# Madame Vauquer — Father Goriot character guide

> Madame Vauquer in Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mme. Vauquer, Vauquer, Mamma Vauquer

**First appearance:** 0001-father-goriot

## Snapshot

The proprietress of the Maison Vauquer, a widow of pretended noble descent who runs her shabby pension with gossip, thrift, and self-serving piety.

## Who they are

Mme. Vauquer presides over her lodgers' dinners, rents, and reputations with equal attention, measuring every boarder by the size of their purse and the state of their linen. Her house, its blistered Cupid and dusty lime-trees, is a miniature of Parisian society, where fortunes rise and fall at the table. Her petty calculations and shifting loyalties make her both comic and chilling as the tragedy unfolds around her.

## Relationships

### [Eugène de Rastignac](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/eugene_de_rastignac)

_professional_

Madame Vauquer is Eugène's landlady, and their relationship is that of tenant and boarding house owner, tinged with her maternal interest.

### [Delphine de Nucingen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/delphine_de_nucingen)

_social_

Delphine occasionally visits the boarding house to see her father, maintaining a strained social acquaintance with Madame Vauquer.

### [Eugène de Rastignac](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/eugene_de_rastignac)

_professional_

Madame Vauquer is Eugène's landlady, and their relationship is that of tenant and boarding house owner, tinged with her maternal interest.

### [Delphine de Nucingen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/delphine_de_nucingen)

_social_

Delphine occasionally visits the boarding house to see her father, maintaining a strained social acquaintance with Madame Vauquer.

### [Eugène de Rastignac](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/eugene_de_rastignac)

_professional_

Madame Vauquer is Eugène's landlady, and their relationship is that of tenant and boarding house owner, tinged with her maternal interest.

### [Delphine de Nucingen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/delphine_de_nucingen)

_social_

Delphine occasionally visits the boarding house to see her father, maintaining a strained social acquaintance with Madame Vauquer.

## In the story

### [Father Goriot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/chapters/father-goriot)

Gossips about Goriot's past and his financial decline, and speculates about his character.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/madame_vauquer
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters