Novel French writer Stendhal's "Red and Black" tells the story of a poor young man named Julien Sorel. Characters novel: the mayor, Monsieur de Renal, the rich man of Valno, the Abbé Chelan, the maid Eliza, Madame de Renal, the Marquis de La Mole, his daughter Matilda. The main events of the novel unfold in the town of Verrieres.
Monsieur de Renal, the mayor of the town wants to take a tutor into the house. There is no special need for this, but due to the fact that the local rich man Valno has acquired new horses, the mayor decides to "outdo" Valno. The curé, Monsieur Chelan, recommends to Monsieur de Renal the carpenter's son, "a young man of rare ability," Julien Sorel. This is a fragile eighteen-year-old boy, young girls look at him with interest.
Madame de Renal does not like her husband's idea. She loves her children very much, and the thought that someone else will stand between her and the children drives her to despair. Her imagination draws her a rude, disheveled guy who will yell at the children. Therefore, she is very surprised when she sees this “pale and frightened boy” in front of her. In less than a month, everyone in the house begins to treat Julien with respect. At the same time, the young man himself behaves with great dignity, and his knowledge of Latin is admirable - he can read any page from the Bible by heart. Soon the maid Eliza falls in love with Julien. She really wants to marry him, which she tells the abbot Chelan in confession. Julien learns about this from the abbot, but refuses, since most of all he dreams of fame and the conquest of Paris.
Summer is coming. The mayor's family comes to the village where their castle and estate are located. Here Madame de Renal spends whole days with her children and her tutor. Gradually, she comes to the conclusion that she is in love with Julien. And he wants to win her only in revenge on the “smug Monsieur de Renal”, who speaks condescendingly and even rudely to Julien.
One day, the young man tells the mistress do Renal that he will come to her at night. At night, leaving his room, he dies of fear. But when he sees Madame de Renal, she seems to him so beautiful that he forgets all his conceited thoughts. A few days later, he falls in love with her without a memory. Lovers are very happy, but then it gets sick younger son Madame de Renal. It seems to the unfortunate woman that the cause of her son's illness is her love for Julien. She pushes the young man away from her. The child is recovering. As for Monsieur de Renal, he does not suspect anything, but the maid Eliza tells Monsieur Valeno that her mistress is having an affair with a tutor. That same evening, Monsieur de Renal receives an anonymous letter informing him of the same. However, Madame de Renal convinces her husband of her innocence.
Julien's mentor, Abbé Chelan, believes that he should leave the town for at least a year. Julien leaves for Besançon and enters the seminary. He does not study badly, but the seminarians unanimously hate him. main reason such an attitude towards Julien is his mind and talent. Through the rector of the seminary, Julien meets the Marquis de La Mole, who has long been looking for a secretary. Thus, there is an opportunity to fulfill Julien's long-standing dream - to visit Paris. Before this trip, the young man meets his beloved again. However, Madame de Renal's husband suspects something and Julien flees.
In the house of the Marquis, the young man meets a young and pretty girl, Matilda de La Mole. However, he does not like her. Former tutor quickly learns new job, begins to conduct all the most difficult affairs of the Marquis. In addition, he becomes a real "dandy" and even receives an order from the Marquis. This assuages the young man's pride, but one problem remains: he still doesn't get along with Mathilde de La Mole. She seems too romantic to him, but soon the estrangement between them passes. Young people are starting to turn more. One day, the girl realizes that she has fallen in love with Julien. She writes him a letter declaring her love. Having received the letter, Julien triumphs: a noble lady fell in love with him, the son of a carpenter. The girl is waiting for him at night in her room. Julien comes to her, they become lovers. But the next morning, Matilda regrets what she has done, the young people quarrel. Julien realizes that he is also in love with the girl, so the quarrel between them upsets him very much. He is advised to arouse Matilda's jealousy, Julien begins to court another lady, the plan works. One night, Julien breaks into Mathilde's room through the window. Seeing him, Matilda falls into his arms.
