# Poiret — Father Goriot character guide

> Poiret in Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** M. Poiret, old Poiret

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

## Snapshot

A doddering, mechanical old boarder whose vacant politeness and ready compliance make him the perfect instrument for someone else's plan.

## Who they are

Poiret shuffles through the Maison Vauquer in threadbare respectability, repeating phrases and deferring to anyone with firmer opinions. His passivity, which looks merely pitiable, becomes dangerous when Michonneau draws him into her scheming. He represents the boarding-house's moral dead weight — the kind of man through whom greater cruelties pass unnoticed.

## Relationships

### [Victorine Taillefer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/victorine_taillefer)

_social_

Poiret is a fellow boarder who interacts with Victorine in the mundane routines of the Maison Vauquer.

### [Victorine Taillefer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/victorine_taillefer)

_social_

Poiret is a fellow boarder who interacts with Victorine in the mundane routines of the Maison Vauquer.

### [Victorine Taillefer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/father_goriot_se/characters/victorine_taillefer)

_social_

Poiret is a fellow boarder who interacts with Victorine in the mundane routines of the Maison Vauquer.

## Links

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