# Eugène de Rastignac — Shorts from Scenes from Private Life character guide

> Eugène de Rastignac in Shorts from Scenes from Private Life by Honoré de Balzac.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Rastignac, Eugène, Monsieur Eugène

**First appearance:** 0016-gobseck

## Snapshot

An ambitious young nobleman from the provinces, learning how quickly Paris rewards nerve and punishes scruple.

## Who they are

Rastignac moves through the salons and boarding-houses of Paris with the hunger of a man who has tasted poverty and glimpsed the heights. He is observant, charming, and increasingly willing to bend his principles to climb. His presence links the story's private dramas to the larger machinery of ambition, making him both witness and participant in the moral bargains of the age.

## Relationships

### [Marquise de Listomère](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/marquise_de_listomere)

_social_

Eugène de Rastignac and the Marquise de Listomère are social acquaintances, moving in the same Parisian high society.

### [Marquise de Listomère](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/marquise_de_listomere)

_social_

Eugène de Rastignac and the Marquise de Listomère are social acquaintances, moving in the same Parisian high society.

### [Marquise de Listomère](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/marquise_de_listomere)

_social_

Eugène de Rastignac and the Marquise de Listomère are social acquaintances, moving in the same Parisian high society.

## In the story

### [Madame Firmiani](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/chapters/madame-firmiani)

Referenced indirectly as a type of young man; not directly present in the chapter.

### [A Study of Woman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/chapters/a-study-of-woman)

A young man of talent and ambition, he dances with the Marquise and later writes a letter that mistakenly includes her name, leading to a tense exchange.

### [The Commission in Lunacy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/chapters/the-commission-in-lunacy)

Rastignac listens to Bianchon's analysis of Madame d'Espard and high society, recalling their shared past at the Maison Vauquer.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/eugene_de_rastignac
- 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