Work record

The Red and the Black

Name: The Red and the Black
Author: Stendhal

Stendhal

1830 · 19th Century · Novel · French

Public domainRead full text Download EPUB Five-minute digest

Abstract

Written: 1827-1830
Setting: Late 1820s, under the Bourbon Restoration; Verrières, Besançon and Paris
Author: Stendhal (trans. Horace B. Samuel)
Country: France
Language: French
Genre: French realist novel
Form: Novel in two books
Recommended: Grades 11–12 (Adultery, ambition, a shooting and an execution; grades 11-12.)

Outsider. In a provincial town of the Jura a sawmill owner's bookish son, scorned at home, dreams of Bonaparte's glory and chooses a cassock as his ladder upward.

Tutor. Hired to teach the mayor's boys, he wins the trust and then the heart of their mother, a tender, devout woman, until gossip forces him away.

Seminary. Among intriguing clerics in Besançon he learns concealment, gaining the patronage of a severe abbé who sends him to the capital.

Paris. Secretary to a great nobleman, he is challenged by the patrician's haughty daughter; their duel of pride becomes passion, a pregnancy, and an officer's commission.

Ruin. A letter from his first love exposes him; he fires at her in church, accuses the jury of punishing his birth, and before execution realises where his heart truly lay.

Reading. Stendhal's sharp, ironic portrait of ambition and pretense rewards mature readers and pairs well with Balzac. Classes can debate whether the hero is a calculating climber, a romantic rebel, or both, and how the setting of a restored monarchy closes doors to talented young men without rank or fortune in Restoration France.

Main characters

Julien Sorel: An ambitious, gifted young man of humble birth.
Madame de Rênal: The mayor's devout, loving wife.
Monsieur de Rênal: A vain, money-minded provincial official.
Mathilde de La Mole: A proud, romantic aristocratic girl.
Marquis de La Mole: A powerful nobleman who employs Julien.
Abbé Pirard: The severe director of the seminary.

Summary

The Red and the Black, subtitled A Chronicle of 1830, is Stendhal's great novel of ambition in France after the fall of Napoleon. This text is the 1916 English translation by Horace B. Samuel, with his introduction. Julien Sorel is the clever, sensitive son of a brutal carpenter in the small town of Verrières. He secretly worships Napoleon, but since the career of arms is closed to a poor young man in Restoration France, he decides that the Church, the black of the title, is now the path to success, and he memorizes the New Testament in Latin to impress others. He becomes tutor to the children of the town's vain mayor, Monsieur de Rênal, and, half from calculation and half from passion, seduces the mayor's gentle wife, Madame de Rênal, who falls deeply in love with him. When anonymous letters threaten scandal, Julien leaves for the seminary at Besançon, where he finds hypocrisy and intrigue but wins the protection of the stern director, the Abbé Pirard. Through Pirard he becomes secretary to the Marquis de La Mole in Paris. There he learns the manners of high society and is drawn into a contest of pride with the marquis's proud, romantic daughter, Mathilde, who becomes his lover. When Mathilde is pregnant, the marquis reluctantly gives Julien a title, money and an army commission. Then a letter from Madame de Rênal, dictated by her confessor, describes Julien as a hypocrite who seduces women to advance himself. The marquis forbids the marriage. Julien rides to Verrières and shoots Madame de Rênal during Mass. She survives, but Julien is tried and, after a defiant speech accusing the jury of punishing him for rising above his class, condemned to death. In prison he realizes that he truly loves Madame de Rênal, who visits him. He is guillotined; Mathilde buries his head, and Madame de Rênal dies three days later. The novel is a penetrating study of ambition, hypocrisy and class.

Virtues in this work

Charity: Madame de Rênal forgives Julien and visits him in prison.
Humility: Julien finally sees through his own pride and ambition in his cell.

Plot or Argument

Verrières
A carpenter's son becomes tutor to the mayor's children and the lover of the mayor's wife.
Besançon
At the seminary Julien learns the hypocrisy needed to succeed.
Paris
As the marquis's secretary he wins the love of Mathilde and a title.
The shot
A denunciation ruins him; he shoots Madame de Rênal and is executed.

Characters

Julien Sorel, protagonist
An ambitious, gifted young man of humble birth.
Madame de Rênal, heroine
The mayor's devout, loving wife.
Monsieur de Rênal, mayor
A vain, money-minded provincial official.
Mathilde de La Mole, heroine
A proud, romantic aristocratic girl.
Marquis de La Mole, patron
A powerful nobleman who employs Julien.
Abbé Pirard, priest
The severe director of the seminary.

