The spiritual struggle of Julien Sorel in Stendhal's novel Red and Black. The image of Julien Sorel “Red and Black Red and Black in the life of Julien Sorel

Stendhal's novel Red and Black is the pinnacle of French realism. Here is both striking detail and detailed description of the political, social and psychological realities of the time. However, the hero of the novel - Julien Sorel - belongs to the romantic heroes, so his life in the circumstances typical of the era turns into a tragedy.

"Red and Black" is a book whose title for many years has made readers think and analyze what is behind it. When reading the work, the answer to this question does not become obvious and presupposes multivariance, which everyone permits for himself. Direct associations appear primarily with internal state Julien Sorel, which combined the desire to find oneself, accomplish a feat, become an educated person, but at the same time self-interest, vanity, the goal of achieving success by any means. The title also indicates the general problem of the work. These two colors, red and black, in their combination symbolize a kind of anxiety, the struggle that takes place inside and around people. Red is blood, love, desire, black is base motives, betrayal. In their mixture, these colors give rise to the drama that takes place in the lives of the heroes.

Red and black are the colors of roulette, a symbol of excitement that has become the lifeblood of the protagonist. He alternately bet on red (for the help of his mistresses, on his charm, etc.) and on black (on deceit, on meanness, etc.). This idea is prompted by the author's own fateful passion: he was a passionate gambler.

Another interpretation: red - military uniform, black - priest's cassock. The hero rushed between dream and reality, and this conflict between the desired and the actual ruined him.

Also, the combination of these colors forms the tragic finale of the ambitious hero: blood on the ground, red and black. The unhappy young man could do so much, but he could only stain the ground with the blood of his mistress.

In addition, many researchers suggest that the contrasting combination of colors means the main conflict of the novel - the choice between honor and death: either to shed blood or to let oneself be vilified.

What is this book about?

Stendhal tells readers about the life of a young boy, Julien Sorel, who gets a job as a tutor in the house of M. de Renal and his wife. Throughout the book, the reader observes the inner struggle of this purposeful person, his emotions, actions, mistakes, managing to resent and empathize at the same time. The most important line of the novel is the theme of love and jealousy, complex relationships and feelings of people of different ages and different situations.

Career led the young man to the very top, promised many joys, among which he was looking for only one - respect. Ambition pushed him forward, but it also drove him into a dead end, because the opinion of society turned out to be more precious to him than life.

The image of the main character

Julien Sorel is a carpenter's son, who knows Latin perfectly, is a quick-witted, purposeful and handsome young man. This is a young man who knows what he wants and who is ready to make any sacrifices in order to achieve his goals. The young man is ambitious and quick-witted, he longs for fame, success, dreaming first about the military field, and then about the career of a priest. Many of Julien's actions are dictated by base motives, a thirst for revenge, a thirst for recognition and worship, but he is not negative character, but rather a contradictory and complex character, placed in difficult living conditions. The image of Sorel contains the character traits of a revolutionary, a gifted commoner who is not ready to put up with his position in society.

The plebeian complex makes the hero ashamed of his origin and look for a way into another social reality. It is this painful conceit that explains his assertiveness: he is sure that he deserves more. It is no coincidence that Napoleon becomes his idol - a native of the people who managed to subjugate dignitaries and nobles. Sorel firmly believes in his star, and that's why he loses faith in God, in love, in people. His lack of principle leads to tragedy: trampling on the foundations of society, he, like his idol, is rejected and expelled by him.

Topics and problems

Many problems are raised in the novel. This is the choice of life, and the formation of character, and the conflict between a person and society. To consider any of them, it is important to understand the historical context: the Great French Revolution, Napoleon, the mentality of a whole generation of youth, Restoration. Stendhal thought in these categories, he was one of those people who personally saw the breakdown of society and were impressed by this sight. In addition to global problems that are of a social nature and are associated with the events of the era, the work also describes the complexities of relationships between people, love, jealousy, betrayal - that is, that which exists outside of time and is always perceived by readers to heart.

