Nineteenth century Parisian society was a mass of contradictions and a time of enormous political, social, economic and artistic change. In an effort to understand French Bourgeois society of the nineteenth century it is helpful to study the characters of Honore de Balzac. Balzac’s characters and the situations they encountered are highly representative of the times during which he created them. As Balzac once said of his prodigious output that included 90 novels, numerous short stories, and five plays, “I have carried an entire society in my head”.
In The Deserted Woman This analysis will explore how the characters, settings, and situations in The Deserted Woman demonstrate the social concerns of Paris during the nineteenth century, including how it reflects and influenced the culture of the time. The French Revolution of the late 18th century promises a revolution that was inspired by and based on the hope of liberty, fraternity, and equality. However, the overthrow of the aristocracy merely replaced the corrupt old guard with a elite group of leaders who were as corrupt as those they had replaced. As Villon states, “The overthrow soon revealed itself as exclusively the victory of a small part of this ‘estate’, as the conquest of the political power by the socially privileged sections of it, i.e., the propertied bourgeoisie rather than by the masses as a whole”. Balzac was mortified that where once sat aristocracy as the means of creating class distinction now sat bourgeois money and greed. We shall now explore some of these themes as they are reflected by The Deserted Woman.
Balzac’s The Deserted Woman is the story of a husband and wife who lead separate lives. The wife is very active in high society, throwing elaborate parties which are attended by the most important people in France. When her husband deserts her to marry another woman, Mme. De Sainte-Severe becomes a recluse in the countrysid...