Madame Vauquer Character Analysis in Père Goriot

Madame Vauquer is a widow who has run a Paris boarding house, the Maison Vauquer, for decades. At around 50 years old, Madame Vauquer is plump and pale, and she seems to match her shabby yet respectable boarding house. Madame Vauquer is fond of her boarders, except for Goriot, whom she blames for a thwarted attempt at romance (one motivated chiefly by her desire for a fortune and social respectability). She has a selfish streak.

Madame Vauquer Quotes in Père Goriot

The Père Goriot quotes below are all either spoken by Madame Vauquer or refer to Madame Vauquer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Everyone now fully understood Vautrin, his past, present and future, his ruthless doctrines, his religion of indulging his own good pleasure, his regal authority, deriving from the cynicism of his thoughts and deeds and a power of organization applied to everything. The blood rushed to his face, his eyes glittered like those of a wildcat. He bounded up and down with such ferocious energy, he roared so fiercely, that he wrung cries of terror from all the boarders.

Related Characters: Vautrin, Madame Vauquer

Page Number and Citation: 183

Explanation and Analysis:

‘Try and be philosophical, Ma,’ Collin went on. ‘Did it do you any harm being in my box at the Gaîté last night?' he exclaimed. ‘Are you any better than us? The brand we bear on our shoulders is not as shameful as what you have in your hearts, flabby members of a putrid society. The best among you could not stand up to me!’

Related Characters: Vautrin (speaker), Madame Vauquer

Page Number and Citation: 184

Explanation and Analysis:

Madame Vauquer Character Timeline in Père Goriot

The timeline below shows where the character Madame Vauquer appears in Père Goriot. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

For 30 years, Madame Vauquer has run a family boarding house, the Maison Vauquer, in the rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève. It is... (full context)

Every morning at about seven o’clock, Madame Vauquer appears in the dining room. She is middle-aged, plump, pale, and somehow a match for... (full context)

...there are seven resident boarders. On the first floor, in the two best apartments, live Madame Vauquer and her friend Madame Couture, another widow. Madame Couture acts as a mother figure to... (full context)

...medical students frequently sign up just for meals. The regular seven boarders, however, are like Madame Vauquer ’s children, and she gives them attention and respect in accordance with how much they... (full context)

...most of the day, getting in after midnight using a key given to him by Madame Vauquer , who trusts him. Most people sense that there’s more to Vautrin than meets the... (full context)

...bigger apartments and boasted a large wardrobe and a handsome collection of household silver. When Madame Vauquer learned Monsieur Goriot’s income, she began to have ideas about him. He’s handsome enough, so... (full context)

Madame Vauquer begins distributing fliers boasting about the Maison Vauquer’s charms, hoping to bring in more high-class... (full context)

After this incident, Madame Vauquer blames everybody but herself—especially Goriot. She decides that Goriot must already be involved with someone... (full context)

...a cheaper second-floor room and stops lighting a fire in the winter. At this point, Madame Vauquer stops calling him Monsieur and just starts calling him Père Goriot. Nobody knows why Goriot... (full context)

The rumor that people accept as most likely, however, is Madame Vauquer ’s claim that Goriot is a libertine. A few months after the episode with the... (full context)

The next morning, there’s such a dense fog darkening the city that Madame Vauquer oversleeps. When she comes downstairs, Vautrin has just come in, and he reports that he... (full context)

...when Goriot continued practicing his trade. By the time he finally retired and settled at Madame Vauquer ’s, his daughters were no longer seeing him. (full context)

...never seems to have enough money for daily necessities. He can’t pay his rent to Madame Vauquer , yet he always has enough to indulge his vanity on credit. Rastignac realizes that... (full context)

Vautrin invites Madame Vauquer to go to the theater with him that evening. Sylvie hauls Goriot upstairs to bed,... (full context)

After Vautrin and Madame Vauquer leave for the theater, Madame Couture and Victorine talk about Victorine’s future. Victorine says that... (full context)

...behave themselves. Rastignac shouts at him in horror. After Victorine and Madame Couture rush out, Madame Vauquer remarks that Vautrin seems like a prophet for having predicted the young woman’s match with... (full context)

Rastignac, however, tells Madame Vauquer emphatically that he has no intention of marrying Victorine. He sends a message back to... (full context)

...He admits to everyone present that his name is Jacques Collin, known as Death-Dodger. When Madame Vauquer , shocked, says that he went to the theater with him last night, Vautrin replies... (full context)

...After he’s gone, everyone except for Poiret refuses to continue eating with Mademoiselle Michonneau. If Madame Vauquer throws her out, they say, they’ll all keep quiet about the incident with Vautrin. At... (full context)

...afternoon. Madame Couture and Victorine will now live with Taillefer, who has accepted his daughter. Madame Vauquer laments that disaster has come upon her boarding house. Soon, Père Goriot arrives in a... (full context)

When they get home, Madame Vauquer is sitting up with Sylvie and Christophe, lamenting the disappearance of her boarders—now Goriot and... (full context)

...he returns to the boarding house the next day, Goriot has taken to his bed. Madame Vauquer , annoyed about the two men overstaying their lease and not paying their rent, tells... (full context)

...bedding so that he can die with greater dignity. When Rastignac goes downstairs to ask Madame Vauquer for help, she demands payment for the sheets and other sundries, but she finally sends... (full context)

...the old man; they’ll have to make do with a shorter burial service. Rastignac sees Madame Vauquer toying with Goriot’s gold locket and takes it back. (full context)