The concept of family in the human comedy

The aim of this study is to examine how domestic relations are handled in some works in The Human Comedy by French writer Honoré de Balzac. Before starting to analyze the family issue, Honoré de Balzac's life, 19th century France, family and the concepts of family in the 19th century were examined. In this context, the works of Le Père Goriot and La cousine Bette were examined. In the works, the consequences caused by situations such as family, intra-family relations, social class differences, wannabes, ambitions, loyalty, compassion, and excessive sacrifice are mentioned. The common subjects of the examined works were generally "domestic relations, infidelity and extreme sacrifice". Additionally, different father figures appear in both works. While we encounter an extremely self-sacrificing father in Le Père Goriot, we encounter an unfaithful, selfish father figure who forgets the concepts of fatherhood and husbandhood in La cousine Bette. In the conclusion section, a general evaluation of the sections was made. The family theme addressed by Balzac was examined by giving examples from both novels. Domestic relations are discussed and social class differences and the consequences faced by people who want to skip these classes are mentioned. In addition, inferences were made for mother-father, husband-wife, parent-child relationships. In addition, it has become very clear that our author is a realistic writer and presents works with real-life examples to his readers.