The main problem in Red and Black is, of course, social injustice. A talented commoner cannot break into people, although he is smarter than the nobility and more capable of her. In his own environment, this person also does not find himself: he is hated even in the family. Inequality is felt by everyone, therefore, a gifted young man is envied and in every possible way prevents him from realizing his skills. Such despair pushes him to desperate steps, and the ostentatious virtue of priests and dignitaries only asserts the hero's intention to go against the moral foundations of society. This idea is confirmed by the history of the creation of the novel "Red and Black": the author found in the newspaper a note about the execution of a young man. It was this brief account of someone else's grief that inspired him to think out the missing details and create a realistic novel dedicated to the problem of social inequality. He proposes to evaluate the conflict between personality and environment not so unambiguously: people have no right to take Sorel's life, because it was they who made him that way.

What is the meaning of the novel?

The story itself in the novel is not fiction, but real events that greatly impressed Standahl. That is why the author chose Danton's phrase “Truth. Bitter truth". It so happened that one day, while reading a newspaper, the writer read about the court case against Antoine Berthe, from which the image of Sorel was copied. In this regard, it becomes even more obvious social issues a work that characterizes a difficult era and makes you think about it. Then a man was faced with a very acute question of choice: to keep his spiritual purity in poverty, or to go ahead and head over heels to success. Although Julien chooses the latter, he is also deprived of the opportunity to achieve something, because immorality will never become the basis of happiness. A hypocritical society will willingly close its eyes on it, but only for a while, and when it does open it, it will immediately fence itself off from the unaware criminal. This means that Sorel's tragedy is a verdict of unscrupulousness and ambition. The real victory of the individual is self-respect, and not an endless search for this respect from the outside. Julien lost because he could not accept himself as he is.

Stendhal's psychology

Psychologism is characteristic feature creativity of Standahl. It manifests itself in the fact that, along with the story of the actions and deeds of the character and the big picture of the described events, the author at a higher level of analysis describes the reasons and motives of the hero's actions. Thus, the writer balances on the verge between seething passions and the mind analyzing them, creating the feeling that at the same time when the hero performs an act, he is being continuously monitored. For example, this all-seeing eye shows the reader how Julien carefully hides from his eyes his sentence: the little Napoleon, whose veneration has already left its mark on the hero's actions from the very beginning of his journey. This expressive detail points us to the soul of Sorel - a quivering moth striving for fire. He repeated the fate of Napoleon, conquering the desired world, but failing to keep it.

Genre originality of the novel

The novel combines features of romanticism and realism. This is evidenced by the vital basis of history, filled with deep and varied feelings and ideas. This is a trait of realism. But the hero is romantic, endowed with specific features. He conflicts with society, while he is uncommon, educated and handsome. His loneliness is a proud desire to rise above the crowd, he despises his environment. His mind and his abilities tragically remain unnecessary and not realized. Nature follows in his footsteps, framing feelings and events in his life with its colors.

The work is often characterized as psychological and social, and it is difficult to disagree with this, since the events of reality and a detailed assessment of the internal motives of the heroes are unusually mixed in it. Throughout the novel, the reader can observe the constant correlation of the external world as a whole and the internal world of a person, and it remains unclear which of these worlds is the most complex and contradictory.

In 1830 Stendhal's novel "Red and Black" was published. The work has a documentary basis: Stendhal was struck by the fate of a young man sentenced to death - Berthe, who shot the mother of the children, whose tutor he was. And Stendhal decided to talk about young man, who could not find his place in the society of the XIX century.

The main character of the novel is a young man from the provinces, endowed with a deep mind and imagination, but poor and ignorant. In the family, Julien felt like a stranger, he did not have friends among his peers. “All the household despised him, and he hated his brothers and father. In the festive games on the city square, he was always beaten ... ”And the guys offended him not only for his physical weakness, but also for the fact that he did not look like them, he was smarter. And so Julien plunged into loneliness, the world of imagination, where he "reigned".

Julien dreamed of breaking out into people. He saw that well-to-do gentlemen have more than he - they have position, money, respect. The desire to achieve, like Napoleon, a high position, seized the young man. He, of course, truncated that the ability to achieve success in society depends not so much on his enormous abilities, but on the powerful, that is, the rich. This humiliated his pride, hence his protest, but he tried to maintain personal dignity even in front of the people on whom he depended. Julien did not yet understand that the new society does not need smart individuals, but thoughtless performers.

