rich have chosen tribunals, judges, guillotine."

Indeed, next to the usurer Gobsek, Balzac shows secular society in which money dominates people. Drawing the image of Countess de Resto, the author tears off the mask of decency, refinement, piety from the aristocracy. The countess rummages through the documents of her husband who has just died in fear of poverty, in the struggle for an inheritance. Unmasked in connection with an insignificant person, she is not tormented by remorse, her conscience is money. The great inheritance received by the young de Resto reconciles the family of Camilla Granlier with scandalous reputation his mother. Money is the law of life not only for the bourgeois, but also for the aristocracy.

In the story "Gobsek" Balzac shows that money can completely subjugate a person, deprive him of everything human. This story is a formidable warning to the reader: empty hoarding leads to spiritual death.

Theme: Honore de Balzac. The story "Gobsek". Image ruinous power money in the story of O. de Balzac "Gobsec"

Purpose: to help students to deeply and consciously assimilate ideological content story, formulate the problems posed in it; improve the ability to characterize the images of heroes, analyze artistic text, compare images; develop logical and abstract thinking, coherent speech; to educate high moral qualities.

Equipment: a portrait of Balzac, illustrations for the story, tables, epigraph on the blackboard.

Lesson form: lesson - press conference

Two creatures live in it:

curmudgeon and philosopher, vile

being and sublime

O. Balzac

During the classes

І. Org. moment.

II. Greetings from the teacher.

Hello students, hello teachers and guests. I am glad to see everyone at our lesson. And the lesson today will not be easy, its topic is ______________________________________________________________. Our lesson will take place in the form of a press conference, so now I invite you to take seats actors our conference is ahead of the class, and the rest today are not just students, they are correspondents of various well-known Ukrainian and foreign publishing houses. They will express their opinion, will ask our heroes various tricky problematic questions, and will also show their knowledge and skills.

ІІІ. introduction teachers.

Great writers like Columbus, perfecting their immortal feat, open new worlds to us. Balzac impressed his contemporaries with a discovery in society. An abyss appeared before the artist's astonished gaze. He looked into it and realized that no work, even a perfect work, is capable of containing the drama of modern life. He devoted all his work to her.

Let's imagine that in our lesson the writer Balzac is present, some of his literary heroes, a literary critic. They will tell us about themselves, about the era in which they lived.

A question to Balzac.

What can you tell us about yourself?

Balzac: Born in Tours, France, in 1799. I am the son of a wealthy peasant named Balsa, which made me extremely sad, so I changed the name to “Balzac” and added a bit of “de” in front, a sign of noble origin.

A question to Balzac.

Tell us about the years of study, about your creative activity.

Balzac: Studied in college, then in law school. He worked as a scribe in a notary office, but without interest. I asked my father for a two-year term in order to become a writer. Received meager content.

Literary critic: (adds and reads quickly)

“The walls of the attic let in the winter cold. Blowing from all the cracks. The young man gets tangled up in an old shawl sent to him by his sister, picks up his chilly legs, warms his reddened fingers with his breath and writes and writes. While working, he even forgets that he is hungry, and he is hungry all the time this winter. His parents send him very little money. He was free to take up the dubious craft of literature, abandoning the honorable career of a lawyer! But neither the father, nor the strict and wayward mother managed to break the rebellious. The young man is firm in his decision. He did not know then what and how he would write, but he was convinced that he was creating something great, significant. "

A question to Balzac.

What was characteristic, in your opinion, for the era in which you lived?

Balzac: 20-30s were a time of rapid development of natural sciences and philosophical thought in Europe. In France, this is the period of the Restoration and the June Monarchy. I am the first in Western European literature tried to start artistic research the structure of modern society, their daily life, their struggle for power and gold, their intrigues and secrets. It seemed that I was able to penetrate into the most hidden corners of the human heart, portraying the prose of life.

A question to Balzac.

When did fame come to you?

