Red and Black is a novel written by Stendhal in 1830, where the duality that a young man named Julián Sorel can have between religion and passion is observed.
Red and Black
Red and Black work written by Stendhal, being his real name Henri Beyle, where he tells the story of a young man named Julien Sorel who wants to be a priest, but who is dragged by his passions which lead him to death.
Author of Red and Black
Henri Beyle, born on January 23, 1783 in Grenoble France and died on March 23, 1842 in Paris, this was one of the French writers who had a lot of originality in his works in the nineteenth century, he is known for his works of fiction.
His mother Henriette died when he was only seven years old and his father named Chérubin Beyle, a lawyer by profession, never got along with him, so after his death, little Henry's education is taken up by his aunt. , who is a woman with strong religious beliefs, who gets to instill them in Henri and then he decides to go to study at a seminary.
Henri begins his studies at the seminary to pursue a career in the priesthood, where he later changes to a lay college. Later in the year 1800 Stendhal leaves Grenoble, to study at the Polytechnic School in Paris and thus begin his career as a writer, he became part of the Napoleonic exercise.
When Napoleon Bonaparte falls, he leaves for Italy where he becomes interested in art and begins to write two books entitled the history of Italian painting in 1817 and the life of Napoleon. In him in Italy he is appointed Consul of France, then in the year 1841 he returns again to Paris where he dies a year later.
Among his outstanding works we have:
- Red and Black 1830.
- The Charterhouse of Parma 1839.
- Napoleon.
- Walks in Rome.
- The Ark and the Ghost 1830.
- Of love 1822.
- Life of Henry Brulard 1890.
- Vanina Vanini 1829
- Life of Mozart 1801
It is said that the source of inspiration with which Sthendal made these fabulous works was the case of a seminarian named Antoine Berthet who, in a Christian celebration, decided to kill his lover and who also helped him financially. This man was sentenced to death in 1827 by guillotine.
There is also another case, where a carpenter in the same way ends his lover, as well as different episodes that happen within the French nobility where their women become lovingly involved with men from different social strata causing these terrible events.
History of Red and Black
This work called Red and black is of the realistic literary genre, since it exposes the way of thinking of the French society of that time with respect to religious issues and how life developed in those times.
In addition, this work tells the story of a young man named Julien Sorel who is an aspiring priest. And one day the mayor of the town of Verrieres, has the desire to increase his fortune and decides to look for a person to take charge of the education of his three children.
Mr. Renal gives this task to Julien, since he considers that he himself has great knowledge and skills that they can teach their children, since he also has knowledge of Latin and is a man of good values.
Julien Sorel manages to leave his parents' houses because they do not understand that he wants to be a priest. When he begins to teach that burgomaster community, Mr. Renal's wife, who is a dedicated mother to her children and dedicated to her home, feels overwhelmed by his presence and as time goes by, and after his absence of her husband, she begins to feel attracted to this young man, who is also attracted to her: causing them to indulge in a clandestine love relationship where passion is their main ingredient along with the fear of being discovered by her husband.
However, the parish priest of the city advises him to leave the house, but Mr. Renal's wife asks him to stay, but he decides to go to the town of Besacon, where he ends up being admitted to a hospital. seminary to finish his studies and establish himself as a priest, since this was part of his plans from the beginning.
But in that course of time before he finished his studies, Father Pirard manages to give him a position as secretary of the home of the Marquis de La Mole, causing the young Julien Sorel to arrive in the capital, where he comes to like the Marquis and note the capacities and virtues that the young man had.
The daughter of the Marquis named Matilde Mole, did not like the attention that the Marquis paid to young Julien, so this jealousy turns into passion and both become involved in a love relationship.
A long time later Matilde realizes that she is pregnant and tells her father the whole truth, and she asks her father for his blessing to marry Julien, the Marquis gives her approval since the young man already likes her. But circumstances take an unexpected turn when Julien receives an unexpected letter from Mrs. Renal.
Where Mrs. Renal in a letter tells everything in detail about the relationship she came to have with Julien, when he lived in her house, which puts him at a disadvantage since the Marquis had a very good impression of him. So Julien makes the decision to go back to Vierreres, where he decides to go looking for Mrs. Renal who was inside a church meditating and without thinking twice, she shoots him, leaving her injured.
As a result of what happened, Julien knew that he had come to an end, that his actions were not well seen and that he had to pay for this, so his two lovers implore him to testify and defend himself, but he only decides to stay silent. Until the verdict of the jury declares him guilty, condemning him to the death penalty and executing him on the guillotine.
Argument
This story is written in two volumes, where the story of the young Julián Sorel is told within the rigid structure of French society during the French Revolution and the Reign of Emperor Napoleon.
In it they describe the adventures of Julien Sorel, who is a talented 19-year-old with many virtues but who has a great weakness towards women. What leads him to live great passions with these women, which leads him to an unexpected end like his death.
Characters
Among the characters that we have in Red and black, which we will mention below, they are an important part of the story, since they will tell us about what the society that lived at that time was like.
Among the characters we have:
Madame de Renal: She is an aristocratic wife of the mayor of the city, this is the first love relationship that Julien has, she really loves him, although she cheats on her husband with him, she is a symbol of moral purity and kindness.