Soon the girl tells her father that she is pregnant by Julien Sorel. The Marquis is furious, but agrees to give his daughter to Julien. To do this, it is necessary to create a position in society for the young man, for which the Marquis is accepted. He seeks to appoint Julien as a lieutenant. Julien goes to his regiment.
After some time, he receives news from Paris: Matilda asks him to return immediately. As it turns out later, a letter came to the Marquis's house from Madame de Renal. It tells about Julien as a hypocrite and a careerist, capable of any meanness. The Marquis de La Mole does not at all think that he needs such a son-in-law. Julien leaves Mathilde and goes to Verrieres. There he buys a pistol and shoots Madame de Renal in the church of Verrières. He is put in prison and already there he learns that his beloved did not die, but was only wounded. He is happy, and calmly reacts to the news that he has been sentenced to death. One day, Madame de Renal herself comes to the prison and reports that the ill-fated letter was written by her confessor. Now the young man understands that this woman is the love of his life.
Three days after Julien's execution, Madame de Renal dies.
Thus ends Stendhal's Red and Black.
CHRONICLE OF TIMELESS
Writer's biography Henri Beyl (1783–1842), who published under the pseudonym Stendhal, was difficult to develop. Realizing his vocation early, having made more than one attempt at writing as a young man, he, however, completed his first artistic work by almost forty-five years, and before that he lived the hectic life of a military man, traveler, publicist, connoisseur of painting and music, literary and theater critic. In the France of that time - sometimes impetuously and menacingly, sometimes with painful slowdowns - the age-old foundations were being broken, and sharp shifts in the course of the country's history were the turning points of Stendhal's path.
He was six years older French Revolution 1789. Boyish rebellion against the atmosphere of loyal decency that reigned in the house of his father, a lawyer in the Grenoble Court of Justice, was fueled in the juvenile overthrower of the family Bastille by news of mutinies, coups, battles coming from the capital and from the fronts.
Brought up by his maternal grandfather, a freethinker and a fan of the educational teachings of the pre-revolutionary 18th century, Stendhal grew up as an inquisitive, bold young man in his judgments. His heightened pride and ironic mind betrayed an ardent, active, rebellious nature. The school, transformed according to republican decrees, finally wrested him from the influence of his father's family: here, instead of catechism, he eagerly absorbed the ideas of materialistic philosophy, instead of traditional rhetoric, he became addicted to mechanics and mathematics. Hatred for everything that fetters a person, contempt for religious mysticism, a taste for accurate analytical knowledge, instilled in Stendhal back in early years, he then kept until the end of days.
In 1799, Stendhal went to Paris, hoping to continue his studies at the Ecole Polytechnique. However, this intention was not destined to come true. Captured by the whirlwind of the Napoleonic campaigns, he joined the army, a beardless sub-lieutenant of Bonaparte's troops first came to Italy, falling in love with her for life.
However, the young Stendhal, who dreamed of “the glory of the greatest French poet equal to Molière,” did not want to pull the army strap for a long time. After retiring, he returned to Paris, settled in the attic and took up books. Possessed by a passion for writing, he studies the works of ancient and modern thinkers, studies English and Italian, takes acting lessons, sketches out drafts of philosophical essays, scenes from two comedies that remain unfinished. His idols are Shakespeare, Dante, Moliere, Fielding. He tries to penetrate the secrets of their skill, with their help to master the "science of passions." He thinks to achieve in the "language of feelings" the precision of a mathematician. But in order to cope with this task, so far there was not enough worldly knowledge, nor spiritual experience, nor literary skills. To top it off, the empty wallet was also disturbing. A few months of service in a trading house in Marseilles, where he was led by love affection, inspired Stendhal with an aversion to the career of a merchant. Burdened by lack of money and inaction, tormented by the writing failures that befell him, in 1806 he again enlisted in the army.
