History Literature / LePereGoriot

* YourCheatingHeart: Just about all of the high society characters are having affairs. As long as there's no scandal, the other married half is often complaisant.

* BadassGay: Vautrin.

* BeingGoodSucks: Vautrin's famous dialogue with Vautrin revolves entirely on this. Vautrin points out that it's simply impossible to make a good living in France at that time, on a salary drawn from honest work. Rastignac as a student would not be able to afford and maintain a house for himself, nor would he be able to earn enough to maintain the lifestyle that a career would need, or money for books. Rastignac's only real hope for advancement is to marry into money, forgo any lingering ideals and become a pure SocialClimber since those are the kind of people society rewards.

* TheBardOnBoard: [[KingLear An old man gives up everything to his daughters, then loses both his power and his mind.]]

* UnlimitedWardrobe: Back when his daughters still visited him, no one believed Goriot when he said they were his daughters because they wore different dresses every time. They took him for a DirtyOldMan hiring far more HighClassCallGirls than he could afford.

Set in Paris in 1819, ''Le Père Goriot'' by Honoré de Balzac is the story of an overly indulgent father and his two spoiled daughters, and a naive young student who is determined to learn the social climbing game. Goriot's daughters Anastasie and Delphine have married powerful wealthy men, yet they can't stay out of debt and suck their father financially and emotionally dry. Meanwhile, Eugène de Rastignac loses his innocence in his pursuit of money and status, first being told the price by the sinister and enigmatic Vautrin, and then experiencing it for himself. ''Père Goriot'', sometimes translated ''Old Goriot'', is one novel in a vast series of stories by Balzac called ''La Comédie Humaine'', or ''The Human Comedy''.

Set in Paris in 1819, ''Le Père Goriot'' by Creator/HonoréDeBalzac is the story of an overly indulgent father and his two spoiled daughters, and a naive young student who is determined to learn the social climbing game. Goriot's daughters Anastasie and Delphine have married powerful wealthy men, yet they can't stay out of debt and suck their father financially and emotionally dry. Meanwhile, Eugène de Rastignac loses his innocence in his pursuit of money and status, first being told the price by the sinister and enigmatic Vautrin, and then experiencing it for himself. ''Père Goriot'', sometimes translated ''Old Goriot'', is one novel in a vast series of stories by Balzac called ''La Comédie Humaine'', or ''The Human Comedy''.

Set in Paris in 1819, ''Le Père Goriot'' by Honoré de Balzac is the story of an overly indulgent father and his two spoiled daughters, and a naive young student who is determined to learn the social climbing game. Goriot's daughters Anastasie and Delphine have married powerful wealthy men, yet they can't stay out of debt and suck their father financially and emotionally dry. Meanwhile, Eugène de Rastignac loses his innocence in his pursuit of money and status, first being told the price by the sinister and enigmatic Vautrin, and then experiencing it for himself. ''Père Goriot'', sometimes translated ''Old Goriot'', is one novel in a vast series of stories by Balzac called ''La Comédie Humaine'', or ''The Human Comedy''.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Vautrin delivers one to the residents of the boarding house when he is [[spoiler: finally arrested by Vidocq.]]

** Eugene himself, who asks his mother, aunt and sisters to give him their jewels and meagre savings to fund his launch into high society, even though his family has already spent the better part of its income funding his studies in Paris.

* UnlimitedWardrobe: Back when his daughters still visited him, no one believed Goriot when he said they were his daughters because they wore different dresses every time. They took him for a DirtyOldMan hiring far more HighClassCallGirls than he could afford.
* SecretlyWealthy: Madame Vauquer has a secret savings of 40,000 francs, but remains landlady of a modest boardinghouse.
* SelfMadeMan: Goriot earned his fortune using his own business smarts as a flour merchant.

* UnlimitedWardrobe: Back when his daughters still visited him, no one believed Goriot when he said they were his daughters because they wore different dresses every time. They took him for a DirtyOldMan hiring far more HighclassCallGirls than he could afford.

* UpperclassTwit: Most of the hig society characters.

* IfIWereARichMan

* ImpossiblyPurePureness: The eternally forgiving Victorine.