“He could lie low and wait, crouching, watching for his prey, and make his spring, unerringly at last then the jaws of his purse would unclose, a torrent of coin would be swallowed down, and, as in the case of the gorged reptile, there would be a period of inaction like the serpent, moreover, he was cold, apathetic, methodical, keeping to his own mysterious times and seasons.” Just about everyone in town has been in his money-lending clutches at one time or another. He is reminiscent of a Bengal tiger and boa constrictor. He is small of stature and looks vaguely evil and most definitely avaricious.

He never makes a definite decision right away and always claims he has to ask his wife. Grandet has adopted this habit much like Columbo wears his old raincoat to disarm his foes. Starting with the Revolution he began stammering when called upon – people think this is a lack of education but indeed M. Grandet was of retiring habits, speaking seldom and in predictable speech patterns. Money is Grandet’s passion, and he is feared and admired by the town. Grandet is so rich that only his notary Cruchot and des Grassins the banker have any idea of his total wealth. As such Grandet is a representative of the new social type for which the Revolution was fought to equalize the bourgeois with the nobility. Although he had to quit as town mayor under Napoleon (who did not like Republicans), he inherited from several relatives around this time and continued to prosper.

He made sure his estates were valued such that he paid little property tax. He sold wine to the Army of the Republic. He became part of the local administration and worked to prevent the sale of émigré properties. Grandet displayed an understanding of how things work and continued to prosper. Through bribery, he obtained the best vineyard lands for a small sum – all legal if somewhat shady. He was literate, had married an heiress, and was in a position to benefit from the republican government’s selling of church lands. At the time of the French Revolution he was a cooper (one who makes and repairs wooden barrels). Grandet is among the wealthiest men in the town. The streets are narrow and dark, the people live most of their lives on their doorsteps, and everyone knows everyone else’s business. “In some country towns there are houses more depressing to the sight than the dimmest cloister, the most melancholy ruins, or the dreariest stretch of sandy waste.” Saumur is an agricultural town attuned to the weather and its effects on the vineyards. The Grandets live in Saumur (of the province of Anjou), and his description of the desolation of the house immediately sends shivers up my spine at the thought of living there. Balzac immediately draws the reader in with his description of a melancholy house, the home of the Grandets.

Honore de balzac eugenie grandet