By chance for himself, Julien became the tutor of the children of M. de Renal. The young man feels only “hatred and disgust” towards the highest nobility and behaves independently. Apparently, thanks to this "less than a month after his appearance in the family of M. de Renal, even the owner himself began to respect Julien." Only Madame de Renal treated the governor as an equal person. At first, the feeling that arose between him and Madame de Renal, Julien regarded as a victory over life, but then this relationship grew into true love. For the main character, Madame de Renal became the only person who understood him and with whom it was easy and simple for him.

Wanting to make a career, Julien enters a theological seminary. He stands out among the stupid seminarians for his erudition, knowledge, and ability to think. For this he was hated by both the abbots and the disciples and gave him the nickname "Martin Luther". But Julien steadfastly endures everything in order only to get the highest position in society.

Under the patronage of Abbot Pirard, Julien went to Paris and became secretary and librarian of the Marquis de La Mole. And here, in high society, Julien was able to inspire respect for himself. “This one will not crawl,” Matilda de La-mol thought of him.

Thanks to Matilda's love, Julien's dream could come true. The Marquis de La-mol assigned him an rent, received the rank of lieutenant of the hussar and the name of Chevalier de La Verne.

And suddenly everything dies. The Marquis de La Mole, having received a letter from Madame de Renal, written under the onslaught of a Jesuit confessor, where she exposes Julien as a hypocrite and seducer, greedy for the wealth of his victim, refuses Matilda's consent to marry him. Julien rushes to the Verrière, buys pistols, enters the church where Madame de Renal is praying, and shoots her.

His dreams and hopes were cut short by these shots. Prisoner Julien is not afraid of death and does not feel the need for repentance. A sober analysis of what he has done suggests a logical conclusion to him: "I have been severely insulted, I have killed, I deserve to die." Here there is outrage against the whole world, which rebelled against Julien because he, Sorel, dared to rise above his class.

Julien is executed. Who is to blame for this? The answer can be found in Julien's speech at the trial - an unjust society is to blame.

The novel "Red and Black" is a true story about the society of the era of the Restoration in France. This is a socio-psychological novel, which is based on the conflict between the individual and society. The path of the protagonist Julien Sorel leads to the idea that in the era of Napoleon he could become a hero, and in the era of the Restoration he was forced to either adapt or perish.

Julien Sorel is a representative of the generation of the early 20s of the 19th century. He has features romantic hero: independence, self-esteem, desire to change fate, desire to fight and achieve goals. He is a bright personality, everything in him is above the norm: the strength of the mind, will, daydreaming, purposefulness.

Our hero is the son of a carpenter. He lives in the small provincial town of Verrieres with his brothers and his father and dreams of getting out of here in Big world... In Verrier, no one understands him. "All the household despised him, and he hated his brothers and father ..." From early childhood, the young man raved about military service, his idol was Napoleon. After much deliberation, he decides: the only way to achieve anything in life and break out of the Verrier is to become a priest. “For Julien to punch the way first of all meant to break out of the Verrière; he hated his homeland. Everything he saw here chilled his imagination. "

And here is the first victory, the first "publication". Julien is invited to his house as a teacher of children by the mayor of Verrier, Mr. de Renal. A month later, the children adored the young teacher, the father of the family was imbued with respect for him, and Madame de Renal felt for him something more than simple respect. However, Julien felt like a stranger here: "he felt only hatred and disgust for this high society, where he was allowed only to the edge of the table ..."

Life in the house of M. de Renal was filled with hypocrisy, desire for profit, power struggles, intrigue and gossip. “Julien's conscience began to whisper to him:“ Here it is - this dirty wealth, which you can achieve and enjoy, but only in this company. About Napoleon! How wonderful your time was! .. ”Julien felt lonely in this world. Thanks to the patronage of the priest, Chelan, Sorel entered the Besançon Theological Seminary. “If Julien is only a reed that hesitates, let him perish, and if he is a courageous man, let him make his way,” Abbot Pirard said about him. And Julien began to make his way.

He studied diligently, but kept aloof from the seminarians. Very soon I saw that "knowledge is not worth a penny here," because "success in science seems suspicious." Julien realized what was encouraged: hypocrisy, "ascetic piety." No matter how hard the young man tried to pretend to be a fool and insignificance, he could not please either the seminarians or the administration of the seminary - he was too different from others.