As a quartermaster of the Napoleonic troops, Stendhal traveled the rear and front roads of Europe, learning in these wanderings what the most intelligent books could not give. The position of a military official had its advantages for the "observer of human characters," as Stendhal called himself. Before him, the wheels and levers of the huge state and military machine of the Empire were exposed. On the battlefields, he saw how people are tested at the moment of mortal danger, revealing the true greatness or baseness of the soul. For him, the underside of the reports about the next victories was not a secret. The Russian campaign of 1812 completed this upbringing with life. A witness to the Battle of Borodino, a shocked eyewitness to the fire of Moscow and the retreat of the famous army, which gradually turned into a horde of marauders, he returned home shattered by fatigue, feeling contempt for the Napoleonic military. Not wanting to stay in Paris, where in 1814 the Bourbons expelled by the revolution returned with their nobility and clerical tail in a convoy of foreign troops, Stendhal left France.
He settled in Milan, where he led the life of a free art lover. His days are spent in art galleries, ancient cathedrals, for old manuscripts and books, in the evenings he invariably opera house La Scala. Occasionally he makes trips to Grenoble, Paris, London or travels around Italy. Stendhal is friendly with the leaders of the patriotic movement of the Carbonari, directed against Austrian rule, meets with Byron. He contributes to the magazines of the Italian Romantics. His first books about composers and painters, travel essays are published.
The treatise "On Love" (1822) was also prepared here. In this book, the conversation about the most fragile and intimate of human feelings is based on numerous self-observations and embodies Stendhal's old plans for a logically clear analysis of spiritual secrets. Theoretical reflections precede the pages of future Stendhal prose, dedicated to the birth and "crystallization" of the mutual attraction of two lovers. Even then, Stendhal notices that psychology is helpless without history: the unbridled passion of the Italians of the Renaissance is not like the refined courtesy of the nobles. Louis XIV, a German burgher loves differently than a medieval knight. And between different manners of love, adopted in one era in different circles of society, there is often an abyss. This discovery will be very useful to Stendhal when he has to trace the passion of an aristocrat and a provincial, a secular dandy and a native of the bottom from the inside.
The irreverent remarks about worldly and spiritual authorities, scattered in Stendhal's books and articles, his free-thinking and friendship with the conspiring Carbonari did not please the Austrian secret police and informers of the Holy Pope. He is being watched with suspicion. Not feeling safe in Milan, he returned to his homeland in 1821.
Paris met him unfriendly. The relatively tolerable financial position of a retired military man on a half salary has shaken so far. He is taken into account by the police. The country is trying to restore the pre-revolutionary order. Courts are rampant, censorship shuts freethinkers in their mouths, Jesuits and saints create public opinion. In journalism, servile servility to the court reigns, in philosophy - the vague idle talk of the admirers of the Middle Ages, in literature - blind imitation of dilapidated models. Only in a few houses can one hear a word spoken without humiliating fear. Willy-nilly, one has to play hide-and-seek if silence is unbearable, and besides, there is a need to earn extra money with a pen, without defiling oneself not only with a lie, but at least with a humiliating half-truth. From month to month, Stendhal sends correspondence to English magazines, where they are printed without a signature; the disguise was so thorough that only a hundred years later they were found and again translated into French. Taken together, they provide an all-encompassing insightful portrait of an era marked by convulsive attempts to reverse history and at the same time revealing the irreversibility of the shifts that have taken place in post-revolutionary France.
