Literary and Cinematic Examples

A Literary Example La Peau de Chagrin (The Chagrin Skin)

by Honoré de Balzac Character: Raphaël de Valentin

By Vitte Maria Weber

Paris, 1829. Raphaël de Valentin, a twenty-five-year-old man from an impoverished aristocratic family and disillusioned with life, gambles away his remaining money one morning at the Palais Royal. With nothing left, he feels that his existence has no meaning and contemplates drowning himself in the Seine. To kill time until nightfall, he enters an antique shop and becomes engrossed in the chaotic assortment of objects and works of art

from various eras and cultures. The shopkeeper shows Raphaël a carved piece of skin, claiming it will grant all of the owner’s wishes, but at a cost: each wish will shorten their life. Despite the dealer’s warnings, Raphaël steals the skin and makes his first wish.

As he steps outside, Raphaël encounters his friends, who had been searching for him, and joins them at a banquet, which ends in an orgy, just as he had wished. Later, he confides in his friend Emile, explaining that he had been on the brink of suicide. Emile asks him to explain the source of his despair. Raphaël recounts the hardships of his life: how he grew up as an only child, under the strict supervision of his father (his mother had died when he was ten), became a lawyer to restore his family's honor, and after his father's death, found himself in a dingy attic, struggling to survive while beginning to write a Theory of the Will.

Raphaël confesses to his hopeless love for Countess Feodora, a "heartless woman." Through his intellect and growing success as a writer, he becomes her confidant. The countess frequently reminds him that she does not love him, which only fuels Raphaël's desire to win her over, believing her indifference is merely a sign of her love. Raphaël also speaks of Pauline, the young and beautiful daughter of the boarding house’s housekeeper, who loves him, but due to her lower status, he cannot bring himself to see her as a woman. Raphaël’s masochistic love for Feodora, along with his constant worries about money and life, makes him progressively more ill.

When morning arrives, Raphaël remembers the carved skin. Overcome by emotion, he makes a loud cry that wakes up all the banquet guests, boasting that he is capable of anything. Eager to test the skin’s power, he traces its outline and wishes for a large pension. Soon after, he unexpectedly receives an inheritance, and the skin shrinks. Disgusted by the mockery of the guests, Raphaël threatens them with death. He soon realizes that his power has brought him loneliness and fear instead of admiration.

In the following chapter, Raphaël lives with his former mentor, Jonathan, in a palace he has acquired. Jonathan is tasked with organizing Raphaël’s life according to strict rules to prevent him from making wishes. One afternoon, they attend the theater, where Raphaël, now bitter from being looked at with suspicion and envy, avoids contact with acquaintances. The center of attention is the beautiful Countess Feodora, but suddenly, another woman steals the spotlight—Pauline, radiant and beautifully dressed. Pauline, frightened by Raphaël’s indifference, arranges a meeting for the following day. Over time, Raphaël succumbs to his feelings, deciding to forget about the skin and live with Pauline in blissful love.

However, one day, the gardener finds the skin, and Raphaël is horrified to see that it has shrunk considerably. Terrified, he pushes Pauline away and seeks out scientists to solve the problem of the skin. When Pauline returns, Raphaël is once again drawn to her, but he soon begins showing symptoms of a lung disease and cuts her off again. In a panic, he consults

four doctors who recommend a spa treatment. There, he faces rejection from other patients due to his arrogance and is challenged to a duel. After killing his opponent, Raphaël flees, gravely ill, and finds temporary peace among some peasants. But when he feels watched and rejected by them, he leaves, heading home, disappointed and nearing death. Jonathan tries to cheer him up by organizing a party, following the advice of Dr. Bianchon, but Raphaël angrily rejects the distraction, seeking a life devoid of vitality and asking Bianchon for a drink that will keep him awake for just one hour each day.

When Pauline appears again, Raphaël’s desire is reignited. He explains the curse of the skin to her, and she, understanding his plight, attempts to take her own life to save him. Her attempt fails. In the end, Raphaël dies from his overwhelming desire, biting into Pauline’s breast.

Balzac uses Pauline to represent the illusory nature of love and Feodora to symbolize the societal expectations that pervade life.