And finally - the first promotion: he was appointed tutor in the New and Old Testaments. Julien felt the support of Abbot Pirard and was grateful for it. And suddenly - an unexpected meeting with the bishop, which decided his fate. Julien moves to Paris, to the house of the Marquis de La Mola, and becomes his private secretary. Another victory. Life begins in the Marquis's mansion. What does he see? “In this mansion, no flattering comments about Beranger, about opposition newspapers, about Voltaire, about Rousseau, about anything that smacked of freedom of thought and politics were allowed. The slightest living thought seemed rude. " Material from the site

A new light opened up before him. But this new light was the same as the light in Verrier and Besançon. Everything was based on hypocrisy and profit. Julien accepts all the rules of the game and tries to make a career. A brilliant victory awaited him. But an affair with the daughter of the Marquis Matilda upset all of Julien's plans. Matilda, this jaded secular beauty, was attracted to Julien by his intelligence, eccentricity and boundless ambition. But this love was not at all like the bright and light feeling that connected Julien with Madame de Renal. The love of Matilda and Julien was more like a duel between two ambitious people. But she could well have ended in marriage, if not for the letter of Madame de Renal, written under the influence of the Jesuit brothers. “How many great plans - and in an instant ... it all crumbles to dust,” Sorel thinks.

Madame de Renal's letter ruined all of Julien's plans and put an end to his career. In an effort to take revenge, he commits a reckless act - in the church of faith, he shoots Madame de Renal.

So, everything that Julien was striving for for so long and purposefully, was proving that he was a Personality, was destroyed. After that there will be a prison, a trial, a verdict. Thinking for a long time before the court, Julien realizes that he has nothing to repent of: exactly the society where he was so eager to get, wanted to break him, in his person it decided to punish those young people of the low class who dared to penetrate "good society." Julien finds the courage to meet death with dignity. This is how an intelligent and extraordinary person dies, who decides to make a career without disdaining by any means.

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Public lesson extracurricular reading in 8 "A" class based on the novel "Red and Black" by F. Stendahl

Lesson type: problem lesson with elements of "Critical Thinking" technology

The didactic task of the lesson: students' awareness of the meaning of the life tragedy of Julien Sorel, the protagonist of the novel "Red and Black".

Lesson objectives

Educational: knowledge of the novel, identification of the main character traits and analysis of the life path of Julien Sorel.

Educational : the formation of an active life position and a critical attitude towards the choice of a life ideal and life path.

Developing : identifying the main problem of the novel, determining the attitude of the author to his hero, creating an oral description of Julien Sorel, an essay on the problem of the lesson.

During the classes

Stage 1 of the lesson (5-7 minutes)

Organizing time:

Teacher's greeting

Checking the preparation of students for the lesson (texts of the novel, workbooks)

Knowledge update (repetition of the main questions of the previous lesson)

Teacher: in the last lesson, you and I began to get acquainted with the novel by F. Stendahl "Red and Black". Let's remember what we talked about.

Questions from the teacher to the class:

What time is the novel set? (1820s)

The years 1814-1830 are called the era of the Restoration in France. What it is? (The novel "Red and Black" came out afterJuly Revolution of 1830... It was caused by politicskingKarla Xwho tried to return the time and orders before1789 year... The restoration is the restoration of the monarchical power of the Bourbons after the defeat of Napoleon)

Stendhal gave a subtitle to the novel: "Chronicle of the 19th century." What is a Chronicle? (Chronicle - records of historical events; documentary basis of the novel)

The novel "Red and Black" is one of the first realistic novels, which tells about the life of all social strata of modern Stendhal society. Name the representatives of these layers. (The common people, the peasants - the Soreley family, the nobles - Monsieur de Renal, the bourgeois - Monsieur Valno, Fouquet, the clergy - Abbot Pyrrard, Abbot Chelan and other clergy, aristocrats - the Marquis de La Mol)

What is the main epigraph of the novel? Whose words are these? ("True, the bitter truth" - words of the French revolutionary J. Danton).

Yes, this is a true story about time and about the people living in this time.

