# Gaudissart — Parisians in the Country character guide

> Gaudissart in Parisians in the Country by Honoré de Balzac.

**Role:** supporting

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

**First appearance:** 0000-story-i-gaudissart-the-great

## Snapshot

The immortal bagman of the Article Paris, all puns and persuasion, whose commercial eloquence opens the book and nearly sells a town its own folly.

## Who they are

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.

## In the story

### [Gaudissart the Great](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/parisians_in_the_country_se/chapters/story-i-gaudissart-the-great)

The ambitious traveling salesman who shifts from selling goods to ideas and embarks on a provincial tour.

### [Gaudissart the Great](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/parisians_in_the_country_se/chapters/gaudissart-the-great)

The protagonist, a commercial traveler known as 'Gaudissart the Great,' who is ambitious, confident, and skilled in persuasion. He plans to sell subscriptions and insurance during a provincial tour.

### [The Muse of the Department](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/parisians_in_the_country_se/chapters/story-ii-the-muse-of-the-department)

A traveling salesman who attempts to sell subscriptions in Sancerre and is outwitted by the locals.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/parisians_in_the_country_se/characters/gaudissart
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/parisians_in_the_country_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/parisians_in_the_country_se/characters