Next, I want to discuss the title Balzac chose: "La Peau de Chagrin," which can be translated as "The Chagrin Skin." "Chagrin" originates from the Turkish word sagri or çâgri and refers to the dorsal part of a donkey’s skin. The title could also be interpreted as "The Skin of Sorrows," accurately describing the protagonist, Raphaël, who feels his life is defined by "lingering, diffuse pain." We can feel this pain deeply, especially as we witness Raphaël’s slow self-destruction—through erratic behavior and a state of hopelessness and negative emotions.

The skin, as an external representation, symbolizes a person's outward appearance, often seen as a "business card." For the social type E4, the exterior becomes a "negative calling card"—someone who does not want to project a "friendly face." Instead, they are consumed by their unbearable existence, which can manifest as a form of weak revenge. Balzac describes Raphaël in the first chapter with words like "innocent soul," "very unhappy," "very weak," "terrible-looking," "gloomy elegance," "disappointed efforts," "sickly paleness," "bitter smile," "resignation that hurts to look at," and "hidden genius." These descriptors create the image of a needy, theatrical, and somewhat uptight individual, seemingly unfit for life. The skin also represents the ability to protect oneself from life’s uncertainties.

The metaphor of the skin can also be compared to the "elephant skin"—a person who is resilient and impervious to much of the world’s hardships. However, Raphaël, with his fair, delicate skin, is the opposite—easily embarrassed, irritable, and insecure. The fact that the skin is made from the hide of a donkey—a symbol of persistence, yet also of stupidity and stubbornness—reflects Raphaël’s own contradictions. He often insists on his own opinions, ignoring common sense, and in his impulsiveness, he harms himself. His desire to demonstrate pseudo-autonomy is at odds with his inability to help himself, reflected in his repeated mantra: "I don’t need you; I can do it myself."

Through La Peau de Chagrin, Balzac crafts a poignant metaphor for a tragic outlook on life: that every positive outcome (every wish fulfilled) comes at the expense of one's life. Nothing is gained easily or for free, and pleasure itself seems to be punished. Life, in this sense, takes revenge on the living being. The skin represents the neurosis that drains life force, convincing the individual that its interests are their own.

The novel also explores the bitter seriousness of life—the glass half-empty—and the pervasive sense of mortality. Raphaël’s inability to accept even moments of happiness, such as those he shares with Pauline, reflects his deep distrust of life. Locked in feelings of lack, impotence, and inferiority, this gifted young man struggles to assimilate and overcome his turbulent life experiences.

It is fitting to associate Raphaël’s disposition with the E4 personality type, especially considering his childhood. Like many aristocratic children of the time, Raphaël was not nursed by his mother but raised by a wet nurse and educated by a mentor. He provides little information about his mother, indicating her absence and emotional coldness—traits that would contribute to his struggles with self-worth. His father, though demanding, was present during Raphaël’s formative years, shaping his sense of duty and honor. Raphaël’s bitterness and lack of trust in others stem from the deep wound left by his mother’s coldness.

The social aspect of Raphaël’s character is revealed in his envy of the rich and powerful. Instead of actively working to carve out his place in society, he channels his energy into complaints about his inferiority, comparing himself to others, and dreaming of fame and wealth. His obsession with Countess Feodora illustrates his desire to be saved from his societal position, and yet, he betrays his own talents by allowing himself to be distracted and discouraged by others.

Envy

Raphaël’s greatest preoccupation is explaining himself, caught between feelings of inferiority and arrogance. For example, he chastises Emile for mocking his belief in leading a particularly difficult life, arguing that some people experience emotions more deeply than others. In his final attempt to win over the countess, he admits his financial troubles, having previously tried to convince her of his wealth. Ultimately, he seeks to present himself as an exceptional individual:

“There are two miseries, madam… One is the misery of the people, the other, that of the freeloaders, kings, and talented people. I am not a person, a king, or a playboy; perhaps I do

not have talent—I am an exception. My last name demands that I die rather than beg. Calm down, ma’am!”

