Nothing to envy in Adeline’s life at all.I’d have rather had the independence of Lisbeth, but then Lisbeth never bothers to enjoy her independence except in the ways that it gives her opportunity to take revenge and help to destroy her family.īalzac does some great character development, especially with his female characters. Cousin Adeline’s husband, the Baron Hulot, is a despicable womanizer who ruins himself for “love”, uh make that lust. Cousin Adeline has married a Baron and come up in the world, and Bette is the poor spinster relation, who has to work for part of her living and depends on the charity of the family for the remainder. Lisbeth Fischer is consumed with hatred for her cousin, Adeline Hulot. Don't be vengeful, don't be a mujeriego, don't be a courtesan. But what kind of luck is it to be married to an eternal mujeriego, I'd like to know. Bette spent her whole life trying to reap vengeance on her beautiful cousin Adeline, hating her for her beauty and her'luck' in marrying the Baron Hulot. Wow, what a family! Balzac had a few moral lessons to teach us readers in his book Cousin Bette. Perhaps he would have left me, and he wouldn't have been held back by the fear of distressing me.'

If I had given way to rages, like you, what would have happened? Your father would have become embittered. If, on his deathbed, a man says, 'my wife has never caused me the least sorrow,' God, who hears these last whispered words, counts them in our favor.

'Be gentle and kind and you'll have an easy conscience. To wit, she tells her daughter Hortense, who has dumped her husband Wenceslas for cheating on her: 'Do as I have done, my child,' continued her mother. If you're a feminist, the character of Adeline may infuriate you.

La Cugina Bette by Honoré de Balzac