Character guide

Mlle. Cormon

major

Also known as Mlle, Cormon, Mlle. d'Esgrignon, Mlle. de Nouastre, Rose Marie Victoire Cormon, Rose Cormon, Rose, Poor Rose

Rose Cormon is the richest unmarried woman in Alençon, and her hand in marriage is the town's most contested prize. Her vanity, her piety, and her fear of dying unwed pull her between the Chevalier de Valois's aristocratic graces and du Bousquier's brute financial weight. Her choice will decide which faction — the fading nobility or the rising bourgeoisie — inherits the town's social power.

Victurnien d'Esgrignon

major

Also known as Victurnien, the young Comte Victurnien d'Esgrignon, the Comte Victurnien d'Esgrignon, M. le Comte, The Comte d'Esgrignon, le Comte, M. le Comte Victurnien, Victurnien d'Esgrignon, le Comte d'Esgrignon, M. le Comte d'Esgrignon, M. Victurnien, young d'Esgrignon, d'Esgrignon, D'Esgrignon

Victurnien is the sole heir of an ancient name stripped of its fortune, raised by an aunt and a notary to believe the world owes him deference. His charm and recklessness collide with the d'Esgrignons' desperate pride, and his Parisian debts become the lever his family's enemies will use against them. He is the fault line along which the old aristocracy's survival will crack or hold.

Maître Chesnel

major

Also known as Chesnel, So Maître Chesnel, Maître Chesnel, Chesnel the notary, poor Chesnel, a Chesnel, M. Chesnel, Worthy M. Chesnel, the said Chesnel, old Chesnel, dear M. Chesnel, Old Chesnel, M. Choisnel, Choisnel

Chesnel is the bourgeois steward who saved the d'Esgrignon estates during the Revolution and has served them ever since with a devotion bordering on worship. His reverence for the old name blinds him to the family's faults, even as his money and reputation are consumed defending them. His loyalty — and his eventual disillusion — makes him the moral center of the town's quiet war between caste and cash.

Chevalier de Valois

major

Also known as Chevalier de Valois, the Chevalier de Valois d'Alençon, The Chevalier de Valois, the Chevalier, M. de Valois, the gallant Chevalier, The Chevalier, the Chevalier de Valois, the ingenious Chevalier, The enchanting Chevalier, le Chevalier, Chevalier, M. le Chevalier de Valois, the sceptical M. de Valois, the Alençon Chevalier, Alençon

The Chevalier is Alençon's most polished survivor: a nobleman of threadbare means whose rouge, diamonds, and enormous appetite disguise decades of gallantry and debt. He and du Bousquier circle Mlle. Cormon like rival chess players, each needing her money to prop up a dying cause. His charm is genuine, his motives are not, and his rivalry with the republican banker stages the whole town's quarrel over who will inherit the future.

Du Bousquier

major

Also known as du Bousquier, a du Bousquier, Bousquier, M. du Bousquier, the unsuspecting du Bousquier, Citizen du Bousquier

Du Bousquier is the town's new power: a man of the Revolution who made his fortune in army contracts and now wants respectability to match his money. Rebuffed by the aristocracy he once helped to ruin, he nurses a grudge against Chesnel and the d'Esgrignons that will outlast a generation. His courtship of Mlle. Cormon is not romance but conquest — and his rivalry with the Chevalier is the town's whole social order in miniature.

Mlle. Armande

supporting

Also known as Armande, Marie Armande Clair d'Esgrignon, Mlle, Mlle. d'Esgrignon, Poor Mlle, Armande de Gordes

Mlle. Armande is the pious, self-effacing woman who saved the family's lands during the Terror and has managed its dwindling household ever since. She loves Victurnien with a devotion that blinds her to his faults and makes her complicit in the family's ruinous pride. Her quiet sacrifices — and her refusal to see the truth about her nephew — embody the tragedy of a caste that would rather fall than change.

Suzanne

supporting

Also known as Suzanne, The charming Suzanne, the magnificent Suzanne, this wily Suzanne, the chaste Suzanne, Susanna

The wily, magnificent Suzanne slips through Alençon's drawing rooms as a maid with a past, then reinvents herself on the Parisian stage.