2nd stage of the lesson (3-7 minutes)

Teacher: remind your homework to this lesson (Write down quotes that characterize Julien Sorel from the positive and negative sides - each group has its own part of the novel, and write down one problem that concerns the main character - an individual task).

So, in order to start the main part of the lesson, we need to identify main problem of this work. Discuss in groups and suggest one.

We write the proposed problems on the board.

Problems suggested by the teacher:

The problem of good and evil

The problem of choosing a life ideal and life path

The problem of true and false values

Formulation of the problem – the problem of the ideal of life and the life path of Julien Sorel.

Stage 3 of the lesson (15-20 minutes)

- What is his ideal in life? (Napoleon)

What periods is Sorel's life divided into? (1st - life in the town of Verrier, 2nd - seminary in Besançon and 3rd - Paris).

Teacher: before talking about life path the main character, you need to understand what he is and what drives him in this life. We start working in groups. Based on the quotes you have written, it is necessary to reveal the image of Julien and his attitude towards Napoleon during this period of his life.

Working in groups(3-5 minutes), then a presentation of Julien's oral description, based on quotations, for each of the groups.

Participants of the 4th group add to the characteristic of Julien and his quotes about Napoleon

Positive and positive are written on the board. negative traits Julien Sorel's character

Negative: duplicity, hypocrisy, vanity, ambition, pride, ambition, etc.

Positive: love, talent, nobility, shyness, pride, will, intelligence, originality, etc.

Characteristic of Julien Sorel

Assignment: Make a plan for this characteristic (Group work)

Julien Sorel, the son of a carpenter, begins to climb the steps of the social ladder: first he becomes a tutor in the house of M. de Renal, then a seminarian, then secretary of the powerful Marquis de la Mole and, finally, the fiancé of his daughter, a brilliant officer of the Guards, M. de la Vernet - that'sfast-paced career stepsJulien, ending in a tragic end, with his execution.

Julien's life is filled with vivid external events and moral, psychological adventures. He is close in personalityromantic hero: he is endowed with tremendous energy, phenomenal abilities, proud character, iron will, fervent imagination. In any society, Julien is superior to everyone around him. His idol - Napoleon , son of the revolution, the embodiment of his ambitious dreams. Julien Sorel is passionate about the pursuit of his own glory. The basis of his worldview is most clearly traced in the episode when Sorel observes the flight of a hawk. More than anything, he would like to be like this proud bird soaring freely in the sky. He would also like to rise above the world around him. And these desires crowd out all other thoughts and aspirations of the hero. “That was the fate of Napoleon,” he thinks. “Maybe the same thing awaits me ...” Inspired by the example of Napoleon and firmly confident in his own omnipotence, in the omnipotence of his will, energy, talent, Julien makes daring plans to achieve his goal. However, the hero lives in an era when it is impossible to make a worthy career and achieve fame in an honest way. Hence the main tragedy,contradiction of this image... Julien's independent and noble spirit collides with his ambitious aspirations, pushing the hero on the path of hypocrisy, revenge and crime. The author shows how difficult and contradictory his hero's path to fame becomes. We see how on this path Julien gradually loses his best human qualities, how vices more and more fill his bright soul. And he, in the end, still achieves his goal - he becomes the Viscount de Verneuil and the son-in-law of the powerful marquis. But Julien does not feel happy, he is not satisfied with his life. After all, in spite of everything, it still preserved alive soul... Spoiled enough by light and his own ambition, Sorel is not yet fully aware of the reasons for his dissatisfaction. And only a fatal shot at Louise de Renal revealed the truth for him. Shock , which the hero experienced after the committed crime, turned his whole life,forced to rethink all previous values ​​and views... The tragedy that has taken place morally purifies and enlightens the hero, freeing his soul from the vices instilled by society. Now the illusory nature of his ambitious aspirations for a career, the inconsistency and erroneousness of his ideas about happiness as an invariable consequence of fame, was fully revealed to him. His attitude towards Matilda is also changing, the marriage with which was supposed to confirm his position in high society. She becomes for him now a clear embodiment of his ambitious aspirations, for the sake of which he was ready to make a deal with his conscience. Realizing his mistakes, feeling the insignificance of his previous aspirations and ideals, Julien refuses the help of the powers that be, who are able to rescue him from prison. So the natural principle, the pure soul of the hero gain the upper hand;he dies, but comes out victorious in the struggle against society.

