Cousin Bette is a gripping tale of violent jealousy, sexual passion and treachery, and a brilliant portrayal of the grasping, bourgeois society of 1840's Paris. The culmination of the Comedie humaine, Balzac's epic chronicle of his times, it is one of his greatest triumphs as a novelist.
Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac, first published in 1846, is one of the key novels in Balzac's monumental series La Comédie Humaine, which offers a detailed portrait of French society during the first half of the 19th century. The novel is a dark, psychological study of ambition, revenge, and social intrigue.
The central character is Bette, an unmarried and unattractive woman in her forties who lives in Paris with her wealthy cousin, the well-connected and vain Adeline Hulot. Bette is overlooked and marginalized by her family, which fosters deep resentment and envy. She becomes consumed by bitterness and plots her revenge against the Hulot family, particularly focusing on Adeline’s husband, the immoral and corrupt Baron Hulot, who is notorious for his infidelities and financial mismanagement. Through cunning manipulation and exploitation of others' weaknesses, Bette engineers the downfall of her relatives.
The novel explores themes such as social ambition, the destructive power of jealousy, and the consequences of moral degradation. Bette’s obsession with vengeance leads her into morally dubious alliances, and her machinations expose the fragility and corruption at the heart of bourgeois society. At the same time, the novel offers a critique of the social and sexual dynamics of the time, particularly the treatment of women and the limits of their agency in a patriarchal society.
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Categories: Fiction Literature Classics