Themes

Ambition the thesis of the work, and Julien's career between the cassock and the uniform, in chapters 16 to 30 of Book I and chapters 31 to 45 of Book II. Social Class the provincial yardstick, which measures by money, against the Paris one, which measures by birth, and the speech to the jury in chapter 41 of Book II. Appearance and Reality hypocrisy as a method in chapters 1 to 15 of Book I and as a system in the seminary in chapters 16 to 30 of Book I. Love the two loves as the central experiment, and Mathilde's love in chapters 16 to 30 of Book II. Politics the most political part of the novel, in chapters 1 to 15 of Book II, and the dialogue between author and editor in chapter 22 of Book II. Pride love as a war of vanities, in chapters 16 to 30 of Book II. Happiness the discovery, in prison, that he was happy only when he did not calculate, in chapters 31 to 45 of Book II.