Lessons

Ambition
Julien plans his life like a campaign, measuring every act against Napoleon.
- What does Julien want most?
- How does he use love as a tool?
- Does ambition destroy him?
Related across the library
- Zadig; or, The Book of Fate, Lesson: Reason against superstition
  Reason against superstition. Zadig uses careful observation and reason against prejudice and folly.
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lesson: Rules that make sense and rules that do not
  Rules that make sense and rules that do not. Alice remembers sensible rules, such as not drinking from a bottle marked poison, and she tries to be polite. Wonderland is full of rules that serve no purpose, like the Caucus-race where everyone wins or the King's Rule Forty-two. The contrast helps children see why good rules exist.
- Past and Present, Lesson: Work as worship, and its limits
  Work as worship, and its limits. "Blessed is he who has found his work" is Carlyle's best-known sentence, and he adds that "all true Work is Religion," borrowing the monastic Laborare est Orare. The teaching dignifies ordinary labour and condemns idleness at both ends of society. Yet Carlyle, who had left orthodox Christianity behind, makes work almost the whole of religion; students should ask what worship, rest and grace add to his gospel.
- Shirley, Lesson: Work for women
  Work for women. Caroline longs for meaningful occupation; the novel argues for women's useful work.
- Meteorology, Lesson: Testing theories against the facts
  Testing theories against the facts. Aristotle's habit is to set out rival theories, then test each against what is observed. Against the Phaedo's single reservoir he objects that rivers would then flow up as much as down, and that every river is seen to end in the sea; he likens Democritus' prediction that the sea will dry up to one of Aesop's tales; on salt water he reports a small trial of his own. His conclusions are often mistaken, but students can see the shape of rational inquiry: state the view fairly, dr...
Hypocrisy
The novel shows a society in which success demands pretense.
- Where do we see hypocrisy in church and society?
- Is Julien himself a hypocrite?
- What does the seminary teach him?
Related across the library
- The Sun Also Rises, Lesson: Prejudice
  Prejudice. The characters' antisemitic mockery of Cohn is ugly. The novel exposes, and partly shares, the prejudices of its age.
- Candide: Or Optimism, Lesson: Work as an answer to despair
  Work as an answer to despair. The ending offers no grand theory, only modest shared labour. 'Cultivating our garden' suggests attending to what is within reach.
- Ramona, Lesson: Prejudice and identity
  Prejudice and identity. The Señora's treatment of Ramona changes once her ancestry is known. The novel asks how prejudice shapes family and community.
- Agnes Grey, Lesson: The dignity of work
  The dignity of work. Agnes takes up a hard and humble post to support her family. The novel honors honest labor.
- Kim, Lesson: Reading empire
  Reading empire. The novel presents British rule as natural and benevolent. Reading it alongside critics allows students to enjoy its art while analyzing its assumptions.
Class
Julien's trial speech turns his crime into an accusation against the class system.
- What does Julien say to the jury?
- Why do the jurors condemn him?
- Is his speech fair?
Related across the library
- The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris), Lesson: Appearance and worth
  Appearance and worth. The handsome Phoebus is vain and faithless; the monstrous Quasimodo is loyal unto death. Esmeralda loves the captain's looks and fears the bell-ringer's face. The novel sets outward beauty against inward faithfulness without making either simple.
- Martin Eden, Lesson: Class and judgment
  Class and judgment. People judge Martin by his class and later by his fame.
- The Pillow-Book of Sei Shōnagon, Lesson: Translation
  Translation. Waley chose and shaped what English readers see.
- John Anderson, My Jo, Stanza 1
  But blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson, my jo. She blesses her husband's white head.
- The Road to Wigan Pier, Lesson: Class prejudice
  Class prejudice. Orwell confesses his own class snobbery as a step toward honesty.

Context

The novel is set under the Bourbon Restoration (1815-1830), when the old nobility and clergy regained power and ambitious young men of humble birth found Napoleon's career paths closed.

Composition

Inspired partly by the trial of Antoine Berthet, a seminarian executed in 1828 for shooting a woman in church; published in November 1830.

Reception

Little appreciated at first; Stendhal predicted he would be understood around 1880, and the novel is now a pillar of the realist tradition.

Ambition Class / Society Love Desire Faith / Religion Crime / Punishment

Comparisons

Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot)
Balzac's novel of a young provincial's ambition in Paris.
Crime and Punishment
Another proud young man whose crime leads to self-knowledge.