In the journalistic study of morals, Stendhal has his own special angle of view. For the writer, who, according to Gorky, was "deeply and philosophically human", the starting point of everything is the lot of the individual. Stendhal is a moralist with the mindset of a historian. It is not enough for him to outline the structure of society, it is important for him to understand how it was refracted in the minds and hearts. He is primarily concerned with the extent to which the way of life provides people with the freedom to pursue happiness and how exactly this primordial and eternal pursuit of happiness takes place today. Does it degenerate into a war of all against all, or, on the contrary, does the benefit of each coincide with the benefit of all? After all, personal benefit, according to Stendhal, who adopted from the materialist thinkers of the 18th century their doctrine of generous rational egoism, is the basis of human behavior. Rightly understood, it leads not only to individual well-being, but to the well-being of all within a properly organized community. “A noble soul,” Stendhal believed, “acts in the name of its own happiness, but its greatest happiness lies in bringing happiness to others.” That is why, in his eyes, the ability to passionately, energetically and honestly seek one's happiness is not just personal valor, but also civic virtue.
TO THE READER
This work was about to appear in print when the great
July events and gave all minds a direction that is not very favorable for the game
fantasy. We have reason to believe that the following pages were
written in 1827.
* PART ONE *
True, bitter truth.
Danton
I
TOWN
Put thousands together-less bad.
But the cage less gay
Hobbes.
The town of Verrieres is perhaps one of the most picturesque in all of Franche-Comté.
White houses with pointed roofs of red tiles are scattered along the slope
hill, where clumps of powerful chestnuts rise from every hollow Doo runs into
several hundred steps below the city fortifications; they were once built
Spaniards, but now only ruins remain of them.
Verrières protects from the north high mountain- this is one of the spurs of the Jura
The split peaks of Werra are covered with snow from the very first October
frosts. A stream rushes from the mountain before falling into Du, it runs through
Verrières and on its way sets in motion many sawmills. This simple
industry brings a certain prosperity to the majority of the inhabitants, who
more like peasants than townspeople. However, it was not the sawmills that enriched
this town; production of printed fabrics, the so-called Mulhouse heels,
- this is what was the source of general welfare, which, after the fall
Napoleon made it possible to update the facades of almost all the houses in Verrieres.
As soon as you enter the city, you are deafened by the roar of some kind of heavy
groaning and terrible-looking machine Twenty heavy hammers fall from
a rumble shaking the pavement; they are lifted by a wheel driven by
mountain stream movement. Each of these hammers produces no more than
I'll tell you how many thousand nails
that expose the pieces of iron that are here under the blows of these huge hammers
they turn into nails. This production, so crude in appearance, is one of
those things that most strike the traveler, for the first time
found himself in the mountains separating France from Helvetia
Verrières the traveler will inquire as to whose fine nail
a factory that stuns passers-by walking along High Street, he will be answered
in a drawling voice: "Ah, the factory is Mr. Mayor's"
And if the traveler lingers even for a few minutes on Bolshoi
Rue Verrieres, which stretches from the banks of the Doubs to the very top of the hill, - a hundred faithful
chances against one that he will certainly meet a tall man with
an important and concerned person.
As soon as he appears, all the hats are hastily raised. His hair
with gray hair, he is dressed in all gray. He is a holder of several orders, he has
high forehead, aquiline nose, and in general his face is not devoid of a well-known
correctness of features, and at first glance it may even seem that in him
combined with the dignity of a provincial mayor is a certain agreeableness,
which is sometimes still inherent in people at forty-eight or fifty years old.
Red and black
M. de Renal, mayor of the French town of Verrières in the Franche-Comté district, a smug and conceited man, informs his wife of the decision to take a tutor into the house. There is no special need for a tutor, just the local rich Mr. Valeno, that vulgar screamer, always competing with the mayor, is too proud of a new pair of Norman horses. Well, now Mr. Valno has horses, but there is no tutor. M. de Renal had already made arrangements with Father Sorel that his youngest son would serve with him. The old curé, M. Chelan, recommended to him the son of a carpenter, as a young man of rare ability, who had been studying theology for three years and was brilliant in Latin. His name is Julien Sorel, he is eighteen years old; this is a short, fragile-looking young man, whose face bears the stamp of a striking originality. He has irregular but delicate features, large black eyes that sparkle with fire and thought, and dark brown hair. The young girls look at him with interest. Julien never went to school. He was taught Latin and history by a regimental doctor, a participant in the Napoleonic campaigns. Dying, he bequeathed to him his love for Napoleon, the cross of the Legion of Honor and several dozen books. From childhood, Julien dreams of becoming a military man. In the time of Napoleon, for a commoner, this was the most the right way make a career and go out into the world. But times have changed. Julien realizes that the only path open to him is to become a priest. He is ambitious and proud, but he is ready to endure everything in order to make his way.
