Eugénie Grandet

Author: Balzac
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features:▼Complete Content▼Sandalwood Aroma▼Compact and Portable▼Original Illustrations▼Easy to Carry
Goriot is a wealthy and influential merchant in the French town of Sorcie. The town is famous for its wine, so the price of wine barrels is quite good. During the French Revolution of 1789, Goriot was already a prosperous cooper. He could read and write, and at the age of forty, he married the daughter of a board merchant. He bought the best vineyard in the district; he contracted to supply wine to the revolutionary army and made a fortune. During Napoleon's reign, he became a district mayor and was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor. In 1806, he inherited three estates from his mother-in-law, grandmother, and grandfather, becoming the "highest taxpayer" in the state. In good harvest years, he could produce seven or eight hundred barrels of wine, and he also owned thirteen farms and one hundred twenty-seven arpenons of. He transformed himself from a merchant with only two thousand francs into a millionaire with seventeen million francs.
Goriot was shrewd and cunning. He engaged in speculative trades, predicting with "astronomical accuracy"; his wealth-building skills were compared to a tiger or a python: "He would lie there, crouch there, study his prey for a while before pouncing, open his money bag with a gaping mouth, pour in piles of gold and silver, and then go to sleep peacefully, like a snake full after a meal, motionless and calm, handling everything in an orderly manner." During transactions, he haggled, feigned stuttering, and confused his opponents, luring them into his trap and making them lose while he profited. Due to his stinginess and love of money, Goriot was a miser in family life. He directed everything, commanded everything, and personally arranged the daily meals. He even forbade using an extra piece of sugar or an extra candle. His wife obeyed him as a slave. To save money, all the family's clothes were sewn by his wife and daughter. They spent their days doing needlework, and their daughter was already twenty-three years old, but Goriot had not even thought of arranging a marriage for her. Household chores were handled by Nanon, who "protected the master's property as a loyal dog." She was tall and strong, like a grenadier, with a face covered in warts. There were two families of six people who often visited Goriot's house: the lawyer Cro?ets (the lawyer, his wife, and their nephew, Monsieur de Perce-neige) and the banker Turgot (his wife and son, Adolphe). The purpose of their visits was Goriot's only daughter, Eugénie. The old, cunning Goriot watched all this. He knew they were competing for his daughter for money and a dowry. So he played along, using his daughter as bait to "fish" and benefit from both sides. Goriot's brother in Paris had gone bankrupt due to unpaid debts. He was preparing to commit suicide. Before his death, he sent his son Charles to seek refuge with his uncle. Charles was twenty-two years old, one year younger than Eugénie. He was a handsome and frivolous young man. He brought with him "the most beautiful hunting suit, the most beautiful hunting rifle, the most beautiful knife, and the most beautiful sheath" from Paris. He also brought a complete set of "novelty vests" to his uncle's house.
Eugénie had never left the town of Sorcie since her birth. She spent her days sewing socks and mending her father's clothes, living in a greasy room. Rarely were there guests in the house. When she first saw her handsome cousin, she was completely captivated. She thought Charles was a wonderful person who had fallen from the sky. His shiny, curly hair exuded a pleasant fragrance. She inhaled and smelled it, feeling as if she were floating. She longed to touch his beautiful, exquisite gloves. She envied Charles's small hands, his delicate skin, and his handsome features. Charles's arrival made both the lawyer and the banker anxious. They worried that Eugénie might be taken away by her cousin, Charles.
Eugénie was tall and strong. She did not have the ordinary kind of beauty, but her beauty was unmistakable, and only an artist would be captivated by it. Her forehead had a slightly masculine appearance but was very refined, resembling a statue of Cupid by the Greek sculptor Phidias. Her chaste life made her gray eyes shine. Her quiet, rosy face glowed like a blooming flower. She showed exceptional concern for her cousin. She tried to secretly treat Charles to the best food possible, even using her own savings to entertain him. However, Goriot did not want to spend too much money. He ordered Nanon to serve Charles a stew made with crows. Nanon said the crows were for eating the dead. Goriot replied, "Then why don't we eat the dead? What is an inheritance?"