Option

1. Steps of an impetuous career.

2. Personality close to the romantic hero.

3.His idol is Napoleon.

4. The inconsistency of the image.

5. Shot - and rethinking views.

6. Death of Julien, but victory over society.

1. Stage 4 of the lesson (7-10 minutes)

Teacher: So, we got acquainted with the novel by F. Stendahl "Red and Black", its protagonist Julien Sorel. Now go back to the problem of the lesson. What conclusions can be drawn? (Possible student responses):

Do not make yourself an idol,

Life purpose should be for the good,

Not all means are good for achieving the goal,

Think about loved ones

Do not harm others

Don't break yourself and live according to your nature

Teacher: Why did we take this work of Stendhal?

Because from Napoleon the heroes of the works of Russian literature will make themselves an idol: this is Rodion Raskolnikov in the novel by F. Dostoevsky and Andrei Bolkonsky in the epic novel by L. Tolstoy. They, too, will go through their difficult path of knowing life. I think that the novel "Red and Black" prompted you to think about life and about life goals. Let's summarize today's lesson.

Write cinquain after Julien.

Possible variant

Julien

Ambitious, vain

Hates, hypocrites, sees

The purpose of life is career and fame

Death

I invite you to complete the sentence. (If there is time left)

Reflection: (pick one or the other)

1. today I found out ...
2. it was interesting…
3. it was difficult…
4. I was doing tasks ...
5. I realized that ...
6. Now I can…
7. I felt that ...
8. I bought ...
9. I learned…
10. I managed …
11. I was able to ...
12. I'll try…
13. I was surprised ...
14. gave me a lesson for life ...
15. I wanted…

Homework: (optional)

1.Write an essay "The Goals of My Life Path"

2. Composition-reflection on the novel by Stendhal "Red and Black" (finish)

Stendhal gave a brilliant confirmation of the correctness of his aesthetic program in the novel Red and Black, on which he worked in 1829-1830. The novel appeared in November 1830 and bore the subtitle "Chronicle of the 19th Century". This subtitle already testifies to the fact that Stendhal attached the broadest, epochal meaning to the fate of his hero.

Meanwhile, this fate - due to its singularity, extraordinary - at a superficial glance may seem private, isolated. This understanding seems to be facilitated by the fact that Stendhal borrowed the plot of the novel from the court chronicle. In 1827, in his hometown Grenoble public opinion was agitated by the trial of a certain Antoine Berthe, a young man who was a home teacher in the family of a nobleman. He fell in love with the mother of his pupils and, in a fit of jealousy, tried to shoot her. In early 1828, Berthe was executed. This story, in many ways, formed the basis of Standal's novel.

So, as if an exceptional case, a newspaper sensation, almost material for a detective or tabloid novel. However, Stendhal's very appeal to that source was far from accidental. It turns out that he had long been interested in the "judicial newspaper" because it seemed to him one of the most important documents of his era. In private tragedies like Berthe's tragedy, Stendhal saw a tendency essential for society.

Stendhal was one of the first to grope one of the most painful nerves of his century, his social system, based on the suppression of the individual and therefore naturally giving rise to crime. The point is not that a person has crossed the line, but what line he has broken, what law he has broken. From this point of view, the novel "Red and Black" in the sharpest form demonstrates the opposition between the natural right of the individual and the framework that the law provides for the realization of these rights.

Stendhal sharpens this problem to the limit by taking as a hero an outstanding personality of plebeian origin. His Julien Sorel is the son of a carpenter, but at the same time a man obsessed with ambitious aspirations. His ambition, if not alien to vanity, is completely alien to greed. First of all, he wants to take his rightful place in the social system. He is well aware that not only is not worse than others, successful, but also smarter, more serious than them. Julien Sorel is ready to use his energy, his forces for the good of society, and not only for his personal good. But at the same time, he knows very well that his plebeian origin hangs on his dreams with a heavy burden.