Madame de Renal does not like her husband's idea. She adores her three boys and the thought of someone else standing between her and her children drives her to despair. She is already imagining a disgusting, rude, disheveled guy who is allowed to yell at her children and even spank them.
Imagine her surprise when she sees a pale, frightened boy in front of her, who seems to her unusually handsome and very unhappy. However, less than a month passes, when everyone in the house, even M. de Renal, begins to treat him with respect. Julien carries himself with great dignity, and his knowledge of Latin is admirable - he can recite any page of the New Testament by heart.
Madame de Renal's maid, Eliza, falls in love with a young tutor. In confession, she tells Abbé Chelan that she has received an inheritance and now wants to marry Julien. The cure is sincerely happy for his pet, but Julien resolutely refuses the enviable offer. He is ambitious and dreams of glory, he wants to conquer Paris. However, he skillfully hides it.
In the summer, the family moves to Vergy, a village where the estate and the castle de Renal are located. Here Madame de Renal spends whole days with the children and the tutor. Julien seems to her smarter, kinder, nobler than all the men around her. She begins to realize that she loves Julien. But does he love her? After all, she is ten years older than him! Julien likes Madame de Renal. He finds her charming, he has never seen such women. But Julien is not in love at all. He wants to win Madame de Renal in order to assert himself and in order to take revenge on this self-satisfied Monsieur de Renal, who allows himself to speak condescendingly and even rudely to him.
When Julien warns Madame de Renal that he will come to her bedroom at night, she answers him with the most sincere indignation. At night, leaving his room, he dies of fear, his knees give way, but when he sees Madame de Renal, she seems to him so beautiful that all conceited nonsense fly out of his head. Julien's tears, his despair subdue Madame de Renal. A few days pass, and Julien, with all the ardor of youth, falls head over heels in love with her. The lovers are happy, but Madame de Renal's youngest son suddenly falls seriously ill. And it seemed to the unfortunate woman that with her love for Julien she was killing her son. She realizes what a sin she commits before God, she is tormented by remorse. She pushes Julien away from her, who is shocked by the depth of her grief and despair. Fortunately, the child is recovering.
M. de Renal suspects nothing, but the servants know a lot. The maid Eliza, having met Mr. Valno on the street, tells him that her mistress is having an affair with a young tutor. That same evening, M. de Renal receives an anonymous letter from which he learns what is happening in his house. Madame de Renal manages to convince her husband of her innocence, but the whole city is only engaged in the history of her love affairs.
Julien's mentor, Abbé Chelan, believes that he should leave the city for at least a year - to his friend, the timber merchant Fouquet, or to the seminary in Besançon. Julien leaves Verrieres, but returns three days later to say goodbye to Madame de Renal. He sneaks into her room, but their date is overshadowed - it seems to them that they are parting forever.
Julien arrives in Besançon and visits the rector of the seminary, Abbé Pirard. He is very excited, besides, Pirard's face is so ugly that it causes horror in him. For three hours the rector examines Julien and is so impressed by his knowledge of Latin and theology that he accepts him into the seminary on a small scholarship and even assigns him a separate cell. This is a great mercy. But the seminarians unanimously hate Julien: he is too talented and impresses thinking person- this is not forgiven here. Julien must choose a confessor for himself, and he chooses the abbot Pirard, not even suspecting that this act will be decisive for him. The abbot is sincerely attached to his student, but the position of Pirard himself in the seminary is very precarious. His enemies the Jesuits are doing everything to force him to resign. Fortunately, he has a friend and patron at court - an aristocrat from Franche-Comté, the Marquis de La Mole, whose orders the abbot regularly carries out. Having learned about the persecution that Pirard is subjected to, the Marquis de La Mole invites him to move to the capital and promises one of the best parishes in the vicinity of Paris. Saying goodbye to Julien, the abbot foresees that difficult times await him. But Julien is unable to think of himself. Knowing that Pirard needs money, he offers him all his savings. Pirard will not forget this.
