Julien's Quest for `Self': Qui suis-je?

The ending of Stendhal's Le Rouge et le Noir has frequently been characterized by critics as inappropriate, inconsistent, over-abrupt, spoiled by author-intervention; etc. In fact, difficulties of the ending arise directly out of the intrinsic dualisms of Julien's character. These, seen from a Lacanian perspective, consist in a false, alienated, illusory image of self that Julien believes, analyzes and verifies through his conscious mind. When Mme de Rênal's final rejection shatters Julien's ego-ideal, he is spontaneously moved to an anti-rational passion. His crime and its public defense liberate Julien at last from the conflicts within him. Finally aware that his quest for power has been a quest for identity, he sees the flaws in his dualistic image. How can he be successful in a society that defines success through birth and wealth rather than through true talent, intellect and love? By relinquishing his hypocritical pose as well as his grandiose fantasies and simultaneously merging positive aspects of his duality into a whole, sincere self, Julien chooses death. The ending is neither solution or resolution, but Stendhal's promise of the capacity for rebirth of self and society. (MER)