Quotes

“a novel is a mirror which goes out on a highway. Sometimes it reflects the azure of the heavens, sometimes the mire of the pools of mud on the way”

— Stendhal, The Red and the Black, Book II, Chapter XLIX, The Opera Bouffe, trans. Horace B. Samuel (1916).Quote card

My Life and Work, Lesson: Men and machines
Men and machines. Ford describes the moving assembly line and admits that much factory work is repetitive. He argues that most workers prefer simple tasks and that high wages and low prices repay them. Students should weigh his claims against what workers and later historians said.
The Man in the Iron Mask, Chapter X, Crown and Tiara
Lead me to where the crown of France is to be found. After ten minutes alone under the night sky at the edge of the forest, the prisoner gives his answer.
Little Women, Lesson: Women's work and ambition
Women's work and ambition. Jo wants to be a writer and earn her own living, and the novel takes that ambition seriously while also steering her toward marriage. Readers continue to debate whether the ending fulfils or betrays her.
Oliver Twist, Full Text
forehead passed her hands over her face gazed wildly round shuddered fell back and died They chafed her breast hands and temples but the blood had stopped forever They talked of hope and comfort They had been strangers too long It s all over Mrs Thingummy said the surgeon at last Ah poor dear so it is said the nurse picking up the cork of the green bottle which had fallen out on the pillow as she stooped to take up the child Poor dear You needn t mind sending up to me if the child cries nurse said the surgeon pu...
The Psychology of Dementia Praecox, Lesson: The Psychology of Dementia Praecox links evidence and authority
The Psychology of Dementia Praecox links evidence and authority. The work shows how observation becomes authority through cases, examples, institutional setting, or aphoristic force. It asks readers to notice who gets to define suffering and what counts as proof.

“The word hypocrisy surprises you?”

— Stendhal, The Red and the Black, Book I, Chapter V, trans. Horace B. Samuel (1916).Quote card

The War of the Worlds, Book Two, Chapter VIII (Dead London)
By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright of the earth, and it is his against all comers The narrator explains that humanity's resistance to bacteria was won through ages of natural selection.
Philosophy of Natural Science, Medical lens
The book is philosophy of science, but its most famous chapter is a case study in clinical epidemiology: Semmelweis's comparison of mortality from puerperal fever in two maternity divisions of the Vienna General Hospital (1844–1848), his elimination of rival explanations, the inference from Kolletschka's death after an autopsy wound, and the trial of handwashing with chlorinated lime. Hempel reports the yearly death rates and the later extension of the hypothesis to putrid matter from living patients after a cas...
Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter XI: Proofs in continuation, extracted from St. John's Gospel. The Gospels are four in number,
It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. Book III, chapter 11, beginning Irenaeus's argument for exactly four Gospels.
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book I, Chapter I: That the Deity is incomprehensible, and that we ought not to pry into and meddle with the
The Deity, therefore, is ineffable and incomprehensible. Book I, chapter 1, the opening principle that God cannot be fully grasped by any creature.
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, Chapter II.
brothers have regard to your mother and your aunt have regard to your son who will not be able to live after you Lay aside your courage and do not bring us all to destruction for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer anything These things said my father in his affection kissing my hands and throwing himself at my feet and with tears he called me not Daughter but Lady And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father that he alone of all my family would not rejoice over my passion And I comforted him...

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

Julien's admiration for Napoleon.
His first battle of will with Madame de Rênal.
Life at the seminary in Besançon.
The contest of pride with Mathilde.
Julien's speech at his trial.

Key terms and names

Restoration: The return of the Bourbon kings to France after Napoleon, 1815-1830.
Realism: Literature that represents ordinary life and society truthfully.
Seminary: A college for training Catholic priests.
Free indirect style: Narration that blends the narrator's voice with a character's thoughts.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension Why does Julien choose the Church as a career?
Comprehension Why does Julien leave Verrières?
Comprehension What does Madame de Rênal's letter say?
Interpretation What might the red and the black stand for?
Interpretation Why does Julien find happiness only in prison?
Big Question Can a person rise in society without losing integrity?

Faith Connections

Matthew 23:27 (Scripture)
Whited sepulchres; Stendhal exposes religious hypocrisy.
Mark 8:36 (Scripture)
Gaining the world and losing one's soul.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: A rigid, hypocritical society forces a gifted outsider into pretense, and his ambition leads him to destroy what he truly loves.

Rhetorical device: irony. Julien achieves every goal he plans, only to discover in prison that he never wanted them.

Debate: Resolved: that Julien's society is more guilty than Julien.

Memory Work

a novel is a mirror which goes out on a highway. Sometimes it reflects the azure of the heavens, sometimes the mire of the pools of mud on the way
Book II, Chapter XLIX, The Opera Bouffe, trans. Horace B. Samuel (1916). Stendhal's image of the novel as a mirror on the road.

Writing Prompts

Essay: How does Stendhal use Julien's two loves to reveal his character?

Comparison with Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot): Compare Julien Sorel with Rastignac in Father Goriot.

Creative Prompts

Essay
Is Julien Sorel a hero, an opportunist, or a victim of his society?
Fiction
Write the letter Madame de Rênal might have written if no confessor had guided her.
Classroom
Stage Julien's trial and debate his speech to the jury.