Béatrix

Béatrix, part of Balzac’s La Comédie Humaine, explores the entanglements of love, ambition, and social maneuvering in 19th-century France. Published in 1839, it tells the story of the naïve musician Calyste du Guénic, who falls in love with the beautiful but manipulative Béatrix de Rochefide. Balzac’s keen psychological insight and complex moral shading depict the dangers of passion and illusion. Béatrix remains a finely wrought study of emotional vulnerability and the harsh realities of romantic idealism.