Balzac: The first novel, from which one can consider me an accomplished writer, is Chuan (1979), then in 1830 I wrote the novels “The House of the Cat Playing Ball”, “Marital Consent”, “Gobsek”, “Silhouette women "and many others, which are united in the cycle" Human comedies».

A question to Balzac.

Have you conceived a piece about modern society, but didn't this task seem overly difficult to you?

Balzac: Yes, if I undertook to write only one novel and in it tell everything about my time, it would be impossible. But I decided to write 144 novels, combining them common name"Human Comedies". I managed to write 95.

A question to Balzac.

Where did you find strength and source of inspiration?

(tell a little about Balzac's acquaintance with Evelina Ganskaya).

A question to Balzac.

How do you connect your life with Ukraine?

IV. Teacher's message about the story of the story.

The story "Gobsek" became one of the heights of Balzac's creativity and all world literature. It has three editions. The first version was created in 1830 (wrote an essay for the magazine "Fashion", which was called "The Usurer"). In 1835 appears new edition"Daddy Gobsek", the third - "Gobsek".

In terms of genre and composition, it is a complex work. The genre of the work is a short story (a small epic work with a plot, often with an unexpected denouement). Almost all elements this genre are present in the work.

V. Questions from the teacher to all correspondents.

What about the composition of the story? What is its peculiarity?

Gobsek's story is a story within a story. About the extraordinary figure of the usurer Gobsek is told not by the author-narrator, but by the narrator, the solicitor Derville. (The composition is circular, retrospective, it was intended for a fuller and deeper disclosure of the image of the main character of the work).

Question to Derville:

What is your social status, profession? How does the author feel about you?

Derville: I am from a democratic milieu, a lawyer, “a solicitor, a man of high honesty, knowledgeable, modest, with good manners, became a friend of the Granlier family. By his behavior towards Madame de Granlier, he achieved honor and clientele in the best houses of the Saint-Germain suburb "

(10 years of dating)

Derville: Firstly, I am his friend, and secondly, we are people of the same profession. Perhaps it will be immodest, but I am an experienced lawyer who perfectly knows the "cuisine" of entrepreneurship and the sphere of savings. Thirdly, Balzac himself sympathizes with me.

Question to Derville:

Who was the first to hear your story about Gobseck?

Derville: Members of the de Granlier family.

Question to Gobsek:

What is your background? What does your last name mean?

Gobsek: Translated from English "live-throat".

Tell us about your youth and youth.

Gobsek: Mother is Jewish, father is Dutch, full name Jean Esther van Gobseck. At the age of 10, my mother put me on a ship as a cabin boy (sailed from the East Indies, where I wandered for 12 years. I tried everything to get rich: I was looking for treasure, had something to do with the vicissitudes of the US Revolutionary War, was a corsair, etc.)

Question to Gobsek:

What kind moral lessons, have you carried ideals from your stormy youth and maturity?

Gobsek: Often, saving my life, I had to sacrifice moral principles... “Of all earthly blessings, there is only one reliable enough to make it worth a man to chase after him. Is this gold. All the forces of mankind are concentrated in gold ... Man is the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, everywhere. And it is inevitable. It's better to push yourself that way than to let others push you. "

Question to Gobsek:

Why did you choose the employment of a loan shark? Who are your clients?

Gobseck: I got rich on criminal operations and now I don't have to risk my life for the sake of wealth. My position is strong and stable in society. I control the golden youth, actors and artists, socialites, players - the most entertaining part of Parisian society.

Question to Gobsek:

What is your life credo? What do you believe in?

Gobsek: Money is a commodity that can be bought and sold profitably. I believe in the boundless power and power of gold. "Gold is the spiritual value of today's society." Only gold can give a person absolute, real power over the world.

Question to Fanny Malvo:

How is your destiny connected with daddy Gobsek? How are yours and Derville going?

Why Balzac, with merciless criticism, attacks not Gobsek in his story, but representatives high society: Countess de Resto and Maxime de Tray?

