# Madame de la Mole — The Red and the Black character guide

> Madame de la Mole in The Red and the Black by Stendhal.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** de la Mole, madame de la Mole, Madame de La Mole

**First appearance:** 0034-chapter-xxxiv-the-h-tel-de-la-mole

## Snapshot

The marquis's pious, conventional wife, whose salon sets the aristocratic tone Julien must navigate and whose anecdotes he studies like a foreign language.

## Who they are

Presiding over one of the great houses of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, she embodies the decorum and dullness of legitimist Paris, forever invoking the heroic days of the League. Julien reads Brantôme and D'Aubigné partly to hold his own in her conversation, treating her as a barometer of the world he must conquer. Her conventionality sharpens the contrast with her brilliant, restless daughter, and her salon is the stage on which Julien's Parisian ambition is tested.

## In the story

### [Chapter XXXI. The Pleasures Of The Country](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-xxxi-the-pleasures-of-the-country)

Described by Abbé Pirard as a devout, polite, and insignificant woman of aristocratic prejudices.

### [Chapter XXXII. Entry Into Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-xxxii-entry-into-society)

Imposing and impertinent, she barely acknowledges Julien.

### [Chapter XXXIV. The Hôtel De La Mole](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-xxxiv-the-h-tel-de-la-mole)

Suggests sending Julien away on business days, rewards the baron Le Bourguignon with a prefectship, and embodies the aristocratic boredom.

### [Chapter XXXV. Sensibility And A Great Pious Lady](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-xxxv-sensibility-and-a-great-pious-lady)

Sometimes makes fun of Julien; shows interest in the Baron de la Joumate as a potential husband for her daughter.

### [Chapter XLIII. A Plot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-xliii-a-plot)

Her disdainful looks toward Julien are remembered by him, fueling his resentment.

### [Chapter XLIV. A Young Girl’s Thoughts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-xliv-a-young-girl-s-thoughts)

Mathilde asks her permission to go to Villequier, but she dismisses the request.

### [Chapter XLIX. The Opera Bouffe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-xlix-the-opera-bouffe)

Calls Mathilde to the opera and reprimands her for her distraction.

### [Chapter L. The Japanese Vase](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-l-the-japanese-vase)

Distressed by the breaking of her Japanese vase, which she treasures as a family heirloom.

### [Chapter LVI. Moral Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-lvi-moral-love)

Praises Julien to Mathilde, contributing to Mathilde's irritation.

### [Chapter LXI. Frighten Her](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/chapters/chapter-lxi-frighten-her)

Accompanies Mathilde and Julien back to the hôtel, talks incessantly to prevent them from speaking.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/characters/madame_de_la_mole
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_and_the_black_br/characters