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Colomban
Bourdoncle is Mouret’s business partner. Bourdoncle is more intelligent and less distracted than Mouret, but he lacks the genius that makes Mouret the true master of the Ladies’ Paradise. Mouret and Bourdoncle both like to exploit women, but Bourdoncle goes as far as to beat his mistresses because he views women as wicked. Bourdoncle is more conservative in business matters than Mouret and warns him that the women whom Mouret exploits with his tactics will one day “have their revenge.” Due to this belief, Bourdoncle is wary of Mouret’s feelings for Denise and tries to keep her away from the Ladies’ Paradise. However, as Mouret gets more obsessed with Denise, Bourdoncle starts to imagine the possibility of usurping Mouret’s position and so encourages Mouret to marry Denise. However, Mouret ultimately decides that Bourdoncle was wrong to view women as a threat to business. Mouret’s decision to marry Denise doubly proves that Bourdoncle’s opinion of women—which Mouret used to partially share—was incomplete.
Bourdoncle Quotes in The Ladies’ Paradise
The The Ladies’ Paradise quotes below are all either spoken by Bourdoncle or refer to Bourdoncle . 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:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
“You know, they’ll have their revenge.”
“Who will?”
“The women, of course.”
[…] With a shrug of his shoulders [Mouret] seemed to declare that he would throw them all away like empty sacks on the day when they had finished helping him make his fortune.
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Chapter 12
Quotes
His master’s business faculties must surely founder, he thought, in the midst of such idiotic love: what had been won through women would be lost through this woman.
Chapter 14
Quotes
“Listen, we were stupid to have that superstition that marriage would ruin us. After all, isn’t it the health necessary to life, its very strength and order?”
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Bourdoncle Quotes in The Ladies’ Paradise
The The Ladies’ Paradise quotes below are all either spoken by Bourdoncle or refer to Bourdoncle . 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:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
“You know, they’ll have their revenge.”
“Who will?”
“The women, of course.”
[…] With a shrug of his shoulders [Mouret] seemed to declare that he would throw them all away like empty sacks on the day when they had finished helping him make his fortune.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12
Quotes
His master’s business faculties must surely founder, he thought, in the midst of such idiotic love: what had been won through women would be lost through this woman.
Chapter 14
Quotes
“Listen, we were stupid to have that superstition that marriage would ruin us. After all, isn’t it the health necessary to life, its very strength and order?”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
