Father Goriot · Character

Comte de Restaud

A proud aristocrat whose name opens doors his marriage has quietly mortgaged, and whose jealousy guards a household already slipping from his grip.

supporting

Also known as M. de Restaud, Restaud, the Comte de Restaud

First appearance: father goriot

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Restaud belongs to the old nobility that measures worth in lineage, yet his marriage to Anastasie de Restaud has bound his fortune to the very Goriot money he would rather forget. He watches his wife's salon and her expenditures with mounting suspicion, and his refusal to tolerate her father's visits becomes one of the quiet cruelties that drive the novel's family tragedy. His pride and his precarious finances make him a cautionary figure for any young man studying how Parisian society treats its debts.

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