It is very important to understand this socio-psychological basis of Julien's behavior. If he tries for a very long time to adapt to the official morality, then this is not just an elementary calculation of hypocrisy; yes, he quickly understood how he needed to behave, but in all his feats of hypocrisy there is always bitterness because fate left him no other path, a plebeian, and the belief that this is only a necessary temporary tactic, and also proud pride: here he is, a plebeian, so easily and quickly, no worse than others, he mastered the laws of light, the rules of the game. Successes in hypocrisy hurt his soul, his sensitive, basically sincere nature, but also amuse his plebeian pride! The main thing for him is not to break through to the top, but to prove that he can break through if he wants to. This is a very important nuance. Julien does not become a wolf among wolves: it is no coincidence that Stendhal never places his hero in such a situation that he "gnaws at others" - as, for example, Balzac's Lucien about "Lost Illusions" is ready to do it. Julien Sorel, in contrast to him, does not play the role of a traitor anywhere, nowhere goes over corpses, over the fates of other people. the critical moment always triumphs over reason, the heart over the cold logic of opportunism.

It is no coincidence that Stendhal pays so much attention to Julien's love affairs; they are like a litmus of his true human value. After all, at first he calculatedly falls in love with both Madame de Renal and Matilda - seemingly by the very logic to which Balzac's heroes always remain faithful. The love of a secular woman for them is the surest path to success. For Julien, of course, the main thing here is the self-affirmation of the plebeian, but outwardly he is also inclined to regard love affairs as steps to achieving his goals.

I would call the image of Julien Sorel a triumph of Standal's psychologism and democracy at the same time. Julien's entire psychology, as we have seen, is marked by a consciousness of plebeian pride, a constantly infringed sense of his own human dignity. This restless soul, this proud man perishes because he strives for happiness, and society offers him to achieve his goal only such means that are deeply repugnant to him; disgusting because he "is not a wolf by his blood." And Stendhal clearly associates this inner honesty with his plebeianism. The idea that in the bourgeois age true passion and true greatness of the soul are possible only among commoners is Stendhal's favorite, cherished thought. It is here that Standal's theme of passion takes on a distinctly democratic character.

It is no coincidence, of course, that on the pages of the novel, in connection with the image of Julien, various people often associate with the leaders of the French Revolution - Danton and Robespierre. The image of Julien Sorel is all fanned by this atmospheric breath of revolution, rebellion - namely, plebeian rebellion.

Outwardly, this conclusion as applied to Julien may seem a stretch, because outwardly his path throughout the novel is like the path of a hypocritical ambitious and careerist (malevolent critics even called Stendhal's book "a textbook of hypocrisy"). Climbing from step to step on the social ladder of the era of the Restoration, from the humble position of a home teacher in a provincial provincial town to the position of secretary of the all-powerful Marquis de la Molle in Paris. Julien is a hypocrite everywhere. True, we have already found out that such behavior is imposed on him by society itself. Already in Verrieres - at the first stage of his biography - Julien understands what is required of him. The slightest suspicion of liberalism, of freethinking can instantly deprive a person of his social position: please, Sorel declares La Fontaine's fables immoral; worshiping Napoleon in his soul, he scolds him in public, because in the era of the Restoration this is the surest path. No less successfully he is a hypocrite in Paris, in the scrap of the Marquis de la Mol. In the image of the clever demagogue de la Mole, critics see features of similarity with Talleyrand - one of the most cunning politicians in France of that time, a man who managed to remain in government posts under all the numerous French political regimes of the late XVIII and early XIX v. Talleyrand elevated hypocrisy to the level of public policy and left France with brilliant, French-honed formulas for this hypocrisy.

So, in Julien's story, two layers, two dimensions must be distinguished. On the surface in front of us is the story of a man adapting, hypocritical, careerist, not always making his way upward by impeccable ways - one might say, the classic role of the French realistic Literature XIX in., and Balzac's novels in particular. At this level, in this dimension, Julien Sorel is a variant of Eugène Rastignac, Lucien Chardon, later Maupassant's "dear friend". But in the depths of the plot in Julien's story, different laws operate - there is a parallel line, there unfold the adventures of the soul, which is structured “in Italian”, that is, it is not driven by calculation, not hypocrisy, but by passion and those very “first motives”, which, according to Talleyrand, should be feared, because they are always noble. ”Against this primordial nobility, I repeat, everything that seems to be impeccably built and calculated strategic dispositions of Julien is shattered.

