Essays on literary works - 2024

What is life, if not a machine driven by money? (From Balzac's novella “Gobsek”)

The image of the miser and accumulator is not new in world literature. Similar characters appear in Shakespeare's drama "The Merchant of Venice" and Molière's comedy "The Miser."

Balzac’s creation of Gobsek was inspired by his observations of bourgeois society, and certain aspects of the novella are autobiographical. The protagonist studied law at the Sorbonne and worked as a clerk in a notary's office, where he gained firsthand knowledge of financial dealings.

In his novella, Balzac presents a clash of two philosophical perspectives: that of Gobsek and that of Der vil. Gobsek's viewpoint is clear: "Of all earthly goods, there is only one sufficiently reliable to be worth pursuing. That is... gold. To fulfill our desires, we need time, means, and effort. Gold contains all these in embryo, and it provides all of them in reality." Der vil, on the other hand, questions this notion: "Is everything really about money?" His words, "Life and people filled me with horror at that moment," reveal his rejection of Gobsek's philosophy.

"Gobsek" translates as "gullet" or "glutton," and the entire work is a vivid testament to this meaning. The central tenet of Balzac's character can be summarized as follows: "Have pity on no one, help no one, but take for yourself everything you can get for free." The fact that the path to wealth inevitably involves cruelty does not trouble him. He shows no mercy to those with whom he does business. "Sometimes his victims protested, raised an outcry, but then suddenly there would be a dead silence, like in a kitchen when a duck is killed," Balzac writes. Gobsek is meticulous in his handling of documents, receipts, and promissory notes, a quality valued in the commercial world. For him, there are only deals, profits, and no people. Having studied human psychology, he is adept at exploiting those with "a bag of gold." Through unscrupulous means, he amassed a fortune. He bought stolen goods, such as the Countess de Restaud's family diamonds. He speculated in old masters and anything else his debtors brought him. He took bribes from former Haitian planters during the liquidation of their estates. And there are those mysterious twenty years in the East Indies, where Gobsek grew rich and was ruined, followed by years when, according to Der vil, he "traded in diamonds or people, women or state secrets."

Balzac's final image in "Gobsek" is particularly striking: "We would see the hidden picture if we could look into the souls of the heirs surrounding the deathbed. How much scheming, calculation, and malicious cunning — all for money."

In this short novella, Balzac presents a grotesque and monstrous figure, a true master of life: the usurer, the maker of money from money. All of his extraordinary faculties are subordinated to a single goal: to accumulate as much wealth as possible and to possess it absolutely and for as long as possible. However, upon reading Balzac's work, one is convinced that there are other values in the world. Health, love, and friendship cannot be bought for any amount of money.