Abstract: Is there a parricide in Le Père Goriot? Such a claim may seem surprising. It does, however, acknowledge the nature of the drama that is enacted in the Pension Vauquer, where Père Goriot dies: this is a consensual killing of a father who sacrifices himself for his daughters in the name of money, the dominating feature of the society depicted by Balzac. Reading Le Père Goriot from a psychoanalytic point of view highlights the fact that there are many ways to end the reign of the father and that a society which claims to be able to do without the father figure pays the price.
