# Baron de Charlus — In Search of Lost Time character guide

> Baron de Charlus in In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** M. de Charlus, Charlus, Palamède, Mémé

**First appearance:** 0013-volume-iii-the-guermantes-way

## Snapshot

A towering aristocrat of ferocious wit and hidden appetites, whose grandeur and degradation make him the novel's most theatrical and most pitiable figure.

## Who they are

Charlus is a Guermantes of the purest blood, a man whose conversation can be dazzling and whose rages are terrifying, moving through the salons of Paris with the assurance of someone who has never had to earn his place. His secret — his attraction to men, and to men of a class far beneath his own — is the fault line along which his whole existence is organized, at once concealed and betrayed. He matters because he embodies the novel's fascination with the gap between social surface and private truth, and because his relationship with the narrator becomes one of the book's strangest and most instructive friendships.

## Relationships

### [Charles Morel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/characters/charles_morel)

_psychological_

Charlus is obsessively, destructively in love with the violinist Morel, who exploits and humiliates him.

### [Charles Morel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/characters/charles_morel)

_psychological_

Charlus is obsessively, destructively in love with the violinist Morel, who exploits and humiliates him.

### [Charles Morel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/characters/charles_morel)

_psychological_

Charlus is obsessively, destructively in love with the violinist Morel, who exploits and humiliates him.

## In the story

### [Place-Names: The Place (Continued)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/part-ii-place-names-the-place-continued)

Engages in a conversation about Mme. de Sévigné, displaying a refined sensibility and expressing his philosophy of love.

### [The Guermantes Way](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/volume-iii-the-guermantes-way)

The Baron de Charlus is a complex figure in the Guermantes circle, displaying both haughtiness and hidden depths, and he interacts with the narrator in enigmatic ways.

### [Cities of the Plain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/volume-iv-cities-of-the-plain)

Charlus's secret sexuality and his interactions with Jupien are central to the chapter's exploration of hidden desires and social masks.

### [Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/part-i-prologue)

Charlus is seen crossing the courtyard and later meeting Jupien, revealing his homosexual inclinations.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/part-i-i)

Posted at the staircase, greeting guests with a continuous barking sound, naming each in turn.

### [II (Continued)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/part-ii-ii-continued)

Plays piano with exquisite style, showing artistic talent; exhibits nervous defects and feminine mannerisms; attempts to arrange an assignation with Morel at the train station.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/part-ii-iii)

Deeply in love with Morel, he endures the violinist's cruelties and public humiliations, yet continues to pursue him with increasing desperation.

### [II (Continued)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/part-ii-ii-continued)

Orchestrates the party, displays pride and cruelty, obsesses over Morel, and reveals his dual nature of veneration and slander.

### [Flight of Albertine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/part-ii-iii-flight-of-albertine)

Charlus is recalled in a past scene at la Raspelière where he showed gallantry toward Albertine, prompting a discussion about jealousy.

### [A Fresh Light Upon Robert de Saint-Loup](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/iv-a-fresh-light-upon-robert-de-saint-loup)

Arranges the marriage of his adopted daughter Mademoiselle d'Oloron to young Cambremer; displays a complex smile when greeting Legrandin.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/characters/baron_de_charlus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/characters