Du Croisier

supporting

Also known as Du Croisier, du Croisier, Croisier, M. du Croisier, the Sieur du Croisier

A wealthy forage-contractor turned banker whose twice-refused ambition curdles into a smothered, decades-long hatred of the d'Esgrignons and Chesnel.

Mme. Granson

supporting

Also known as Mme, Granson

A poor widow of Alençon who stakes her hopes on her son Athanase's marriage to Mlle. Cormon, the town's most eligible heiress.

Athanase Granson

supporting

Also known as Athanase Granson, Athanase, Granson, Poor Athanase, poor Athanase, Young Granson

A studious, sensitive young man whose hopeless love for the wealthy Mlle. Cormon drives him toward a quiet, devastating despair.

Mme. Camusot

supporting

Also known as Mme, Camusot, Little Mme. Camusot

The wife of Alençon's magistrate, a woman of fashion and calculation whose drawing-room gossip shapes the town's social verdicts.

M. de Troisville

supporting

Also known as M. de Troisville, the Vicomte de Troisville, the Vicomte, de Troisville, M. le Vicomte de Troisville, The Vicomte de Troisville, this Olympian Vicomte, this M. de Troisville, M. le Vicomte

An Olympian vicomte and d'Esgrignon kinsman whose noble name and connections lend the old family a shield against provincial malice.

Abbé de Sponde

supporting

Also known as Abbé de Sponde, The Abbé de Sponde, the Abbé, The Abbé, the Abbé de Sponde, the good Abbé, de Sponde, the worthy Abbé de Sponde, Abbé, M. de Sponde

As Mlle. Cormon's pious uncle and spiritual advisor, the Abbé commands the confidence of the entire town, his high integrity and considerable fortune making him a person of importance. Yet beneath his saintly composure runs a decided aversion for the Sieur du Croisier, and though little rancor dwells in his composition, he quietly sets others against the man. His influence over his niece's conscience—and her inheritance—makes him a pivot on which the town's marriage schemes and old feuds turn.

Émile Blondet

supporting

Also known as Émile Blondet, Blondet, Émile, old Blondet, Joseph Blondet, Joseph

Son of the local judge, Blondet has escaped Alençon for the glitter of Parisian letters, where he moves among the circles of the day as a sharp-penned observer. His return home places him between two worlds: the fashionable ambitions of the capital and the stubborn, gossip-ridden hierarchies of the town. Clear-eyed and amused, he becomes a lens through which the provincial drama of pride, jealousy, and thwarted ambition is refracted for the reader.

Diane de Maufrigneuse

supporting

Also known as Diane, Diane d'Uxelles, Diane de Maufrigneuse, The fair Maufrigneuse, the fair Diane, de Maufrigneuse

Radiant, well-born, and thoroughly versed in the ways of Parisian society, Diane de Maufrigneuse descends upon the provinces like a comet, trailing rumors of elegance and intrigue. She becomes the lover of the young Victurnien d'Esgrignon, drawing him into a world of glamour and expense far beyond his means. Her charm is genuine but her world is dangerous; through her, Balzac exposes how Parisian sophistication can both elevate and ruin a provincial heir.

President du Ronceret

supporting

Also known as President du Ronceret, du Ronceret, The treacherous de Ronceret, de Ronceret, M. du Ronceret, M. le Président, M. le Président du Ronceret, M.

As a local magistrate, du Ronceret wears the robe of impartial justice while nursing private grievances against the aristocracy that has long overshadowed his ambitions. He belongs to that class of provincial notables who resent the old nobility's lingering prestige and quietly work to undermine it. His treachery is of the slow, smothered kind that Balzac identifies as peculiar to country towns—grudges nursed for a score of years, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Old M. Blondet

supporting

Also known as old M. Blondet, M. Blondet, Blondet, Blondet junior, Dear M. Blondet, old Blondet, Vice-President Blondet, Goodman Blondet

Vice-President Blondet belongs to the solid, unglamorous stratum of provincial society—the legal men whose judgments shape daily life in a country town. As Émile's father, he represents the respectable bourgeois world his son has left behind for Parisian letters, and his position on the bench places him near the center of local quarrels and alliances. Through him, Balzac sketches the generational divide between provincial duty and Parisian ambition.

Duchesse de Maufrigneuse

minor

Also known as de Maufrigneuse, the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, The Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, a Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, la Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, la Duchesse, Mme. de Maufrigneuse, Mme

Diane's mother, a prominent figure in Parisian high society.

