The Red and the Black

The Red and the Black (in French, Le Rouge et le Noir: Chronique du XIX siècle ) is an 1830 two-volume historical novel by Marie-Henri Beyle, better known by the pen name Stendhal. The Red and the Black follows the rise and fall of Julien Sorel, a bright and ambitious, but in many ways naïve, young man of lowly birth, who resolves to work his way up in society – a difficult thing to do in the highly stratified France of the Bourbon Restoration (1815-1830). The story's setting gives Stendhal ample room to criticize, and, frequently, satirize this society; he does both with gusto. The novel reaches its climax with Julien's trial for attempted murder, from which trial his victim herself tries to save him.

In the first book, Stendhal gives Julien Sorel’s origins. He is the son of a carpenter, who lives in the fictional town of Verrières, in Franche-Comté. He is an unrepentant devotee of Napoleon Bonaparte, upon whom he patterns his own behavior; Bonaparte's biography, Memorial of St. Helena, is his favorite book. His brothers are cruel to him because of his intellectual pretensions, so entering into his father's business alongside them is out of the question. Nonetheless, Julien fancies himself a ruthless opportunist; seeing no way, in the wake of Napoleon's deposition, to advance socially through the once glorious military, he resolves to enter the Catholic Church. There, he becomes an acolyte of the local prelate, and through him receives his first job, as a tutor to the mayor's children. Even at this early stage in the novel, and his career, Julien is a self-satisfied cynic: he plays the role of a devout clergyman because he knows he must, and not from any true dedication to the work.

Indeed, in that spirit, he has an affair with Madame de Rênal, his employer's wife. The affair ends abruptly when his mistress' chambermaid, Elisa, who is in love with Julien herself, decries their affair to the entire town. The Abbé Chélan relocates Julien elsewhere – to a seminary in Besançon, which he finds oppressive. The seminary's director, Abbé Pirard, grows to like Julien, however, and advocates for him. When Pirard leaves his post, afraid that his enemies will target his now unprotected protégé, he recommends Julien for a secretarial position with the Marquis de la Mole, who hires him.



Book 2 finds Julien in Paris, working for the de la Moles. They look down on him for his low birth; for his part, Julien inwardly sneers at the hypocrisy and materialism of the Parisian elite. He finds much to dislike about the stultifying and oppressive social environment effected by the reigning regime. Nonetheless, he is loyal to his master. The Marquis de la Mole sends Julien on a dangerous mission: to convey a letter, by memory, to the exiled Duc d'Angoulême. Julien does so, despite the fact that the ultimate effect of his action is to aid the regime he despises.

The Marquis' daughter, Mathilde, a bookish and romantic girl, who in many ways appears as the female mirror of Julien, struggles with her attraction to the lowborn protagonist. She seduces him on two occasions but then turns him away. While he is on his mission to the Duc d'Angoulême, however, he gains the key to her heart from a roving Russian, Prince Korasoff: he acts indifferently to her, even arranging to have her intercept a parcel of love letters purportedly intended for another woman, the wealthy widow, Madame de Fervaques. Mathilde falls for the ploy – and for Julien. She discloses, as well, that she is pregnant with his child. Nevertheless, it is too late: she has become affianced to Monsieur de Croisenois, heir to a duchy. The Marquis is infuriated when he learns of Julien's affair with his daughter, but in the light of her affections, and his own attachment to Julien, he relents, gifting Julien with income, property, and a title – which make him, finally, fit to marry Mathilde.

However, before the marriage can take place, a letter from Madame de Rênal, by way of Julien's former employer, the Abbé Chélan, changes the Marquis' mind. In the letter, Madam de Rênal paints Julien as a heartless social climber, who seduces women only to get ahead and then tosses them aside. When Julien learns that the Marquis has rescinded his marriage blessing because of Madam de Rênal's letter, he returns to Verrières and shoots her, in the middle of mass. He is shortly imprisoned; but de Rênal survives. Both of his former lovers try to secure his release: Mathilde through bribery, and de Rênal by refusing to testify against him. The latter's enduring love for Julien, despite his attempted murder of her, makes him realize that he loves her as well. In the end, he is sentenced to the guillotine anyway. Mathilde, playing the role of Queen Margot, kisses his severed head, and later builds a shrine at his burial place. Madame de Rênal dies of heartbreak only days after his death.



The Red and the Black is notable as one of the first, and still most impressive, early works of the realist genre. Although Stendhal owed stylistically to the Romantics as well, his nuanced exploration of the motives and psyches of his characters – and their searching investigations of their own motives and psyches – stands out for its modern concern with portraying fictional characters, realistically, as complex, self-contradictory, subtle, and flawed. Since its publication, an argument has waged over whether Julien is a hero or anti-hero – the answer to this question, ultimately, depending on how much his confessions late in the novel are taken as truthful, rather than as the lofty emoting of a passionate, but inconstant young man. Stendhal's portrayal of Julien provides evidence to support both readings.