At first, these two lines are not even perceived by us, we do not even suspect about their presence and about their secret work, secret interaction. We perceive the image of Julien Sorel in strict accordance with the model: he crushes in himself all the best impulses for the sake of a career. But in the development of the plot there comes a moment when we stop in confusion. The logic of the "model" gives a sharp breakdown. This is the scene when Julien shoots Madame de Renal for her “denunciation.” Up to this point, according to the plot, Sorel has risen to another very important step: he is already in Paris, he is the secretary of the influential Marquis de la Mola and he falls in love with his daughter ( or rather, makes her fall in love with herself.) Madame de Renal, his former love, remained somewhere there, in the Verrière, she is already forgotten, she has already passed the stage. la Mole, writes a "denunciation" to Matilda's father to warn her father against this "dangerous" person, whom she herself has become a victim of. church and shoots Madame de Renal, who is, of course, immediately arrested as a murderer.

All this external "detective" outline is described clearly, dynamically, without any emotion - Stendhal communicates only "bare facts" without explaining anything. He, so meticulous in motivating the actions of his hero, it was here, in the motivation for his crime, that he left a gaping gap. And this is exactly what amazes readers - and not only readers, but also critics. The scene of Julien's assassination on Madame de Renal gave rise to a lot of interpretations - because it did not fit into the "model", into logic.

What's going on here? From the most superficial, factual point of view, Julien Sorel takes revenge on the woman who ruined his career with her denunciation, that is, about the seemingly act of a careerist. But the question immediately arises: what kind of careerist is this if it is clear to everyone that he is completely ruining himself here - not only his career, but life in general! This means that even if we have a careerist in front of us, then he is very imprudent, impulsive. And to put it even more precisely, at this moment Julien actually already makes a choice, preferring death, sure suicide to a career, its further humiliations. This means that the element of those very inner motives that Julien had previously suppressed in himself finally burst into the external picture of the role, into the role of a careerist. The inner dimension, the latent, parallel line, came to the surface here. And now, after this dimension has entered the plot, Stendhal can give an explanation, reveal the riddle of Julien's shot.

Sitting in prison, Sorel reflects: "I was insulted in the most cruel way." And when he finds out that Madame de Renal is alive, he is seized with a storm of joy, relief. Now all his thoughts are with Madame de Renal. So what happened? It turns out that in this obvious crisis of consciousness (in "semi-madness") Julien instinctively acted as if he was already aware of his first love for Madame de Renal as the only true value of his life - only value. "displaced" from consciousness, from the heart under the influence of the requirements of an external, "masked" life. Julien seemed to have thrown off all this external life here, forgot about it, forgot everything that happened after his love for Madame de Renal, as if he had purified himself - and without the slightest embarrassment he considers himself insulted, he, who has changed Madame de Renal, in his "disguised" life, acts in these scenes as if he considers Madame de Renal a traitor; it was she who turned out to be a "traitor", and he punishes her for it!

Julien then finds his true self, returns to the purity and spontaneity of emotional impulses, his first true feeling. The second dimension won in him, his first and only love is still Madame de Renal, and he now rejects all attempts by Matilda to free him. Matilda put into play all her connections - and she is, in general, almost omnipotent - and achieved success: Julien is required only one thing - to make a speech of repentance at the trial. It would seem that he should do this - lie just one more time and thus save his life - after all, everyone has already been bribed! But now he does not want to save his life at such a price, does not want to take on a new lie - after all, this would mean not only returning to the world of universal corruption and hypocrisy, but also taking upon himself, of course, a moral obligation to Matilda, whom he already does not love. And so he pushes away the help of Matilda - and at the trial, instead of a speech of repentance, he utters an accusatory speech against modern society. This is how the primordial moral principle, which was originally laid in Julien's nature, triumphs, and so his non-conformism is fully revealed.

The novel ends physical death and the hero's spiritual enlightenment. This harmonious balance in the finale, this simultaneous recognition of the bitter truth of life and hovering over it gives Stendhal's tragic novel a surprisingly optimistic, major sound.