Mme. du Croisier

minor

Also known as Mme. du Croisier, du Croisier, Mme

Du Croisier's wife, who harbors a secret grudge.

Marquis de Pombreton

minor

Also known as M. le Marquis de Pombreton, the Marquis de Pombreton, M. le Marquis d'Esgrignon, M. le Marquis, Marquis, The Marquis

An elderly nobleman and relative of the d'Esgrignons.

Princess Goritza

minor

Also known as The Princess Goritza, the Princess Goritza

A foreign princess who appears in Parisian society.

Césarine

minor

A young woman in Alençon.

Josette

minor

Mlle. Cormon's loyal maid and confidante.

De Marsay

minor

Also known as de Marsay, Marsay, Victurnien—de Marsay, De Marsay

A powerful Parisian politician and dandy who befriends Victurnien.

Jacquelin

minor

The d'Esgrignon family's faithful servant.

M. Camusot

minor

Also known as M. Camusot, Camusot, Wake M. Camusot

A local magistrate involved in Victurnien's legal troubles.

M. Michu

minor

Also known as M. Michu, M., Michu

A minor official in Alençon.

Mariette

minor

A young woman in service to the d'Esgrignon household.

Vidame de Pamiers

minor

Also known as the Vidame de Pamiers, The Vidame, the excellent Vidame, the Vidame, the dear Vidame, Vidame

An old friend of the Chevalier de Valois.

M. Sauvager

minor

Also known as M. Sauvager, Sauvager

A young lawyer involved in the legal case against Victurnien.

Fabien du Ronceret

minor

Also known as Fabien du Ronceret, M. de Ronceret, young M. Fabien du Ronceret, Fabien, young Fabien du Ronceret, du Ronceret, young du Ronceret

The son of President du Ronceret, a rival to Victurnien.

Cadot

minor

Also known as Cadot, Mlle, Mlle. Cadot

A local spinster and friend of Mlle. Cormon.

Mme. la Duchesse

minor

Also known as Mme. la Duchesse, Mme

A high-ranking noblewoman at court.

Comte de Montcornet

minor

Also known as the Comte de Montcornet, a Mlle. de Troisville, whom he had known before her marriage with the Comte de Montcornet, de Troisville, Mlle

A general and nobleman married to a Troisville.

Mlle. Blandureau

minor

Also known as Mlle. Blandureau, Blandureau, Mlle

A young woman courted by Fabien du Ronceret.

M. du Coudrai

minor

Also known as M. du Coudrai, du Coudrai

A local notable in Alençon.

Présidente du Ronceret

minor

Also known as the Présidente, la Présidente, Mme. du Ronceret, du Ronceret, Mme. la Présidente du Ronceret, Mme

The wife of President du Ronceret.

Joséphin

minor

Also known as Joséphin, old Joséphin

An old servant of the Chevalier de Valois.

Mme. Chesnel

minor

Also known as Mme. Chesnel, Mme, Chesnel

The wife of Maître Chesnel.

Brigitte

minor

A servant in the d'Esgrignon household.

Mme. Blondet

minor

Also known as Mme. Blondet, Mme, Blondet

The wife of old M. Blondet.

Maître Sorbier

minor

Also known as Sorbier, Maître Sorbier, old Maître Sorbier

A local notary in Alençon.

Cécile Amélie Thirion

minor

Also known as Cécile Amélie Thirion!—Poor old Blondet, Cécile Amélie, old Blondet, the old Blondet, Blondet, Thirion, Marie Cécile Amélie Thirion, Amélie

A woman from old Blondet's past.

Madame Sorbier

minor

Also known as Madame Sorbier, Sorbier

The wife of Maître Sorbier.

Maître Cardot

minor

Also known as Maître Cardot, Cardot

A Parisian notary involved in Victurnien's affairs.

Mlle. des Touches

minor

Also known as Mlle. des Touches, Mlle, des Touches

A wealthy, intellectual woman who hosts a Parisian salon.

Marquise de Castéran

minor

Also known as Marquise de Castéran, Marquise d'Esgrignon, The old Marquise de Castéran

An elderly relative of the d'Esgrignon family.

Duchesse de Langeais

minor

Also known as Duchesse de Langeais, the Duchesse de Langeais

A Parisian socialite mentioned in passing.