# Guillaume — Shorts from Scenes from Private Life character guide

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

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Madame Guillaume, old Guillaume, father Guillaume, Monsieur Guillaume

**First appearance:** 0002-at-the-sign-of-the-cat-and-racket

## Snapshot

A thrifty draper who treats his daughters' marriages as profitable transactions, weighing suitors by income rather than affection.

## Who they are

Guillaume belongs to the old provincial bourgeoisie Balzac sketches so sharply—people who measure respectability in rentes and arrange alliances with the precision of a ledger. His instinct for profit governs every family decision, including whom his daughters may love, and his stubborn thrift becomes a quiet tyranny within his household. He matters because his calculations set the domestic machinery in motion, forcing the younger generation to scheme against the very prudence that built the family fortune.

## In the story

### [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/chapters/at-the-sign-of-the-cat-and-racket)

The owner of the Cat and Racket shop, father of Augustine and Virginie, representing the old merchant class.

## Links

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