The Marquis de La Mole, politician and nobleman, enjoys great influence at court, he receives the Abbé Pirard in his Parisian mansion. In a conversation, he mentions that for several years he has been looking for an intelligent person who could take care of his correspondence. The abbot offers his student for this place - a man of very low birth, but energetic, intelligent, with a high soul. So an unexpected prospect opens up before Julien Sorel - he can get to Paris!
Having received the invitation of the Marquis, Julien first goes to Verrieres, hoping to see Madame de Renal. He heard that lately she had fallen into the most frenzied piety. Despite many obstacles, he manages to get into the room of his beloved. She had never seemed so beautiful to him before. However, the husband suspects something, and Julien is forced to flee.
Arriving in Paris, he first of all examines the places associated with the name of Napoleon, and only then goes to the abbe Pirard. The abbot introduces Julien to the marquis, and in the evening he is already sitting at the common table. Opposite him sits a fair blonde, unusually slender, with very beautiful, but cold eyes. Mademoiselle Mathilde de La Mole clearly does not like Julien.
The new secretary is accustomed quickly: after three months, the Marquis considers Julien quite a suitable person for himself. He works hard, is silent, understanding and gradually begins to conduct all the most difficult cases. He becomes a real dandy and completely masters the art of living in Paris. The Marquis de La Mole presents Julien with an order. This soothes Julien's pride, he is now more relaxed and does not feel offended as often. But with Mademoiselle de La Mole, he is emphatically cold. This nineteen-year-old girl is very smart, she is bored in the company of her aristocratic friends - the Count of Quelus, the Viscount de Luz and the Marquis de Croisenois, who claims her hand. Once a year, Matilda wears mourning. Julien is told that she is doing this in honor of the ancestor of the family, Boniface de La Mole, lover of Queen Marguerite of Navarre, who was beheaded on April 30, 1574 at the Place Greve in Paris. Legend has it that the queen demanded the head of her lover from the executioner and buried it with her own hands in the chapel.
Julien sees that Matilda is sincerely concerned about this romantic story. Gradually, he ceases to shy away from conversations with Mademoiselle de La Mole. Conversations with her are so interesting that he even forgets his role as an indignant plebeian. It would be funny, he thinks, if she fell in love with me.
Matilda had long realized that she loved Julien. This love seems to her very heroic - a girl in her position loves the son of a carpenter! From the moment she realizes that she loves Julien, she ceases to be bored.
Julien himself excites his imagination rather than being carried away by love. But having received a letter from Matilda with a declaration of love, he cannot hide his triumph: a noble lady loves him, a poor peasant, she preferred him to an aristocrat, the Marquis de Croisenois! Matilda is waiting for him at one in the morning. It seems to Julien that this is a trap, that Matilda's friends want to kill him or expose him to ridicule. Armed with pistols and a dagger, he enters Mademoiselle de La Mole's room. Mathilde is submissive and gentle, but the next day she is horrified at the thought that she has become Julien's mistress. Talking to him, she barely restrains her anger and irritation. Julien's pride is offended, and both of them decide that everything is over between them. But Julien feels that he has fallen madly in love with this wayward girl, that he cannot live without her. Matilda constantly occupies his soul and imagination.
