Abstract: This article examines the close links between the exposition of crises of conscience and the discursive strategies deployed by two characters in Balzac’s Honorine: the hero Maurice de l’Hostal and Count Octave de Bauvan. By means of the embedded narrative, these two narrators—especially de l’Hostal—endeavor to persuade their confidant(s) that their feelings are sincere and their assertions are valid; they do so by instrumentalizing narrative discourse.