In the character of Maxim de Trai, we will not find a single positive feature... The narrator calls him "an elegant bastard." “Fear him like the devil,” Derville whispered in old man's ear. "This is a real killer."

Question to Derville:

What is the power of the impact of Maxim de Trai on people?

He knows how to deftly manipulate people. He is able to find the innermost strings in every person and play the necessary melody on them.

A question for a literary critic:

Who is Maxime de Trai? What kind of relationship does he have with the Countess de Resto?

How did the Countess de Resto stain herself?

What episode that Derville saw horrified him?

Do you think that Maxime de Tray is a kind of Gobsek's double in the story?

Yes, because the hero himself says about this "You and I are necessary for each other, as soul and body."

Gobsec is a shrewd person, he knows perfectly well the low and insidious nature of people like Maxime de Tray, therefore he refuses to accept his challenge to a duel, ending his speech with very precise words: “To shed your blood, you must have it, my dear, and you instead of blood, dirt. " The author says: "In this large Gobsek was an insatiable boa constrictor." What are we talking about?

He received fidelkomiss, that is, the legal right to use other people's property to transfer it in the future to a third party.

How does Gobsek behave in this situation?

(He behaves with dignity, he did not take advantage of the favorable situation and did not “warm his hands” on the count's inheritance, but, on the contrary, increased it).

Until the age of majority, Gobsek allocated an extremely meager content to the son of Count de Resto - Ernest. How does he explain this decision?

Gobsek (you can ask the class a question):

"Misfortune - best teacher... In misfortune, he will learn a lot, he will know the value of money, the value of people - both men and women. Let him float on the waves of the Parisian sea. And when he becomes a skilled pilot, we will make him captain ”.

Question to Derville:

Have you solved the Gobseck riddle? What did you see in Gobsek's office when an invalid came for you? (p. 67-68, read out)

“Although I set myself the goal of studying it, I must, to my shame, admit that before last minute his soul remained a secret for me with seven locks. "

"Does it all come down to money?" - this question tormented Derville.

VІІ. Homework check.

The author concludes his story about the life and death of a usurer with a description of his wealth. The outcome of the hero's life is deplorable, all the good he had acquired fell into disrepair, remained unclaimed. The profit, the power that Gobsek possessed, was absorbed by the best values ​​of the world: friendship, love of loved ones.

Let's hear how the “sharks of a feather” answered this question.

(Students read their miniature essays)

VIII. Final word teachers.

The image of the miser appears in the poem " Dead Souls"(Plyushkin). "Miser" is found in Moliere's comedy, Alena Ivanovna (an old woman-pawnbroker) in Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment", a usurer from Gogol's story "Portrait". All these characters are negative, their authors denounce for spiritual poverty and the desire to get rich at the expense of the weaknesses and misfortunes of other people.

Honore de Balzac combines the accuracy and breadth of the depiction of French reality with a depth of penetration into the internal laws of social life. He reveals the class conflicts of the era, exposes the bourgeois character social development France after the 1789 revolution. In the images of merchants, usurers, bankers and entrepreneurs, Balzac captured the appearance of the new master of life - the bourgeoisie. He showed people greedy and cruel, without honor and conscience, making their fortunes through overt and secret crimes.

The pernicious power of capital penetrates into all spheres of human life. The bourgeoisie subjugates the state ("Dark Cause", "Deputy from Arsi"), manages the countryside ("The Peasants"), spreads its pernicious influence on the spiritual activities of people - on science and art ("Lost Illusions"). The destructive effect of the "financial principle" also affects privacy of people. Under the poisonous effect of calculation, the human personality degrades, disintegrates family ties, family, love and friendship are crumbling. Selfishness, developing on the basis of monetary relations, becomes the cause of human suffering.

The detrimental effect of money on the human personality and human relations with a large artistic expression shown in the story "Gobsek".