Matilda de Mole: She is the daughter of the Marquis, who is bored with Parisian society and is immediately attracted to Julien, she is a slightly unbalanced young woman and has a gift for being dramatic. She is she falls in love with Julien and looks for her father to ennoble him since Julien is of a lower class status.
Napoleon: Although this is not a character that you get to see in the novel, it is part of it because Julien had him as a model, since Julien dreams of rising to the top of French society and uses Napoleon's military techniques to seduce women. .
sir kidney: he is the mayor of Verrieres, he is a vain, obtuse and greedy person. Sorel is concerned about his title and his rank within society. Julien in the course of the story comes to see him as his adversary.
Marquess of Mole: He is the benefactor of Father Pirard and is Julien's employer in Paris. He treats Julien as an equal, but as the story unfolds, he realizes that Julien is ambitious and very intelligent.
Julien sorel: he is an ambitious young man who wants to make his way no matter what, but who is generous, he is part of the lower middle class.
the old sorel: he is a stubborn peasant, poor but very proud, very intelligent in the business he does with wealthy people
Among other characters that give life to this particular story called Red and black where we will see what society was like at that time and how ambitions were handled within the French aristocracy and how a young man from a lower class ventures into this world.
Meta
This novel Red and Black shows us how the character finds himself between two paths, that of his vocation such as the priesthood and the passion that he sees personified in the women for whom he feels a lot of weakness. to a point where he will have no way out of any kind and what a solution until he reaches his death.
This novel that is written in true events that happened at that time and that were taken by pages of newspapers of the time, where the Black represents Julien's cassock and the Red represents the passion that would lead to his death. The main theme of this story called Red and black can be classified as follows:
Will to power: which is the innate desire that all people have to control their environment and shape their lives as they see fit, this means that within the story we observe people in conflict when for one reason or another we do not achieve our goal. That is reflected in the story in Julien Sorel's need to stand out from other people, since what he wants is to become a successful man and function as an important man in French society.
Love Hate: This is another element that is reflected in the story in the case of Julien Sorel, when he becomes involved with Madame de Renal and then with Matilde de Mole, where class superiority and the emotional power they have over Julien are intertwined.
Honor and Vanity: In this case, the protagonist of this story Julien highly values the concept of honor since he needs to be recognized for his abilities within French society, but at the same time he needs to satisfy his desire for vanity at all costs by doing whatever it takes necessary to achieve it.
hypocrisy and tyranny: Red and black reflect the tyranny in France in the 1820s, which makes citizens to survive under the yoke of tyranny must use masks to hide the true feelings of society. That is why the ambitious Julien Sorel decides to embrace hypocrisy as a way of life to get ahead in French society.
Movies
Several films have been made of this novel which have been taken to the big screen. The Secret Courier is a German film released in 1928 by Gennaro Righelli, with Ivan Mosjoukine, Lil Dagover and Valeria Blanka. El Correo del Rey is another Italian film adaptation also directed by Gennaro Righelli in 1947. It features Rossano Brazzi, Valentina Cortese and Irasema Dilián in its cast.
Another adaptation was released in 1954, directed by Claude Autant-Lara. Starring Gérard and Antonella, together with a great specialized cast. It won the French Syndicate of Film Critics award for best film of the year.
Red and Black also has a French television film version directed by Pierre Cardinal, with Robert Etcheverry, Micheline Presley, Marie and Jean Caussimon; launched in the year 1961.
There is also a BBC television miniseries spread over five episodes, which premiered in 1993, starring Ewan McGregor, Rachel Weisz and Stratford Johns. A notable addition to the plot was the spirit of Napoleon (Christopher Fulford), who advises Sorel (McGregor) during his rise and fall.
Phrases within the work
Within this work Red and black we can highlight the following phrases that are reflected in the book, which we will name below:
- "Whoever excuses himself excuses himself."
- "Let the world judge my actions."
- "Be the opposite of what you expect yourself to be."
- "The high-hearted rich seek entertainment and not results in business."
- First me and then me and always me, in the desert of selfishness that we call life!
- "As well as a fiery soul, Julien had one of those amazing memories that so often go hand in hand with foolishness."
- «Since Mrs. de Renal never read novels, all the nuances of her happiness were something new for her»
All these phrases somehow show us how was the way of thinking of that society on which this novel is based, as we can also see how they tell us about the main character of the story.
Characteristics of the Work
Red and Black is a work where the vision of society portrayed by Stendhal is portrayed on three levels:
verrieres: it is the country and petty society in which Sorel finds himself uncomfortable and unable to progress .
besacon: It is the capital of the province where Julien comes to live and which is made up of nobles and clerics.
Paris: it is Sorel's dream, since he himself wants to make his fortune among the nobles and powerful, where the environment of the nobles in the aristocracy disappoints him.
It is in these three levels that this story of ambition for power is developed, where passions are an important part of it, causing them to affect the stability and honorability of the protagonist of this story.
In conclusion, it can be said that this famous author of Red and Black, took from real experiences lived or seen by him for the development of this fabulous story, where he shows us how a young man with many ambitions but with the motivation of being a priest, He finds himself involved in a series of situations that awaken the passion hidden within him and which gave him free rein, eventually causing serious problems until his death.
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