In her stately box in the elegant opera house, Mme de Beausant "was scanning the theater with her opera glasses, and although apparently paying no attention to Mme de Nucingen, did not miss his slightest movement" (112). The Viscountess, as if an omnipresent figure in this scene, is therefore the most suitable mentor for Rastignac, the penniless student. Her role in the novel highlights not only the need for a female mentor in the plot of Balzac's Bildungsroman, but also demonstrates the power of women in Parisian society and how this is problematic. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayWhen Anastasie reveals her social skills by downplaying Eugene's mistake of mentioning Pere Goriot, he justifies the narrator's comment by praising her for possessing "that extraordinary skill which women are endowed with" (54). This is not the only instance in the novel where the female sex is admired. For example, even at the end of their relationship, the viscountess' command over the Marquis d'Ajuda forces him to fearfully hide his engagement to Mademoiselle de Rochefide. Earlier, in the scene where Eugene first visits Anastasie, he sees her in a cashmere robe, and the narrator describes his reaction by stating, "the eyes of young people understand everything; their spirits react to the radiation emitted by a woman like a plant breathes the substances she needs from the air" (51). The word need here clearly emphasizes great power. In Pere Goriot, the power of female action is not, however, always a mystical and abstract power shown by the above incident, but rather, most of the time, female characters demonstrate social power. In the novel, men duel with real swords while women use words and gestures like "daggers". This is evident in a scene in which the Duchesse de Langeais visits the Viscountess to inform her friend that the Marquis will dine at Rochefide. The wounded Viscountess reacts and as the two friends begin a verbal confrontation the narrator uses phrases such as "I felt the question like a stab in the heart", "they looked at daggers" and "the blow was too violent" (65-66). . Furthermore, it is probably not even a coincidence that it is a woman who destroys Eugene with a simple look: "the duchess gave Eugene one of those arrogant looks that scrutinize a man from head to toe and make him feel crushed and worthless" ( 66). For these reasons, it is absolutely logical that Eugene, entering a social battle, would seek a powerful woman as his mentor. On the surface it seems that Eugene has become close to Madame de Beausant simply because they are related. When she begs for his help she states, “I need someone to teach me what you women explain so well: life” (64). The fact of being part of "you women" makes her the right mentor, and even Mme de Beausant agrees that a woman is necessary for the job when she explains to the Duchess that Eugene "is looking for a woman who will teach him good". taste." When the viscountess is charged with finding a woman for Eugene, Monsieur d'Ajuda confirms: "no one but you could have chosen a woman for him at the very moment when she [Delphine] needs comfort." From the point of view of the character, Eugene was offered tutoring by another character, Vautrin, who has many similar qualities to the Viscountess. Like Madame de Beausant, who stands at the top of Faubourg Saint Germain with a kind of omniscient awareness, also Vautrin, treasurer. of a clandestine criminal society, seems to know everything Since the Viscountess is aware of Delphine's innermost thoughts secondwhich "she [Delphine] is devoured by jealousy" of Anastasie, her older sister (72), Vautrin knows that Eugene stole his sisters' money (96) and that while Anastasie "laughed, danced, joked, with the flowers of peach trees waving and her dress gathered, she was like a cat on hot bricks… at the thought that her bills, or those of her lover, might not be honoured” (43). Not only do both potential mentors have access to important information, but they both hatch plans that would endow Eugene with a young, beautiful, wealthy woman. Vautrin advises Eugene to marry Victorine, who will inherit her father's fortune once her brother is killed, and the Viscountess tells Eugene to win over Delphine de Nucingen in both Mme de Beausant and Vautrin's plans as Eugene's success is evilly rooted in the exploitation of others, and although the Viscountess's plan does not involve murder, her suggestion of taking advantage of sisterly rivalry is immoral. As they both push Eugene to fight the corrupt world, they seem almost identically vital, as Mme de Beausant tells Eugene that "in Paris success is everything, it is the key to power" (73), and the master criminal encourages the student to " succeed! succeed at any cost" (96). Vautrin suggests that "there is no point in being honest" (97), mirroring the viscountess's opinion that "the more coldly calculating you are, the further you will go" (72). Despite the similarities between After the Lessons that Madame de Beausant and Vautrin offer, Eugene is troubled by what Vautrin has to say. He believes that Vautrin's advice is "bluntly what Madame de Beausant expressed more delicately" (104), but above all that Vautrin's words "tear him apart." heart "with claws of steel" (104). Mme de Beausant's advice, however, does not trouble him an aristocratic upbringing" (108). There are times when Eugene feels differently towards the Viscountess, however, but soon after every time he feels snubbed by her, " her bitter thoughts are soon dispelled" (109). Mme de Beausant is the novel's best possible mentor in many other ways. The Viscountess is part of the aristocratic world and her name magically opens all doors. In the structure of the Bildungsroman , the male mentor represents the father who one wants to get rid of or forget, thus confirming that the most suitable mentor is a woman. From a more practical point of view, in Pere Goriot a person of the same sex is almost always in competition t is rivalry between Mme de Beausant and Mme de Rochefide, Mme de Beausant and the Duchesse de Langeais, Delphine and Anastasie, and when Eugene first sees Maxime at the Maison de Restaud, he mentally declares war on Anastasie's lover. Finally, if hypocrisy is the key to success, then the Viscountess is the best mentor of all. On the very night of the ball, the night her love affair ends, the night she plans to leave Paris for a convent in Normandy, "she appeared to everyone as always, and was exactly as she was when happiness filled her of splendor, so much so that even the less sensitive admired it, just as young Roman girls applauded the gladiator who managed to die smiling" (234). Although his mentorship proves necessary for Eugene's social ascension, his role as a mentor is problematic in many ways. Eugene too often feels belittled by her and must "humble himself, endure anything" because "in a few moments the best of women can withdraw the promised friendship and throw you away like an old shoe" (109). Eugene is sensitive to her treatment of him and on one occasion when she snubbed him, "the most trivial events of his life conspired to push him into a course of action where... he must, as on the battlefield , kill or be killed." kill, deceive 1999.