From his brother's letter, Goriot learned that his brother had gone bankrupt and had entrusted his son to him. However, Goriot did not want to take on any obligations and certainly did not want to carry the burden of Charles. He planned to send Charles to India immediately. But that night, he changed his mind and decided to restore his brother's reputation. However, he wanted to do so without spending a single penny and to gain the reputation of an "honorable brother." So, Goriot held his third dinner party in his life. The guests were naturally the lawyer and the banker. Because he was asking for something, Goriot feigned stuttering again. He stammered, "I want to settle my brother's debts in Paris so that he is not declared bankrupt, but I must hold onto the evidence of the debts." The lawyer Cro?et offered to go to Paris to handle this, but the travel expenses would be paid by Goriot. The banker, however, said he would go to Paris without Goriot paying any travel expenses. Goriot naturally agreed with the banker's proposal and was delighted.
Three days after the banker left for Paris, Goriot had Charles sign a declaration renouncing his inheritance rights to his father's estate and filled out a passport application to send him to India. Eugénie secretly read Charles's letters to his friends and grew even more sympathetic to her bankrupt cousin. She gave him all her savings of six thousand francs as traveling money. Charles returned the favor with a gold jewelry box left to him by his mother. They secretly promised to marry. Eugénie promised to wait for him to return, and Charles expressed the same determination. Then, he set off for India.
Every New Year, Goriot had the habit of playing with his daughter's savings. In 1820, New Year arrived, and he noticed his daughter's savings had vanished. He demanded strict answers. Eugénie had no choice but to admit that she had given the money to her cousin. Goriot flew into a rage. He locked his daughter in her room, giving her only bread and water. No one could persuade him to relent. "He was stubborn, cruel, and cold, like a stone." As a result, his wife fell ill. The lawyer Cro?et persuaded Goriot to reconcile with his daughter, pointing out that if his wife died, Eugénie could inherit her mother's estate as her daughter, and their property had never been divided. Frightened, Goriot finally released his daughter.
One day, while Eugénie and her mother were admiring the jewelry box Charles had given them, Goriot happened to see them. He saw the gold on the box, his eyes gleamed, and he leaped forward to snatch it, "like a tiger pouncing on a sleeping infant." He grabbed the box and prepared to use a knife to dig out the gold. Eugénie panicked and declared that if her father dared to touch the gold, she would commit suicide with the knife. The father and daughter argued until Goriot's wife fainted. After that, Goriot's wife never recovered.
In October 1822, this poor and timid wife died. Goriot had his daughter sign a document renouncing her inheritance rights to her mother's estate, taking full control of the family's wealth. In 1827, Goriot was already eighty-two years old. He suffered from paresis and had to let his daughter learn the secrets of managing the estate. He could no longer move but sat in a rotating chair, personally directing his daughter to stack bags of money secretly. When his daughter returned the key to the savings room, he hid it in his vest pocket and often stroked it with his hand. Before his death, he asked his daughter to place the gold on the table and stared at it as if he were a child who had just learned to see. He said, "This will warm my heart!"
A priest came to perform the last rites, placing a gold cross to his lips for a kiss. Goriot, seeing the gold, made a horrifying gesture, trying to grab it. This effort took his life.
In the end, he called Eugénie to him and said, "Take good care of everything! I will meet you on the other side!" He died.
Eugénie was now thirty years old and had never experienced the joys of life. After Goriot's death, she became wealthy, but she remained alone. For her, wealth was not comfort; what she needed was warmth and love. For seven years, she waited for Charles to return. She carried the jewelry box he had left her as a precious treasure. But after he left, she heard nothing from him. Charles had made a fortune in India. He engaged in slave trading, usury, tax evasion, smuggling—anything to make money. He was ruthless and greedy to the extreme, truly living up to Goriot's lineage! He slept with women of all colors, completely forgetting his cousin.
In 1827, he returned to France with a million in wealth, boarding a ship. On the ship, he met a nobleman, the Marquis de d'Orléans. The Marquis had an ugly daughter (who looked like a dragonfly) who could not find a husband. Charles, in his pursuit of status, married the Marquis's daughter. He wrote to Eugénie and returned the six thousand francs he had given her, along with two thousand francs in interest. Eugénie was stunned by Charles's heartless behavior and deeply traumatized.
Later, she agreed to marry the son of the lawyer, the president of the primary court, Monsieur de Perce-neige, but only as a formal marriage. Because Perce-neige pursued her only for money, she could give him the money while keeping her emotions free.
Several years later, Perce-neige became the president of the court. However, on the eighth day after being elected a councilor in Sorcie, he died. Eugénie was thirty-three years old and a widow. She paid one hundred fifty thousand francs to settle her uncle's debts, allowing her cousin to live a happy and reputable life. She herself lived a pious and loving life, "advancing to heaven through a series of good deeds and righteous acts."