# Emilie de Fontaine — Shorts from Scenes from Private Life character guide

> Emilie de Fontaine in Shorts from Scenes from Private Life by Honoré de Balzac.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, Fontaine, Emilie, Mademoiselle de Fontaine

**First appearance:** 0003-the-ball-at-sceaux

## Snapshot

A haughty aristocrat who scorns every suitor her salon offers, certain that only a man of supreme distinction deserves her hand.

## Who they are

Emilie de Fontaine moves through the glittering drawing-rooms of the Faubourg Saint-Germain with the assurance of a young woman who knows her own worth and finds the marriage market wanting. Her pride is both armor and flaw: she dismisses eligible men with a wit that amuses society but isolates her from genuine attachment. When a stranger's indifference piques her vanity, her carefully guarded heart becomes the battlefield on which her prejudices must fall. Her education in humility drives the story's emotional arc.

## Relationships

### [Maximilien Longueville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/maximilien_longueville)

_romantic_

Emilie de Fontaine and Maximilien Longueville are engaged in a courtship marked by social ambition and romantic calculation.

### [Maximilien Longueville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/maximilien_longueville)

_romantic_

Emilie de Fontaine and Maximilien Longueville are engaged in a courtship marked by social ambition and romantic calculation.

### [Maximilien Longueville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/maximilien_longueville)

_romantic_

Emilie de Fontaine and Maximilien Longueville are engaged in a courtship marked by social ambition and romantic calculation.

## In the story

### [Shorts from Scenes from Private Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/chapters/shorts-from-scenes-from-private-life)

Featured in a narrative exploring social ambition and marriage.

### [The Ball at Sceaux](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/chapters/the-ball-at-sceaux)

The proud and headstrong young woman who insists on marrying a peer of France, dismisses bankers and lawyers, and is captivated by a stranger at the Sceaux ball.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/emilie_de_fontaine
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters