The Theme in the Work
The narrator names Julien Sorel's method already in chapter 5 of Book I, and calls the word horrible: hypocrisy. Julien memorizes the New Testament in Latin and Maistre's book on the pope without believing either, because memory and performance are the weapons he has, and the recitation earns him the title of Monsieur in the mayor's house (ch. 6). All of Verrières lives by what it sees: the tyranny of opinion opens the novel (ch. 1), and the young bishop of Agde rehearses his blessings before the mirror (ch. 18).
Love too begins as a role. Julien goes to Madame de Rênal's room thinking about the character he must play (ch. 15) and, the next day, studies every gesture at lunch (ch. 16). She learns to pretend in order to save him and dictates the plan of the false anonymous letter that diverts her husband's suspicion onto Valenod (chs. 20 and 21). In the seminary hypocrisy ceases to be a choice and becomes a system: there a face of blind faith is worth more than knowledge, and Julien composes an entire personality (ch. 26), unable to hide the logic that earns him the nickname Martin Luther (ch. 27).
Paris professionalizes the mask. Prince Korasoff teaches him always to do the opposite of what is expected (Book II, ch. 7) and then hands over the siege plan, ready, with six bundles of love letters (ch. 24); Julien copies them out for the Marechale de Fervaques without thinking about their meaning (ch. 27), and she replies without noticing that there is no connection between one letter and the next (ch. 29). Mathilde de La Mole, on the other side, loves by a model she imitates (ch. 16).
The book does not set the mask against a true face that would always lie underneath it. It shows that Julien's rare real moments come when he forgets to pretend, under the linden tree (Book I, ch. 9) and in the grotto (ch. 12), and that the end comes only when the mask no longer serves any purpose: in prison he reviews religion and hypocrisy (Book II, ch. 44), refuses the conversion, with a fuss that would have earned him clemency, and tells Madame de Rênal all his weaknesses (ch. 45). Hypocrisy gave him his career; what it cost him was the only thing he discovers he wanted.
Where It Appears
- Book I, chapter 1: A small town: The narrator speaks of the tyranny of opinion in small towns, and Rênal, the mayor, completes his garden with terraced walls because, the more walls, the more respect from the neighbors.
- Book I, chapter 5: A negotiation: The narrator introduces the word hypocrisy as the result of a line of reasoning: Julien memorizes the New Testament in Latin and Maistre's book without believing either.
- Book I, chapter 6: Boredom: Reciting the Bible in Latin before the servants and the notables earns Julien the title of Monsieur, and all of Verrières goes to the mayor's house to see the marvel.
- Book I, chapter 9: A night in the country: On the night under the linden tree, Julien forgets to pretend and charms both women; the next day he burns the portrait of Napoleon he had hidden in his mattress.
- Book I, chapter 12: A journey: In the grotto, alone and far from every gaze, Julien feels happier than ever, and to refuse Fouqué's partnership he invokes his vocation for the holy ministry.
- Book I, chapter 15: The crowing of the rooster: Julien goes to Madame de Rênal's room, forgets his plans as he falls into tears, and back in his own room asks himself what part he has played: that of a man used to being brilliant with women.
- Book I, chapter 16: The next day: At lunch the day after the first night, Julien studies every gesture as a role and conducts the scene with the prudence of a masterpiece.
- Book I, chapter 18: A king in Verrières: Julien surprises the young bishop of Agde rehearsing blessings before the mirror before showing the relic to the king.
- Book I, chapter 20: The anonymous letters: Madame de Rênal dictates the plan for the false anonymous letter, made of words cut out and pasted onto paper from Valenod's house.
- Book I, chapter 21: Dialogue with a master: Madame de Rênal hands her husband the second letter as if a stranger had given it to her, and diverts his fury toward Valenod, until he sees that the letters and the anonymous note are on the same paper.
- Book I, chapter 22: Ways of acting in 1830: To show the town what a priest is, Julien builds a bookshelf for the curé Chélan's books and recites the New Testament at Valenod's lunch.
- Book I, chapter 26: The world, or what the rich man lacks: Julien discovers that a face of blind faith is worth more than learning and begins to compose a new personality, down to the way he looks and eats.
- Book I, chapter 27: First experience of life: Julien makes little progress in the hypocrisy of gestures, and the logic he prides himself on earns him the nickname Martin Luther from his classmates.
- Book I, chapter 30: An ambitious man: Julien enters Madame de Rênal's room at dawn and makes her yield only by announcing, with calculated coldness, that he is leaving forever.
- Book II, chapter 2: Entry into society: In Paris the shoemaker registers Julien as Mr. Julien de Sorel, and the marquis de La Mole orders him to buy twenty-two more shirts.
- Book II, chapter 4: The La Mole mansion: In the La Mole salon the rule holds that one does not speak of politics or of anything established, and conversation sustains itself on gossip.
- Book II, chapter 5: Sensibility and a devout great lady: In Julien's mind the idea of religion is linked to hypocrisy and the hope of making money, and Count Altamira, liberal and devout, surprises him.
- Book II, chapter 6: Manner of pronunciation: The coachman of Beauvoisis insults Julien in a café with visiting cards he has stolen, and Beauvoisis, to escape ridicule, spreads that Julien is a natural son of the marquis's friend.
- Book II, chapter 7: A gout attack: Dressed in the blue suit the marquis gives him, Julien is treated at night as the younger brother of the Count de Chaulnes, and in London Prince Korasoff teaches him always to do the opposite of what is expected.
- Book II, chapter 16: One in the morning: On the night of the ladder, Mathilde's enthusiasm is deliberate: passionate love is still a model she imitates.
- Book II, chapter 24: Strasbourg: In Strasbourg Korasoff teaches Julien the principle of showing himself the opposite of what is expected and supplies him with love letters ready for any kind of woman.
- Book II, chapter 26: Moral love: Before the Marechale, Julien speaks very well, but only to reach Mathilde's soul, and follows to the letter the plan for delivering the letters.
- Book II, chapter 27: The best positions in the Church: Julien copies the letters without thinking about their meaning and notices that the marechala's own letters are equally vague.
- Book II, chapter 28: Manon Lescaut: Julien praises the ballet of Manon Lescaut only because he finds it insignificant, and a letter copied without attention keeps London and Richmond in place of Paris and Saint-Cloud.
- Book II, chapter 29: Boredom: The marechala replies to the copied letters without noticing that there is no relation between them, and Mathilde finds eight or ten unopened letters from the marechala in Julien's drawer.
- Book II, chapter 31: To frighten her: Julien forces himself to read the Memoirs of Saint Helena for two hours until he decides to frighten Mathilde, and then covers a slip of tenderness by saying those phrases were written for another woman.
- Book II, chapter 32: The tiger: Julien gives himself up to happiness only when Mathilde cannot read his gaze, and he keeps the rule of saying a harsh word to her from time to time.
- Book II, chapter 35: A storm: The letter from Madame de Rênal to the marquis describes Julien as a poor and ambitious man who tried to rise with the help of the most consummate hypocrisy and the seduction of a weak and unhappy woman.
- Book II, chapter 43: Julien discovers that the letter to the marquis de La Mole was written by the young priest, Madame de Rênal's spiritual adviser, and an intriguing priest recites litanies in the mud at the prison door before the crowd.
- Book II, chapter 44: After having two galley convicts and champagne brought into his cell, Julien concludes that salons live on crimes like those of the galley convicts, and one night he reviews religion and hypocrisy.
Passages
The name of the method, presented by the narrator as the result of a line of reasoning:
Does the word surprise the reader? Before arriving at that horrible word, the soul of the young peasant had to travel a long way.
The moment the mask falls, and Julien pleases precisely for that reason:
- To tell the truth, I am feeling a little unwell, but the fresh air does me good. These words confirmed Julien's happiness, which at that moment was extreme: he spoke, forgot to pretend, and seemed a most amiable man to the two friends who were listening to him.
In the seminary, the rule of the place, discovered with bitterness:
So learning is worth nothing here? [...] My only merit consisted in [...] grasping these nonsenses. [...] And how foolish I was to take pride in myself!
What Korasoff calls the great principle of the age:
remember the great principle of the age: show yourself the opposite of what people expect of you. Act exactly as you did eight days before being honored with her favors.
And Mathilde's side, which imitates too:
In truth, her enthusiasm was somewhat deliberate. Passionate love, more than a reality, was still a model one imitated.