In the center of the story is the wealthy usurer Gobsek. Despite his million-dollar fortune, he lives very modestly and withdrawn. Gobsek rents a room that resembles a monastic cell in a gloomy damp house that was formerly a monastery hotel. On the interior decoration of his home, on his entire way of life, there is a stamp of strict economy and regularity.

Gobsek is alone. He has no family, no friends, he broke off all ties with relatives, as he hated his heirs and "did not even think that anyone would take possession of his fortune even after his death." One single passion - the passion for accumulation - swallowed up all other feelings in his soul: he knows neither love, nor pity, nor compassion.

Balzac uses the details of the portrait to reveal the inner essence of his hero. In external appearance Gobsek immobility, death, detachment from all earthly, human passions combined with something predatory and sinister. Ash yellow tones and comparisons with precious metals make it clear to the reader that it was the passion for gold that destroyed the human principle in him, made him dead during his lifetime.

The story depicts the social environment in which Gobseck acts, precisely outlined two opposite poles of contemporary society. On the one hand, the poor, honest workers, doomed to a dull existence (seamstress Fanny Malvo, solicitor Derville), on the other, a handful of moral character presented in a sharply repulsive form.

Possessing great practical experience and an astute mind, Gobseck deeply grasped the inner essence of contemporary society. He saw life in its undisguised nakedness, in its dramatic contrasts, and realized that in a society where there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, money is the real driving force of social life. Gobseck says: “What is life, if not a machine that is set in motion by money,” “of all earthly goods, there is only one reliable enough to make it worth a man to chase it. Is this gold". Gobseck's passion for hoarding is a natural product of the bourgeois system, a concentrated expression of its inner essence.

Using the example of Gobsek, Balzac shows that money not only kills the human person, but also brings destruction to the life of the whole society. Gobsek, locked in his cell, is not at all as harmless as it might seem at first glance. His moral: "It's better to push yourself than to let others push you."

With tremendous power, the destructive nature of Hobsek's hoarding is revealed in the finale of the story. By the end of his life, his greed turns into a mad mania. He becomes an insatiable “boa constrictor”, completely absorbing various gifts brought by clients. When, after the death of Gobsek, his storerooms were opened, it turned out that huge masses of goods lay and rotted in them for no use.

The writer masterfully shows the destructive processes that take place both in the spiritual and in material spheres bourgeois society.

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1. The theme of the power of money in the world and in the human soul.
2. Accumulation and waste.
3. Moral degradation personality.

Death awaits you - so spend, not sparing wealth;
But life is not over: take care of the good.
Wise is only the person who, having comprehended both,
Moderately protects good, in moderation and spends it.
L. Samossky

One of the leading motives in the story of O. de Balzac "Gobsek" is the power of money over people. In Balzac's story, this power is visibly embodied in the image of a usurer with speaking surname: Gobsek translated from Dutch means "live-lot". The theme that Balzac touched upon in his work is one of the eternal themes. Many writers have turned to the curmudgeon's image, which is both comic and tragic at the same time. It should be noted that Balzac's Gobsek is far from unambiguous. The author shows this character through the eyes of a young lawyer Derville, who for the first time meeting the main character could not understand what kind of person he was: “Did he have relatives, friends? Was he poor or rich? Nobody could answer these questions. " Derville tells about "a tragicomic incident from the life of Gobsek: an old usurer accidentally dropped a gold coin, and when it was handed to him, he decisively declared that this \\ money was not his:" Why would I live like this if I were rich! "

This is a very sensible remark - indeed, it is difficult to believe that a rich man would begin to live the way Gobsek lives, a "man-machine", "a man-bill." However, as it becomes clear from further narration, Gobsek's exclamation is most likely a maneuver designed to divert his eyes. As a typical curmudgeon, he fears that no one will find out about his wealth.