Julien's acquaintance, the Russian Prince Korazov, advises him to arouse the jealousy of his beloved and start courting some secular beauty. The "Russian plan", to Julien's surprise, works flawlessly, Matilda is jealous, she is in love again, and only monstrous pride prevents her from taking a step towards her. Once Julien, not thinking about the danger, puts a ladder to Matilda's window. Seeing him, she falls into his arms.
Soon Mademoiselle de La Mole informs Julien that she is pregnant and wants to marry him. Upon learning of everything, the Marquis becomes furious. But Matilda insists, and the father finally gives in. To avoid disgrace, the marquis decides to create a brilliant position in society for Julien. He seeks for him a patent for a hussar lieutenant in the name of Julien Sorel de La Vernet. Julien goes to his regiment. His joy is boundless - he dreams of military career and his future son.
Unexpectedly, he receives news from Paris: Matilda asks him to return immediately. When they meet, she hands him an envelope containing Madame de Renal's letter. It turns out that her father asked her to provide some information about the former tutor. Madame de Renal's letter is monstrous. She writes about Julien as a hypocrite and a careerist, capable of any meanness, just to get out into the people. It is clear that Monsieur de La Mole will never agree to his marriage to Matilda.
Without a word, Julien leaves Matilda, gets into the mail coach and rushes to Verrieres. There he buys a pistol in a gun shop, enters the Verrières church, where Sunday worship is taking place, and shoots Madame de Renal twice.
Already in prison, he learns that Madame de Renal was not killed, but only wounded. He is happy and feels that now he can die in peace. Following Julien, Matilda arrives in Verrieres. She uses all her connections, distributes money and promises in the hope of commuting the sentence.
On the day of judgment the whole province flocks to Besançon. Julien is surprised to find that he inspires all these people with sincere pity. He wants to refuse the last word, but something makes him rise. Julien does not ask the court for any mercy, because he understands that his main crime is that he, a commoner, rebelled against his miserable lot.
His fate is decided - the court passes Julien a death sentence. Madame de Renal comes to Julien in prison. She says that the ill-fated letter was written by her confessor. Julien had never been so happy. He understands that Madame de Renal is the only woman he is capable of loving.
On the day of execution, he feels vigorous and courageous. Mathilde de La Mole buries her lover's head with her own hands. And three days after Julien's death, Madame de Renal dies.
The mayor of a small provincial town, Mr. de Renal, decides to hire a tutor in order to slightly increase his prestige in the local society. He invites Julien Sorel, the son of a carpenter, to this job, the young man has long and diligently studied theology and other sciences, the priest notes his outstanding abilities. Before, Julien dreamed of a career as a military man, but the situation has changed significantly since the reign of Napoleon, and now only the road to the seminary is open for a young man from a simple family.
Julien is very ambitious and ready to achieve success in life by any means, although he understands how difficult it will be with his most modest origin and lack of funds and connections.
Madame de Renal has a negative attitude towards the idea of a spouse, she does not like the fact that between her and her three sons there will be a stranger. The woman is afraid that the new tutor will behave rudely with her children and even allow himself physical violence towards them. But with great surprise she sees Julien, who is very attractive in appearance, who at first behaves timidly and modestly, trying not to attract attention to himself.
Soon everyone in the house really begins to respect the young tutor, who is really fluent in Latin and easily quotes the new testament. Julien really likes the maid Eliza, the girl tells him through the priest that she has received a fairly solid inheritance and wants to become his wife. However, the young Sorel firmly refuses this option, in his ambitious dreams he sees the conquest of the capital, although he does not tell anyone about his plans.
In the summer, the Renal family rests on their estate in the countryside, the mistress of the house constantly spends time in the company of her sons and their tutor. Gradually, the woman falls in love with Julien, realizing that the young man is at least ten years younger than her and is unlikely to be able to experience reciprocal feelings for her. As for the youngest man himself, he wants to win this secular lady for his own self-affirmation, in order to settle accounts with the owner, who always treats him arrogantly and dismissively.
