# Monsieur Profitendieu — The Counterfeiters character guide

> Monsieur Profitendieu in The Counterfeiters by André Gide.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Profitendieu, Monsieur Profitendieu

**First appearance:** 0004-ii-the-profitendieus

## Snapshot

A magistrate whose magisterial calm cracks the moment his son Bernard writes to say he is not his son at all.

## Who they are

Monsieur Profitendieu runs his household and his court with the same unbending sense of superiority, until Bernard's letter — announcing that he knows he is a bastard and is leaving — reduces him to stamping his foot and weeping before Edouard. The counterfeit-coin case brings him to Edouard's door ostensibly to warn young George, but his real errand is to speak of Bernard, whose desertion has unmade him. His restrained grief, all the more sincere because it was never obligatory, forces the novel's central question: whether Bernard was right to go.

## In the story

### [The Counterfeiters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/chapters/the-counterfeiters)

Bernard's legal father, whose authority is undermined by the revelation of Bernard's true parentage.

### [VI: Bernard Awakens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/chapters/vi-bernard-awakens)

Bernard's legal father; Bernard reflects on hating him and the relief of discovering he is not his biological father.

### [Bernard and Laura](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/chapters/iv-bernard-and-laura)

Mentioned as Bernard's adoptive father who showed him predilection; Bernard considers asking his forgiveness.

### [I: Edouard’s Journal: Oscar Molinier](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/chapters/i-edouard-s-journal-oscar-molinier)

Colleague of Molinier; Bernard's legal father, upset by Bernard's departure and involved in the tea shop investigation.

### [XIII: Edouard’s Journal: Douviers’ Profitendieu](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/chapters/xiii-edouard-s-journal-douviers-profitendieu)

Visits Edouard; speaks of Bernard’s brilliance, his wife’s departure, and his love for Bernard; also warns about George Molinier’s involvement in counterfeiting.

### [XV: Bernard Visits Edouard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/chapters/xv-bernard-visits-edouard)

Mentioned as having visited Edouard to ask Bernard to return home.

### [XX: Edouard's Journal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/chapters/xx-edouard-s-journal)

Invites Edouard to dinner; is unwell, prompting Bernard's return.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/characters/profitendieu
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_counterfeiters_se/characters