As a man, Raphaël belongs to the privileged sex and, as an only child, does not have to endure feelings of envy from potential siblings. The root of his envy appears to stem from an early lack of paternal affection, which was further exacerbated by the family's decline in social rank following the loss of their aristocratic privileges and wealth.

When his father dies, Raphaël complains about his situation, which he finds extremely difficult, and compares himself to other orphans:

"At the age of twenty-two, at the end of the autumn of 1825, I attended, completely alone, the funeral of my favorite friend, my father. Few young people have seen themselves, like me, alone with their thoughts, escorting a death carriage, lost in Paris, with no future, no fortune. Orphans taken in by public charity have, at least, official protection and shelter in a hospice. I was disinherited!"

In the following paragraph, the fact that he mentions his highly influential relatives while simultaneously denying their existence seems contradictory:

"Although related to very influential people and prodigals of their protection for strangers, I lacked relatives and protectors."

Raphaël also seems to harbor some envy towards his mother for providing a life annuity to the servant, Jonathan, while he himself receives no income.

Lack of Perseverance and Self-Humiliation

In just a few sentences, the hero speaks of immense self-esteem but then describes himself as poor:

"That immense self-love that bubbled up in me, that sublime belief in a destiny, which perhaps turns a man into a genius when he does not allow himself to be torn away by business jerks, [...] have been precisely those who have saved me. I wanted to cover myself with glory and work silently for the woman I loved, for whom I hoped to one day be reciprocated. All women were summed up in one, and that one, I thought I found in the first one that offered herself to my eyes; but, seeing a queen in each one, they all had to, like queens who are forced to declare themselves to their lovers, come out to meet my painful, miserable, and timid personality. So much gratitude was harbored in my heart; in addition to love, towards the one who would have taken pity on me, who would have always adored her."

Raphaël attempts to win Feodora's compassion by portraying himself as a weak person:

"I told her about my sacrifices, I described my life, [...] I inspired her with phrases that projected an entire life, repeating the cries of a torn soul. My accent was that of the last prayers raised by a dying man on the battlefield. Feodora cried. I kept silent. Great God! Her tears were the fruit of that fleeting emotion that is experienced in exchange for giving up the price of a ticket purchased at a theater box office. I had achieved the success of a good actor."

He then adds:

"I also take charge of my ridiculousness; excuse me!" I said sweetly, unable to hold back my tears. "I love you enough to hear with delight the words you have spoken."

The Longing for Paradise Lost

In the third part, "The Agony," the story unfolds as a slow regression. When Raphaël realizes the effects of the chagrin skin, he retires with his former mentor to the palace, where they adapt to nearly swapped roles. Raphaël is no longer the wealthy man who gives orders to his servant, but it is Jonathan who independently manages Raphaël's affairs, commanding him instead. In order to live, Raphaël is forbidden to have any desires:

"You will take care of me, Jonathan, like a baby in its infancy. [...] You will think for me, and you will provide for all my needs."

In this state of "wanting nothing more," Raphaël encounters the beautiful Pauline, who brings him the joy, ease, and eroticism of her devoted love. Things seem to be going well for him. However, she continues with her suspicious attitude until he consciously leans towards happiness by embracing the chagrin skin. The two coexist in a state of total innocence, enjoying a paradisiacal idyll that lasts until the skin appears again:

"By studying himself, his love grew; both harbored identical feelings of delicacy and modesty; the same voluptuousness, the sweetest of voluptuousnesses, that of angels. Not the slightest cloud clouded the horizon of his happiness. The desires of each were supreme law for the other."

At the end of the story, Pauline returns to Raphaël, becoming the only person who loved him, whom he rejected. She contemplates suicide when she realizes the significance of the chagrin skin for Raphaël, perhaps as only a mother would do for her child. The novel ends with an image of Raphaël lying on top of Pauline, suffocating as he bites into her breast.

The Moral of the Story

A part of Raphaël naturally believed that he could be happy if he obtained everything he wanted. But the ego was stronger. No, he did not want to be happy—he wanted to continue suffering, because who would have listened to him if he had found peace? He longed to remain trapped in lack, in daily frustration, in his impotence and grief. He wanted to continue wallowing in feelings of envy and inferiority, in the meaninglessness of his irrational actions and erratic emotions!

