Despite her participation in her corrupt society and her efforts to train Rastignac in the same, Madame de Beauséant seems to retain a measure of integrity. She defies society’s expectations by taking her humiliation in stride. Nevertheless, like Goriot’s decline in the face of reality, the vicomtesse is “dying” in her own way, even if it’s just a social death. Rastignac’s gestures of kindness to his cousin show that he, too, isn’t yet completely corrupt. It’s possible, then, to extricate oneself from Paris society unscathed—but one basically has to be willing to commit social suicide in order to escape.