206. serous apoplexy: The medical theory Bianchon refers to here, of apoplexy caused by an effusion of serum to the brain, was accepted at that time, but has since been discredited. The closest modern equivalent would appear to be a brain haemorrhage, which is caused by blood invading the brain. Balzac’s description of Goriot’s symptoms seems to indicate that he is suffering from a stroke (severe headache, confusion, tiredness).
207. mustard poultices: In the nineteenth century, mustard poultices were used in threatened cases of apoplexy or paralysis, to ‘rouse the system’ (Savory’s Compendium of Domestic Medicine, 7th edn, 1865).
208. Moses’ prayer: An aria from Rossini’s opera Moses in Egypt, of which Balzac appears to have been fond (he also refers to it in ‘La Duchesse de Langeais’ and ‘Massimilla Doni’). It was first performed in Paris in 1822.
209. Tantalus: In ancient mythology, a mythical king of Phrygia who revealed the secrets of the gods. His punishment, which was unending, was to endure unquenchable thirst and unsatisfied hunger. No angel came to bring him solace.
210. the Grande Mademoiselle: That is, Mademoiselle Montpensier (a cousin of Louis XIV). In December 1670, the king gave his consent to her marriage with the Duc de Lauzun (an adventurer), only to retract it three days later and have her lover imprisoned instead.
211. Niobe made of marble: In Greek myth, the daughter of Tantalus, who was turned into stone as she wept for the loss of her children.
212. cashed in: Literally, ‘discounted’. The implication of this powerful image is that Anastasie views everything, including Goriot’s life, as a kind of bill of exchange – and she has cashed in (discounted) the latter before its maturity date. Not only has she already spent all of his capital (which he needs in order to live) before he has been able to bequeath it to her upon his death, she has devalued his quality of life and his estate in the process.
213. I … shall make one last attempt: A reference to the equivalent episode in Balzac’s story ‘The Duchesse de Langeais’ (see note 52), where the duchesse finally realizes she is in love with Montriveau and sends him a letter saying that she will retire from society if he doesn’t come back to her. When he fails to appear, she withdraws to a convent.
VI. DEATH OF THE FATHER
214. moxas: A moxa (from the Japanese mokusa ) is a preparation of mugwort herb (Artemisia moxa), or an inflammable substance such as a roll of cotton, used in the practice of moxibustion, whereby the substance is burned and applied to the skin. An ancient Chinese medical practice, it is used to stimulate circulation and energy, particularly in the case of debilitated or geriatric patients; it was popular in France in the nineteenth century.
215. Money buys everything, even daughters: The echoes of King Lear in the novel are perhaps most audible in these closing passages. Here, the tragic realization Goriot shares with Lear is that purchased affections are only as shallow and short lived as the money that bought them. Fool (II.4):
Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind,
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind.
Money can buy the words that flatter a father’s vanity, but not the honest filial love the words stand in for, where loyalty and devotion are given unbidden and freely. Where Delphine and Anastasie display the selfishness of a Regan or Goneril, perhaps Victorine Taillefer shows a Cordelia-like loyalty to her father. It is known that performances of King Lear and other Shakespeare plays were held in Paris in 1827–28, and caught the attention of contemporaries such as Alexandre Dumas, Alfred de Vigny, Victor Hugo and Hector Berlioz.
216. the country: In French, la patrie, which has overtones of ‘fatherland’, resonating with the novel’s theme of paternity.
217. viaticum: The Eucharist, or, in other religious traditions, voyage provisions, given to the dying, to help them on their journey as they depart this world. Sometimes this takes the form of a coin, the obolus that pays Charon for passage across the river Acheron in Greek mythology, for example. But money has lost all meaning for Goriot – all he wants is a kiss. (In French, the word is also used to denote comfort or sustenance.)
218. Pluck them out!: Another echo of Lear. Gloucester, betrayed by his bastard son Edmund, is blinded when Goneril orders Cornwall to ‘Pluck out his eyes’ (III.7).
219. Their children will avenge me: Lear, cursing Goneril (I.4):
Hear, nature, hear: dear goddess hear:
Suspend thy purpose if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful.
Into her womb convey sterility,
Dry up in her the organs of increase,
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honour her. If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen, that it may live
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her.
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth,
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks,
Turn all her mother’s pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt, that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child.
220. a third-class funeral: In France, undertakers divided funerals into nine classes according to their expense. A third-class funeral was moderately expensive.
221. holy-water sprinkler: At a Roman Catholic funeral, the coffin is sprinkled with holy water by a priest, and by the mourners, as a symbol of purification. No one has yet performed this ritual for Goriot.
222. Libera … De profundis: The Libera Nos (prayer) and the De Profundis (Psalm 129) are both part of the Mass for the dead, here tacked on to the daily Vespers service.
223. Père Lachaise: See note 199 on the location and origins of this cemetery. Balzac himself was buried here on his death in 1850, not far from the spot where Rastignac stands and watches Goriot’s coffin being lowered into the ground. His was a third-class funeral, like Goriot’s. However, Balzac’s was attended by a vast crowd of friends, writers and admirers, who listened and mourned as Victor Hugo pronounced his funeral oration, calling Balzac a member of ‘the powerful race of revolutionary writers’ (Robb, Balzac, p. 412).
224. Saché: Balzac began writing Old Man Goriot in September 1834, at the Château de Saché in Touraine, where he stayed as the guest of Jean de Margonne and his wife. He completed it on 26 January 1835. It was first published in the Revue de Paris in four instalments, between December 1834 and February 1835. See Introduction, pp. xv–xviii.
Old Man Goriot Page 36