To break the vicious circle that kept him caged between the fear of rejection and the desire to be admired, in the tug of war between stubborn contempt and involuntary submission, Raphaël would have to learn to truly know himself. Retirement cannot be fruitful as long as it acts as an act of revenge against others, as long as society is abused to strengthen one’s own frustration. There is no way out. To truly live without desires, one cannot feel any lack. In order not to feel lack, one must live in the present. To achieve the necessary peace and contemplation, it is essential to begin with work. In Balzac's time, this was curiously referred to, albeit in the most concrete sense, as “aller au chagrin.”

A Film Example

The French Lieutenant's Woman (Karel Reisz, 1981) Character: Sarah

By Alichita Rossi, Elena Lunardi

The film is based on the novel The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles and is set in 1867. It is a film within a film, where the story of the unhappy Sarah (played by Meryl Streep), banished in Victorian England for her fleeting romance, intertwines with the love story of the actress who, based on the same novel, is making a film.

Sarah Woodruff is a distinguished English ex-governess shunned by all for having fallen out of favor with a French lieutenant who was shipwrecked in the waters of the small coastal town of Lyme Regis. Everyone considers her mad and of easy virtue. Since she is considered the crazy woman of the town, Sarah has nothing left to lose and allows herself the freedom to be alone in all places and at all times—something absolutely forbidden for a respectable young woman of the period. Victorian England is tightly bound to values like privacy, discretion, self-control, and obedience to duty.

The young English gentleman Charles, a paleontologist who works in fossil recovery on the coast, is anchored to the same values. These certainties are shaken when he meets Sarah,

the French lieutenant’s woman. He feels drawn to her, and Sarah, after being abandoned by her lover, falls into deep suffering, which torments her daily, only giving her respite at night during sleep. Sarah is afflicted with profound melancholy.

To save her from the stormy sea, Charles Smithson ventures onto the jetty where she remains motionless, despite the wind and rain, staring at the horizon. He calls to her repeatedly until she turns to look at him. That long gaze marks the beginning of a passionate romance, one that will intertwine with the true love of the two protagonists of the film, Mike and Anna—two actors who interpret the 19th-century love story.

Sarah agrees to live in another house as a lady-in-waiting, not knowing what awaits her, but driven by the fact that the house has views of the sea, allowing her to stay connected to the memory of love and relive it daily.

This is a clear example of the social attachment to the past, which continues to give life to an event or feeling through the imagination and memories, in this case, stirred by the landscape.

Charles discusses Sarah with his fiancée, and this scene highlights the typical aspect of the Social 4 character: the attachment to a relationship that has ended and the endless, yet pointless, waiting for the return of lost love. There is an emotional languor, a continuous rethinking of the most intense moments spent with the lost person. The Social 4 child enacts this mode within themselves regarding their mother’s love, endlessly hoping that one day it will manifest in the form of hugs and physical contact. They learn to wait, to wait, and never to stop waiting.

When Sarah meets Charles, he asks if he can accompany her. She politely declines without looking up, a gesture of embarrassment clearly visible. In this moment, there is shame in meeting the eyes of the person with whom she has been captivated from the beginning, as she later confesses. The greater the interest in the other, the more intense and unbearable the shame becomes. The more one desires the love of another, the more they fall into the loop of feeling uninteresting, unlovable, or insufficient. This leads to contact with a negative, devalued image of oneself, which results in a loss of self-perception, feeling so small that one becomes ashamed in the presence of the other. The consequence of this feeling is distance, the disappearance of the other’s gaze.

Sarah begs Charles to let her go. She implores him—she is not assertive or self-confident, unable to defend herself from the interference of others, as if she lacks the strength and resources to set boundaries. On the other hand, she delegates her fears of saying yes or no to him. This reflects the sense of internal weakness that a Social 4 experiences in relation to the world. It is as if she isn't strong enough to defend herself and face him alone. The only way for a Social 4 to defend themselves and avoid failure is to leave.