Gobseck's only interest is the acquisition of wealth - it should be noted that in this area the talents of this person are truly ambitious. Gobsek also has his own philosophy, in which money takes pride of place. As the main vital value, the concentration of all possibilities and aspirations is material wealth: “Here you live with mine, you will find out that of all the blessings of the earth there is only one, reliable enough for a person to chase after him. Is this gold. All the forces of mankind are concentrated in gold. "

So, here is the answer to Derville's unspoken question, does Gobsek know about God, does he believe in Him? What religion is this person committed to? Gold is the only power that the old usurer recognizes: “It takes time, material opportunities or efforts to fulfill our whims. Well! In gold, everything is contained in the germ, and it gives everything in reality. " Gobsek enjoys the consciousness of his power, which he has thanks to money. He sincerely believes that nothing in the world has power over him. However, the power of Gobsek is manifested to a greater extent in the sphere of the speculative than in reality. Of course, the usurer shakes a lot of money out of his clients, but this is where the manifestation of his power ends. Gobsek lives as if he does not have a huge fortune. The old usurer, like the Pushkin stingy knight enough to think that he could have everything he wants. But the worst thing is that the hero no longer wants anything but the money itself. Talking about their power, Gobsek almost becomes a poet for a few moments - this one theme inspires him so much.

“This withered old man suddenly grew up in my eyes, became a fantastic figure, the personification of the power of gold. Life and people inspired terror in me at that moment.

"Does it all come down to money?" - such is Derville's reaction to Gobseck's revelations. And yet, despite his millions, his power, Gobsek is at the same time pathetic. At least the young lawyer at some point looked at the moneylender as if he was "seriously ill." And he is really sick - spiritually sick. He has no family, no children, he is old and weak. For whom is he hoarding untold wealth? Why live like a poor man with millions? Nothing in the world has power over him except money, his idol. Gobsek enjoys the specter of the power that money wields. Actually, he needs money not as a means of acquiring various things, but as a way to exercise power over others. Balzac, showing the power of money over people, was not limited traditional image curmudgeon-usurer. In the life of Countess Resto, money also plays an important role. It should be noted right away: the Countess, unlike Gobsek, considers money precisely as a means by which she maintains the outer gloss of a society lady and keeps her lover, a vicious person with an angelic appearance. The need for money, which the lover constantly demands, makes the Countess turn to the usurer. The fear that her husband will deprive her of the inheritance of her younger children pushes her into unworthy intrigues - the woman is ready to take advantage of the affection of her eldest son to her and his father, only to receive the will of the dying count in her hands.

So, Balzac opposes two ways of dealing with money - the accumulation of wealth for their own sake and unrestrained extravagance, clearly showing the flaw in both positions. It is no coincidence that the author described and the last days life of Gobsek. The old man is sick, lies in bed, he realizes that his days are numbered - and meanwhile the enrichment mechanism continues to operate. Gobsek's avarice reaches terrifying proportions, loses all logic. Clients brought him various gifts - groceries, silverware, which he sold to stores. But due to the reluctance of the stingy old man to sell the goods a little cheaper, the products deteriorate. Money, goods matter when they are used - that is the meaning of the picture of rotting food in the apartment of the late Gobsek. And to whom will his fortune go? A prostitute, his distant relative. It can be assumed that this woman is likely to quickly spend easy money and again slide into the usual abyss. “Yes, I have everything, and I have to part with everything. Well, well, daddy Gobsek, don't be afraid, be true to yourself ... "- these are last words the old moneylender. No regrets about the joylessly spent life devoted to the acquisition of money, which he himself hardly used, no thoughts about his soul - nothing ... And what is the soul for a person who recognizes gold as the only power in the world?

So, Balzac showed the power that money has over a person. But the following should be noted: it is not money that makes a person a curmudgeon or a moto. Only the person himself determines what is for him main value... While a person is alive, it is not too late to reconsider your position if following it negatively affects inner world and the outer life of the individual. After all, it was not money that destroyed the countess's family, caused the death of her husband, but the way of life of this woman. The reason for Gobseck's moral death, which occurred long before his physical death, also lies not in money as such, but in the attitude of this man towards it, who, like the Jews brought out of slavery, bowed down to the golden calf, forgetting about the eternal greatness and power of God.