Character guide

Dinah de la Baudraye

major

Also known as Dinah, Mademoiselle Dinah Piédefer, Piédefer, Mademoiselle Dinah, Dinah Piédefer, the fair Dinah, Madame de la Baudraye, little de la Baudraye, the Baronne de la Baudraye, the beautiful Madame de la Baudraye, Madame, Madame la Baronne, Madame la Baronne de la Baudraye, Baronne de la Baudraye, Madame la Comtesse, Madame la Comtesse de la Baudraye, the Comtesse de la Baudraye

Dinah Piédefer arrives in Sancerre with a mind sharpened by reading and a hunger no local drawing-room can satisfy, so she marries the frail Baron de la Baudraye to gain the rank her intellect deserves. Around her gather a magistrate, a landowner, and a poet, each mistaking her brilliance for a promise. Her restlessness is the engine of the book: she is the provincial woman whose intelligence becomes both her ornament and her trap.

Étienne Lousteau

major

Also known as Lousteau, Madame Lousteau, Neither Lousteau, Étienne, Monsieur Lousteau, Monsieur Étienne Lousteau

Lousteau belongs to the Parisian press, that trade of talk and borrowed wit where a man lives on his tongue and other people's money. He comes to Sancerre as a curiosity, a specimen of the capital, and discovers in Dinah a woman whose intelligence flatters his own. His mixture of genuine taste and hollow ambition makes him the perfect instrument for testing whether provincial longing can survive contact with the real thing.

Gaudissart

supporting

Also known as Gaudissart the Great, the ambitious Gaudissart, Baron Gaudissart

Gaudissart the Great travels in hats, ideas, and other people's credulity, a one-man steam engine of speculation who can be royalist, republican, or devout as the customer requires. His genius is talk, and his comedy is the gap between what he promises and what the provinces actually get. He matters because he sets the novel's tone: Balzac's France is a country where eloquence is a commodity and every man is selling something.

Monsieur Gravier

supporting

Also known as Gravier, Gatien Boirouge, Gatien, Gatien de Boirouge, Gatien Boirouge of Monsieur Gravier

Gravier is the solid local presence in Dinah's orbit, a man of property and steady feeling whose suit is measured in years rather than gestures. He offers what Sancerre can offer: comfort, constancy, and a life without Paris. His quiet persistence throws Dinah's restlessness into relief, and his rivalry with the more brilliant men around her measures the cost of her choices.

Monsieur de Clagny

supporting

Also known as Clagny, de Clagny, Monsieur le Baron de Clagny, Worthy Monsieur de Clagny

Monsieur de Clagny is the legal mind of the neighborhood, a man whose profession teaches him to weigh evidence and whose heart refuses to weigh Dinah fairly. He adores her with a discretion that costs him, and his presence in her circle gives the provincial salon its gravity. He matters as the counterweight to Lousteau: where the Parisian offers wit, Clagny offers loyalty, and neither is quite enough.

Baron de la Baudraye

supporting

Also known as the Baron de la Baudraye, Monsieur de la Baudraye, Monsieur le Baron de la Baudraye

The Baron de la Baudraye is the last of a family that survived exile, revolution, and its own bad blood by hoarding louis and vineyards. Sickly from birth and schooled in monastic economy, he treats marriage as a transaction and his wife's brilliance as an expense he did not authorize. His miserliness and his fragile grip on life make him both obstacle and dark joke in Dinah's story, the provincial husband against whom all her ambitions are measured.

Horace Bianchon

minor

Also known as Bianchon, Horace, But Bianchon, Doctor Bianchon, Poor Bianchon, H. Bianchon

A celebrated Parisian doctor and friend of Lousteau, appearing in social scenes.

Bixiou

minor

Also known as Monsieur Bixiou, the virulent Bixiou

A sharp-tongued Parisian caricaturist and wit who visits the provinces.

Jenny Courand

minor

Also known as Jenny, Mademoiselle Jenny Courand, Jenny Courand

A young woman involved in the provincial social scene.

Paquita

minor

Also known as Sancerre, Paquita of Sancerre

A local woman from Sancerre who appears briefly.

Madame Margaritis

minor

Also known as Madame Margaritis of Dubuisson, Margaritis, old Margaritis

An elderly provincial woman, mother of Margaritis.

