Character Clues

Character Analysis

Clothing

The first thing Monsieur de Rênal does when he takes Julien Sorel into his service is get him some new clothes. He doesn't want his children being tutored by a peasant dressed in rags. Throughout the rest of the book, Julien's ability to secure himself high-quality clothes is what helps him pass as an upper-class dude.

He also wears black clothing that reminds some people that he is studying to be a priest, and as you can imagine, people act differently when they think there's a priest around. Julien's constant changing of clothes helps show how much of a chameleon he is. He'll do anything to climb the social ladder, and this often involves changing roles.

Direct Characterization

In many cases, Stendhal does have the time to completely develop some of his secondary characters. The Red and the Black is already pretty long as is. So he makes sure to directly tell us what certain characters are like in order to save time. When introducing us to Madame de Rênal, for example, Stendhal writes, "Madame de Rênal carried feminine delicacy to an extreme" (1.5.59).

This description goes on to color our judgment of everything Madame does for the rest of the book. It's true that readers usually like to be shown what characters are like instead of told, but there's still room for a little telling now and then.

Occupation

Julien starts the book as a carpenter's son. He ends it as a rich landowner and high-ranking military officer. Too bad it all goes down the drain when he tries to kill someone.

Julien is a super ambitious young man, and this book is basically about the journey he makes from poor nobody to powerful dude. This increase in power is directly tied to whatever occupation Julien has. In the course of this book, he works as a spy, a priest, a sawmill supervisor, a tutor, and finally a military officer. It just goes to show how restless Julien is. He's always looking for the next best thing.

Physical Appearances

Julien's good looks are a blessing and a curse. They are no doubt what gets him involved with Madame de Rênal and Mathilde de La Mole, but these affairs are also what lead to his ultimate death. On top of that, Stendhal never misses an opportunity to tell us that a certain character is very handsome or very ugly.

This just goes to show how much of a judgmental society France had in the early 19th century. Back then, you could basically size up anyone you met in two seconds. You looked at their clothes, their manners, and their physical appearance, and you knew whether you were going to pay them any attention.

Sex and Love

Julien is a passionate young man… maybe a little too passionate. His affair with Madame de Rênal eventually comes back to ruin his chances of a peaceful, wealthy life with Mathilde de La Mole.

The thing is that even though he is successful at seducing these women, he's also pretty clumsy. It's only the advice of his buddy, Prince Korasoff, which eventually gets him into Mathilde's good graces. Meanwhile, Mathilde is a girl who isn't afraid to fall in love and have sex. But she's also really fickle and only interested in what she can't have. As readers of this book will find out, this leads to more than a few love games between her and Julien Sorel.

Social Status

This book is set in early 19th-century France, which is another way of saying that social status counts for everything. Wherever characters go in this book, others judge them based on what family they're from and how much money they've got. You'd be surprised, though, at how much more people care about the family part than the money part.

For people in 19th-century France, all the money in the world couldn't make up for centuries of good breeding. If you were born poor and then made a lot of money, people in this environment don't really care. They want to know that you come from a long line of distinguished people, and that's the sort of thing that's already decided when you're born.