When Sarah meets Charles in the woods, she immediately hides when the hunters pass by to protect the man from the gossip that would arise from seeing them together. This character has developed the idea that the other has more value and importance than herself. Additionally, she learned in childhood to protect her mother at her own expense. In order to preserve a good image of her, she unconsciously devalued herself, feeling undeserving of her mother’s love. She poisoned herself to keep her mother, never directing anger at her, but instead blaming herself and considering herself unlovable.

Sarah tells Charles she can’t even imagine her suffering, revealing that she is only happy when she sleeps. This passage demonstrates the constant and intense inner torment of the character, a suffering so profound that it cannot be understood from the outside. This ongoing agony can only be interrupted by sleep. Sarah desperately wonders why she was born the way she is, comparing herself to Charles's girlfriend. This shows the envy characteristic of a Social 4, who constantly compares herself to an external object, which she always judges to be better than her own self. She then recounts her meeting with the French lieutenant, how she was captivated by his courage, and how she admired him until she fell madly in love with him. When he left, she couldn’t help but follow him. In this part of the film, Sarah explains how the loss of love was unbearable, bringing her into contact with an overwhelming sense of loneliness, so deep that she drowned in it. For the Social 4, love is the meaning of life—being loved and loving is the only path to happiness. Losing love or being abandoned by the one you love is like losing the meaning of your existence. Sarah was seduced by his compliments and the beautiful image he created of her. The Social 4, in such a deep devaluation of self, constantly seeks confirmation, making it easy to be seduced by the attention and compliments of others.

After making love to Charles, Sarah says, “I’ve been imagining a day like this for so long!” She alludes to the fact that she has waited a long time to feel truly loved by the man she loves. This type of personality lives waiting for a deep, true, intense, and idealized love, expecting to feel loved like never before in their life, attempting to fill the emotional void left from childhood. That moment of true and intense love feels like a repair—a cure for an old emotional wound. Sarah insists that Charles can make any decision (even leaving her), because at this point, strengthened by the love she has received, she will be able to bear anything. From that moment, her strength to live arises. Although that sense of satisfaction and peace, achieved thanks to the love she has finally received, turns into melancholy and nostalgia. Every day, Sarah will reflect on those moments, reliving them with the languor and longing that accompany them. Each day, she will live with her eyes fixed on the past.

Anna, the actress who plays Sarah, talks to Mike's wife and confesses she is envious of her garden's beauty and care. It is clear that Anna is actually envious of the fact that the woman can live next door to the man with whom Anna is in love. Here, we see the nature of the envy felt by a Social 4: a feeling of strong resentment that pertains to love, not

material objects. The Social 4 does not envy possessions, but rather the feeling of love. It is as if the possibility of existing—and confirming one’s place in the world—revolves around love. Everything else seems secondary, almost superfluous. The primary need for a Social 4 is not to drink, eat, or own things, but to love and be loved. Without love, life feels meaningless, and achieving or losing it can lead to total self-neglect and even self-destruction.

Three years have passed, and Sarah ensures Charles is where he is. She has changed significantly—she is more confident, more serene, and more present within herself. When Charles asks why she didn’t wait for him, she explains that, at that moment, she was consumed with madness, bitterness, and envy. She felt she had imposed herself on him, and that he had obligations to another woman. She hadn't been able to stay and wait for him because everything felt like too much, and she feared becoming a burden. She is only willing to truly meet him now that she has built her own life and identity, as if she needed to first find her center and regain her dignity. These three years have been dedicated to finding her place in the world, fulfilling herself professionally, and developing her artistic talent. Only now does she feel ready to meet her love again.

Here we witness an evolutionary change in Sarah’s personality. She transforms from a woman entirely dependent on the love of another, with her center outside herself, to someone independent and self-assured, able to meet her love as an equal.

In the end, the love between the two actors has a sad epilogue. Although Anna seems sure of her love for Mike, she decides not to leave her husband, sacrificing her happiness and her own desires. Anna makes this choice, giving up her own happiness to spare the other’s feelings. The Social 4 irrationally believes that the other has an increasing right to be happy. It seems that there can be no happiness if it causes suffering to others, which is too great a burden to bear. Thus, Anna decides to abandon her love, reaffirming her position in the false belief of being defective, feeding her envious passion.