Anna Grossetête

minor

Also known as Anna

A young woman from a neighboring estate.

Madame Cardot

minor

Also known as Cardot, The dreadful Madame Cardot, Maman Cardot

A formidable provincial matriarch.

Mitouflet

minor

Also known as one Mitouflet, the relentless Mitouflet, Monsieur Mitouflet

A relentless local character.

Nathan

minor

A writer and friend of Lousteau from Paris.

Didine

minor

A pet name or nickname for a female character.

Madame Schontz

minor

A Parisian courtesan mentioned in Lousteau's circle.

Félicie Cardot

minor

Also known as Félicie, a Félicie Cardot

A young woman from the Cardot family.

Malaga

minor

A dancer or performer mentioned in Parisian scenes.

Présidente de Boirouge

minor

Also known as the Présidente de Boirouge, The Présidente Boirouge, the Présidente Boirouge, the Présidente

The wife of the local president of the court.

Madame Gaudissart

minor

Also known as Gaudissart

The wife of Gaudissart.

Milaud

minor

Also known as said Milaud, Louis XV Milaud de la Baudraye, Louis XV, Monsieur Milaud of Nevers, Milaud of Nevers, Monsieur Milaud

A lawyer or notary from Nevers, related to the Baudraye family.

Madame Piédefer

minor

Also known as the rigid Madame Piédefer, Madame de Piédefer

Dinah's strict and religious mother.

Olympia

minor

Also known as The Duchesse Olympia, 234 Olympia Adolphe, Read Adolphe, Adolphe

A duchess mentioned in relation to a literary work.

Margaritis

minor

Also known as Monsieur Margaritis, old Margaritis

A half-mad local eccentric who interacts with Gaudissart.

Chevalier de Beauvoir

minor

Also known as The Chevalier de Beauvoir, the Chevalier, Beauvoir, Chevalier de Beauvoir

A minor nobleman appearing in social gatherings.

Béga

minor

Also known as the hapless Béga, poor Béga

A hapless character mentioned in passing.

Monsieur Vernier

minor

Also known as Vernier, The worthy Vernier

A local provincial notable.

Jan Diaz

minor

A Spanish character referenced in the narrative.

Pamela Migeon

minor

Also known as little Pamela, Pamela, Pamela Migeon, the worthy Migeon

A servant or local girl in the household.

Madame de Clagny

minor

Also known as de Clagny

The wife of Monsieur de Clagny.

Madame Vernier

minor

Also known as Vernier

The wife of Monsieur Vernier.

Abbé Duret

minor

Also known as the Abbé Duret, The Abbé Duret, Abbé, the good Abbé, the Abbé, old Abbé Duret

A local priest and spiritual advisor.

Vicomte de Chargeboeuf

minor

Also known as Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, Monsieur le Vicomte de Chargeboeuf, the Vicomte de Chargeboeuf

A visiting nobleman in the provincial society.

Adolphe

minor

Also known as Monsieur Adolphe

A young man mentioned in the narrative.

Fanny Beaupré

minor

An actress or courtesan in Parisian society.

Madame Gorju

minor

A local woman in the provincial setting.

Ellénore

minor

A character from a literary reference within the story.

Président Boirouge

minor

Also known as Président Boirouge, the Président de Boirouge, the Président

The local president of the court in Sancerre.

Monsieur Lebas

minor

Also known as Lebas

A local merchant or notable.

Lubin

minor

A servant or minor character in the household.

Monsieur Cardot

minor

Also known as Cardot

The husband of Madame Cardot.

Old Camusot

minor

Also known as Camusot, Madame Camusot, Monsieur Camusot

An elderly provincial couple.

Mademoiselle Claire Vernier

minor

The daughter of Monsieur Vernier.

Baronne de Fontaine

minor

Also known as the Baronne de Fontaine, Baronne de Fontaine, The Baronne de Fontaine

A noblewoman mentioned in social contexts.

Camille Maupin

minor

Also known as Camilla, Camille de Maupin

A pseudonymous female writer referenced in literary circles.

Toinette

minor

A servant or maid in the household.

Florine

minor

An actress and courtesan in Parisian society.

du Tillet

minor

Also known as Madame du Tillet

A banker and his wife, part of the Parisian social set.