Madame de Renal sharply rejects the first attempts of rapprochement by Julien, but then she begins to seem so beautiful to him that he completely forgets about all his conceited plans, he feels that he is madly in love with this woman. For a short time, both feel infinitely happy, but then one of the boys becomes seriously ill, and it seems to the mother that she is being punished for the sin of adultery she has committed. She forbids Julien to see her, but rumors about their relationship are already circulating throughout the city, and the wife of Madame de Renal becomes aware of this. The woman convinces her husband that she was slandered, but the young man is forced to leave his native place and enroll in a seminary.
During his studies, Julien encounters obvious hostility from his comrades, they envy his knowledge and abilities, besides, Sorel thinks too freely and broadly, which is completely unacceptable for a future clergyman. He manages to get closer only to the abbot Pirard, whom his colleagues are trying in every possible way to survive from the seminary.
The abbot is on excellent terms with the Marquis de La Mole, who has a certain influence at court. It is this man who offers Pirard to move to Paris. After some time, the abbot recommends that the aristocrat hire Julien as a secretary, characterizing him as a talented, energetic and at the same time very decent person, despite his low origin.
For the first time, being in the house of the Marquis, the young man meets his daughter Matilda, a beautiful, but cold and arrogant girl, who at first does not arouse his sympathy at all. Julien quickly gets used to the work entrusted to him, the owner is very pleased with him, Sorel also learns to dress appropriately and behave correctly in society.
However, with Matilda, he continues to be aloof, noting at the same time that the girl is clearly not stupid and she is bored in the circle of her aristocratic acquaintances. Mademoiselle de La Mole sincerely honors the family legend of a certain Comte de La Mole, lover of the famous Marguerite of Navarre, who was executed in 1574.
Gradually, Julien begins to talk more often with Matilda, he is really interested in her, it even seems to the young man that this girl of aristocratic origin is quite capable of falling in love with him. Mademoiselle de La Mole herself understands that she has fallen in love with her father's secretary, and she is very excited by the thought that she, the daughter of the Marquis, is not indifferent to the son of the most ordinary carpenter.
The girl writes a letter to Sorel with a story about her feelings and invites him to her bedroom at night. Julien hesitates, he suspects that Matilda's friends could organize a cunning trap for him, but still decides to go on a date, not forgetting about weapons. The young people bond for the first time, but the next morning Matilda is horrified by what she has decided to do, and she again begins to behave with Julien completely detached.
A young man, on the advice of one of his acquaintances, is trying to arouse a feeling of jealousy in a young aristocrat, and he succeeds. Matilda again finds herself in Julien's arms, and soon informs her father that she is expecting a child and intends to become the wife of her lover. The Marquis is furious about what happened, but the girl insists on her own, and Matilda's father decides to create a worthy position in society for the future son-in-law. Julien becomes a hussar lieutenant, but almost immediately after leaving for the regiment, the bride asks him to return.
It turns out that Monsieur de La Mole turned to Madame de Renal, wanting to know as much as possible about his daughter's fiancé. In her response letter, the young man turns out to be a hypocrite, an unscrupulous careerist, ready to go to any meanness in his own interests. The young man realizes that the Marquis will never allow him to become his daughter's husband.
Arriving at home, Sorel sneaks into the church, where the traditional Sunday mass takes place, and fires a pistol at Madame de Renal. Once under arrest, he learns that he did not kill the woman, but only wounded her. Julien feels almost happy, believing that he can now freely leave this life.
Matilda, having learned that her lover is likely to be executed, tries in every possible way to mitigate his fate, using all her connections and sparing no means. However, all her efforts are in vain, after the death sentence, Madame de Renal visits her former lover in prison and reports that her confessor wrote a letter for the Marquis.
Julien feels amazing peace, realizing that he can only love this woman. On the day of execution, the young man behaves confidently and dignifiedly, Mademoiselle de La Mole buries his head after everything is completed. Three days later, it becomes known about the death of Madame de Renal.